I was wondering what action people adjust there guitars.
I heard higher action gives better tone, but i'm having string noise problems while bending from my stock action fender lite ash strat.

i think if the action were lower, the noise would be nearly minimized.


and by noise I mean the noise I get when the other strings are pushed along wtih the string being bent, a higher action makes it so the string being bent is at a considerably lower action then the strings above it (bending upwards) causing all kinda of crapppola..

pfew, this is a hard one... is it still the bending problem you were talking about in another topic?
Then I don't know if it's the action you should blame. Maybe you'll just need to get used to the current action. When I bend, the strings above the string that is being bend, also bend (hope you understand this :P ). And it's true what you say, high action = louder (good for chord work), low action = less loud, but higher playability, especially for solos.

But since I'm not a guitartech... maybe someone else can give supplementary info...

Man go with the action you feel most comfy with my action is qiete high but i like it like that, look at yngwie his is like a bridge you could walk under it! (*yes i know his guitar is scalloped*) lol but just relax and get the action you like... dont be tempted just to put it so low its like touching the frets cas thats a bit too easy :P

On my Ibanez USA Custom the action very low. That guitar was built to burn so that's what fits it best. High action on a thin neck just feels awkward.

On my Jackson, the action is a little higher but still considered 'low' by some people. This guitar was built to friggin' rock and leads sound like pisswater on it so low action is almost pointless, other than just for comfort.

On my JS100, the action is quite high. Much higher than I ever thought I could stand without running away screaming. LOL This is a midranged guitar, the leads are adequate though not outstanding and the basswood body and cheap pickups aren't ideal for what I consider a good rhythm tone. However, with it's coil tap it's clean tone is outstanding and high action sounds really good with clean tones. The strings resonate more and chords sound fuller.


Either way, certain action heights suit certain situations and guitars better than others. :) With a little experience you'll be able to feel out which guitars need which amount of string action.

The action on my guitaris really low. So my strings like bend up to 5 frets or something. Hah, my friend has the most thickest beefy strings possible. And the action on his guitar is like 1.5 cm high! Try busting a satriani solo on that.

I used to crave lower and lower action.
I bought a JS1000BTB and the action was so low it was actually more difficult to play! I tend to prefer a low action, yes...but not so low that you cannot "dig in" on blues playing. Too low and you come sounding too technical and less soulful.
(Crazy thing is, some of it is in the mind also....I swear the action moves up and down each time I play, but is of course just depending on what mood I am in!)

Im still craving for lower myself and always have..

i like a medium action somewhen between the SRV mile high action and laying on the fret board. i like a bit of fight i guess.

on the strat it has a 9.5 fingerboard radius , so my guess is you need it a touch higher to clear the curvature of the fingerboard.

Why is it that my guitar is in perfect tune before the twelth fret but not after??

intonation. ;)

Your intonation is off and you need to adjust it. The basic answer is that the string isn't evenly divided at the 12th fret (which should be the exact middle of the string), the middle of the string is somewhere a fret or two higher or lower.

Thanks very much I will give it a try.

I have to say that i do prefer a low action deffinately.
It makes it much easier to play fast and you dont have to lift your finger so damn high before it comes off the string.
I have to say i cant believe that satriani has his action at .8 of a mm. Dont know how he does it because all i managed to get, without fret buzz, was 1mm.
But thats low enough for me.

My first guitar was a Les Paul copy by Hondo.Action so high you could stick your fingers under the strings on the fretboard and still not touch them!!! I found that after playing this guitar, when I upgraded to an 83'
Ibanez strat with very low action; playing was a breeze. Soloing was effortless. In other words, high action is good for building finger strength and coordination. Now I'm on a Schecter Diamond. Korean made but set up for play by American techs!!! I like it alot. Intonation is great, action is perfect. One handed HO/PO's are gravy!!!! I think I prefer the lower action, strings closer to the fretboard provide more phenomenal lead work!!!!!

Ok so whats the pros and cons of low action and high action?

Im sure everyone will have different opinions on this but i find that with a high action, depending on how high it is, your fingers end up going underneith other strings when you are bending. I find that it slows you down when soloing fast since you have further to go before your finger releases the string you are playing.
The only thing that high action is good for is that it eliminates any chance of fret buzz, therefore you get a better tone.

