I finally bought an electric guitar (Stratocaster) again after years playing nothing but classical. I found the buzzing just incredibly annoying so I raised the action to the highest point possible plus going up in gauge. It finally plays and sounds like I want. I know it is just me but I find that having the action just as high as on my Spanish guitar to be best for me.
I like low action. I play acoustic instruments. Some of the instruments I setup for my students need a lot of adjustment. If I lower the bridge without lowering the nut, things can get out of balance quickly. It seems like there is a golden ratio between the height strings at nut and and the height of the bridge. I always measure both the 1st and 12th frets, and slowly adjust both until I get what I like.
So thanks. This is a possible issue with my guitar. All I was ever told was to change strings and if that doesn't work there is nothing to be done. I put that guitar away because it sounded so bad. This gives me hope.
Great video and you answered my question very well concerning “action” here’s an idea for a video. Describe why & who should have their guitar “ set up” I have tackled a lot of projects but have a fear messing with “action” or nut work. There is also a fear of having a tech mess up your new guitar
It's easier and more precise to measure metric. This is particularly true if you use graduated action, where you're adjusting action in quarter millimeter increments.
It doesn't really matter what metric you use to measure it, what really matters are things like parallax, eyesight quality and of course how many beers you had before you took the measurement.
I just got my Fender Strat Pro2 a week ago and the action is too high. I can't hammer, or pull off well, and bends have higher tension. I'll need to set it up, but I just don't have the time with school and work, so thinking of taking it to get it done professionally.
Very cool well spoken and informative! I have one piece of advice tho, not everyone is American and uses imperial! When discussing measurements don't forget us metric folks. 😊 Stupidly low action on shred guitars . 75mm on high E, 1.25mm on high E Low action on most electrics. 1mm on high E, 1.5mm on low. Medium action on most electrics 1.2mm on high E, 1.75mm on low. High action on most electrics. 1.5mm on high E, 2mm on low E :)
Got to be specific seems alot of techs will set it just before buzz as a default cause its easier to play things like that, but not everyone plays like that style. I use 64ths i like the whole numbers no .5s
I got my three guitars set up by GC and my action is all screwed up . They originally put it at low action , and it def all raised almost instantly and hard to play , I don’t get it
Right along with intonation, I found that being able to adjust my action was (literally) life-changing. Having the right action for me allowed me to practice longer and really enjoy my instrument. I only mess with my action every once in a while, but having really low action allows me to move faster on the neck without worrying about the pressure of pushing down hard. First, I make sure my neck is straight using a straight edge in the middle of the fingerboard. I adjust the truss rod if needed to make it flat. Then I adust my bridge lower until I get string buzz at the third fret. From there I slowly raise the action using the bridge adjustment, just until the buzz disappears when fretted at the third fret. This works great for me anyway. Your mileage may vary. :-)
I like acoustic action on my electrics, with light strings 9, 11.5, 15, 22, 30, 40 on fender and 9.5, 12, 16, 24, 34, 44 on gibson scale length. I mostly play funk, soul, blues and reggae
I've been meaning to ask - why don't you guys make flat wound strings? I've been using D'Addario chromes for quite some time. I really like them, but I did briefly switch to your balanced 11 set. I enjoyed those very much, but I prefer the warm timbre of flat wounds. It helps mitigate icepick highs through a setup that's reliant on lots treble. Is there not much demand for them?
Sure thing! We've been working on perfecting flats for well over a year actually. We don't make things just to make them, we only release them once we're confident they're better than what else is out there. They're coming along nicely, but not ready just yet. Our tentative plan is to have them by mid-2021.
Sigh... such bad advice. You should look at the neck relief FIRST. Neck adjustments affect *every other aspect* of a guitar's setup. Action is adjusted at the saddle, the nut has no bearing on the action. The proper height for the nut slots is where notes fretted on the first fret aren't sharp. Proper setup steps: 1. Adjust the neck relief 2. Adjust the action 3. Adjust the nuts slots 4. Set the pickup height (if an electric guitar) 5. Set the intonation.
