Action Preferences

[FrankJohnson]

Lets discuss action preference.

Who likes what, and why?

I prefer a med - med/hi action for tone andto allow a little harder playing. Sometimes I put a little extra relief in the neck and bring the action up (closer) a little. My pickups are usually a little lower to reduce clack and improve clarity.

I have tried really close action on my bass and on others belonging to friends. its ok for a little while, but doesn't match teh way I play.

TAG....your it.....lets hear what others have to say.

Thanks

[stonetone]

Medium-high, slight amount of relief, round wounds. Anything lower and its a clack-o-rama. Guess I play fairly hard.

[doc540]

Lower'n frog shlt on a lillypad. If I'm gonna work hard I'm gonna work hard at playing in the right places with the right groove instead of work at holdin'em down.

After watching Trip play and playing a couple of his basses, I'm convinced it can be done regardless of the kind of music. I played "Born Under A Bad Sign" last night and thumped it without'em buzzin'.

[Motojunkie]

I like medium action with a straight neck. I play fingerstyle, and some slap and pop (still learning).

A Buddy of mine who plays with a pick played my basses, and they buzzed like crazy. He's got a really agressive pick hand - I guess he has a hard time cutting through 2 guitars. But, after 5 minutes of playing - no buzz at all.....anyone can adjust to anything - given a little time.

[Alpine86]

I play low to medium-low action most of the time, although I set up my teles with a higher action because I like the feel it gives me with those. For some reason I tend to really dig into the teles when I play, but everything else I usually play with a pretty light touch.

[Winston]

I have a pretty aggressive playing style. My basses are set up med/high with some relief.

[Rhian Batson]

I prefer super low action, with a straight neck shimmed a bit at the top of the neck pocket to reduce the grade of the neck thus improving string height all the way up the neck. I have a very soft attack, prefer economy of motion to tugging relentlessly on mile high action and prefer to have the amp do all the work.

[jinx667]

Medium on fretted to cover pick, fingers or slap. A little lower on the fretless since it only gets played fingerstyle. Small amount of relief on both.

[VibroCount]

As low as possible with no fret buzz. Heavier gauge strings to aid this. I want the lightest touch with a clean tone as I can get, so I can play all night after 40 years of playing.

[Bongolation]

Lets discuss action preference.
...lets hear what others have to say.

I thought that the idea was simply to have the action as low as possible without having fret noise, given the style of the player. Beyond that, there's just excess finger strain and no benefit.

Granted, with the typical fretboards we see these days, that's going to be pretty high. As I've pointed out many times, the string height setup specs given by manufacturers are artificially high in order to hide the fretboard and neck faults which almost all production basses have in profusion.

Once in a while, though, you get a really well-made neck and the working action can be surprisingly low. My Music Man, for example, can have the action set up at about half the factory specs and be buzz-free.

[davey]

So I'm kickin' it with my old buddy Ted "The Sledge" Nugent just talkin' and stuff, when this big ol' 98 point buck comes a walkin' thru the backyard. Ol' Ted just grabs my Jazz Bass and slings an impeccably aimed arrow right at that 98 point buck, went right through the plate glass window and sliced open his jugular. We had deer jerky for the next week, and he mounted the rack on his Jeep. Then we played "Fred Bear," which he named my Jazz Bass.

I guess my action is a bit on the high side...

[FrankJohnson]

Some good input.

Davey -

I think we may share setup appreciation. Like a 50lb long-bow!