Low action on the other hand is basically the opposite of what i just mentioned.
Depending on how low it is, you can get fret buzz but as long as you dont have too much buzz, i dont seem to hear it when the amp is cranked up.
I found that my soloing became very noticably faster, which helped greatly when playing satch's music.
Every guitar is different in regard to how low you can get the action before it will start buzzing to much. As i mentioned earlier, i was able to get my action at 1mm in height, which im impressed with.
Another thing you have to watch out for with low action is clean bends. If it is too low, the note will end up fretting ouy before you fully bend, if that makes sence.

But you can get a tech to do it for you, if you want it professionally done.

I prefer lowest you can go without any kind of string buzz or fretting out, and thin guages. You're all probably playing with a lot of distortion and gain anyway, any change in tone from string action would be negligible.

See, my problem with low action while bending isn't fretting out, per se, but rather not being able to keep a "grip" on the string. Much below 2.0mm, I have trouble doing more than a half step bend because I can't enough get pressure on the string parallel to the fretboard - its tough to "dig in" to the note.

It also depends on the guitar in question, of course, particularly the frets on the guitar - my CST has the "normal" Ibanez RG jumbo fretwire, and as such is a little more forgiving. Eyeballing the open high E, it looks like I've got that one set a touch under 2 - say 1.8 to the top of the fret. It could go lower, but like I said, this is the lowest I vcan bend comfortably at. Mu Universe, on the other hand, has noticeably thinner/lighter fretwire. As such, to get the same feel, I have to keep the action a little higher - say, 2.2-ish from the top of the fret to the open high E on the 24th. Both guitars play very similarly, even though there's probably a half millimeter difference in their action. For me, this is a comfortable threshold - high enough for clean bending, yet low enough that I don't feel like I'm fighting the guitar.

And anyway, you can generally go a little higher than you think you can, and after a week or so be able to play quite comfortably on the higher action - I'm gradually working mine up a little bit, as I think once your fingers get stronger, slightly higher action's generally a little more comfortable.

(and as for tone, I play with very little gain. And, particularly recently Joe uses a LOT less than many of you think, I bet. ;) It's paradoxical, but less gain generally sounds "bigger" in that it gives you better dynamic control and less compression)

I also like mine as low as possible without fret buzz. I couldn't believe the difference when I got a properly setup SA160 vs a pawnshop Kramer. It was like I could finally play above the 14th fret comfortably. *LOL*
It was an epiphany, all kidding aside.

i dont even know how low my action is.... :blink:

Take a look at the eminent techsetup section back at http://www.jemsite.com there´s a lot of useful tips over there...

:D

I have mine as low as possible. The tone is significantly better. Don't forget about that Truss adj. too!

On my Gibson Flying V -67 reissue, it´s quite high, but on my JEM10th it´s darned low in that way i can warmup on the gibson and flow on the JEM :P Yummie!!! :D :D :D

a few months ago, my action was around 5 mm, which was like miles away from the fretboard. my legato's would just DIE!

i gave it to the techie in the music store i bought it from, and he miracously brought it down to 1mm, without any buzz. a was amazed. now its around 2mm. and when i bend 19th fret on 2nd string, it buzzez and the sound dies. but thats not too bad.

high action is goo for rhythm guitars, and also for blues. lower action, i prefer for legato's. it also makes "shredding" easier. but bends can be tricky, since the strings above your hand go under our fingertips and create problems. so watch out.

motorcycle_driver thats awesome! Mine is about 2mm but I'm getting fret buzz around the first 4 frets of the thicker strings (E and A), trying to do it all myself, its the only way I'll learn to take care of my guitar

Take it back to the shop and ask them to kick the action up another tenth of a millimeter or so on the treble side because your high B string is choking - really, you only want your action as low as it'll go without fretting out on bending.

Alternately, you might be able to do it yourself, depending on the type of guitar.

My action is about a little less than 2mm but I hear fret buzz sometimes with the low E string. Is it ok if the sound doesnt go through my amp? Because I don't hear anything abnormal coming through it.

Hmmm. Racecar you say the sound isn't going through the amp, when you play around the affected areas do you notice any loss of sustain or note definition? If not it might be a buzz somewhere else. I have a Jackson Soloist and occasionally I get a buzz from the bridge area, I don't think it's action related though I think there's a beef with the saddle.

im sure the place you bought it from has a techie. he should do it or free. at least mine did. also see in the line of the neck to see if the neck has warped(or simply, bent). if you straighten it, and raise the saddles on the bridge, that will help get rid of the buzz.

also, see to it that the frets arent worn out. my higher frets at the strings 1 to 3 are worn out a lil, and i think thats what makes my bends buzz.

lol