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#293928 by RhythmMan-2
Wed Jan 30, 2019 4:12 pm
Last night, I lowered the action on my Ibanez (8-string).
I straightened the neck 1/8 turn, sanded down the saddle on my bridge, and added 8 new strings.

This time it took me an hour from start to finish, including tuning, playing briefly to set in the strings, and tuning again.

My action was pretty good, already, but I took it down some more, yet. I don't think I can go any lower.
If a buzz develops in the next few days, I may have to raise it 1/2 tad.
#293930 by Planetguy
Wed Jan 30, 2019 5:27 pm
I'm all about low action and great playability on all my instruments. No reason to fight your instrument if you can get the tone and volume you're wanting.

It's great having all of mine set up to play very well, but then the problem is when I get on other people's instruments that aren't set up well. This is especially so when i get on someone else's upright and the strings are two inches from the fingerboard!

I actually hurt myself on a gig last wk playing an upright like that. I pulled a tendon in my left index finger that still hasn't healed. :evil:
#294003 by RhythmMan-2
Mon Feb 04, 2019 4:01 pm
Yeah, more tension on the strings means more pressure on the fingers.
Also - it slows down the reaction time from when you try to play the note, to when it actually sounds.
And it makes sliding up and down the frets rough on the fingertips.
Also - it stretches the string which increases the pitch, resulting in lousy intonation.
.
Annnd - #1 on the list; lower action is just overall more enjoyable to play!
#294004 by schmedidiah
Mon Feb 04, 2019 4:30 pm
RhythmMan-2 wrote:Yeah, more tension on the strings means more pressure on the fingers.
Also - it slows down the reaction time from when you try to play the note, to when it actually sounds.
And it makes sliding up and down the frets rough on the fingertips.
Also - it stretches the string which increases the pitch, resulting in lousy intonation.
.
Annnd - #1 on the list; lower action is just overall more enjoyable to play!

i'd agree with all of that but since I tuned everything I own to D standard tuning I don't have any of those problems. 8)
#294007 by MikeTalbot
Mon Feb 04, 2019 11:44 pm
Over the years many parents have asked me about getting instruments for their kids. I always tell 'em the same thing and they usually ignore me. "Get a decent guitar with a good action or they will not play it." I always remember how I hated playing my Stella.

i'm happy to say that it can be done cheaply these days - an decent electric and a small amp can be had for chump change.

Talbot
#294167 by gbheil
Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:47 pm
I play pretty hard . . .
My mentors, always fussing about "big motions" . . .
But that's me, and can be generally noted that non musicians in an audience seem to enjoy active musicians..
I have a hard time with extremely low actions . . . so I play n tweak till it feels good and sounds clean.
Then I crank the distortion, and it's off to the races.

George
Jericho March
#294174 by Planetguy
Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:45 pm
Hey George. Good to see you around!

That reminded me of an old "joke".

How do you tell the difference between a rock gtrst and jazz gtrst?

Easy, The rock guy is always grimacing and trying to make everything look like he's working so hard at it.

And the jazz guy is working at looking at like it's nothing at all.
#294278 by Paleopete
Wed Mar 06, 2019 12:47 am
Always good to have action you like. I have to find a balance between low enough to play well and high enough to play slide without banging out on the frets. What I end up with is great to me, most other guitar players seem to like it too. Found an article on setups in a guitar magazine, it turns out I keep my guitars set very close to the same as Clapton and Gilmour do. Their specific measurements were included in the article, along with Jeff Beck and someone else, I can't remember who. My strat is almost identical.

I have trouble with really low action, especially if I try to bend a note, the string tends to just slip out from under my finger. I also tend to strum too hard at times, but if I know the action is low I can avoid that.

My acoustic was a mess. It had a hump where the neck joins the body, took me a year of gradually tweaking it to get rid of fret buzz around the octave. If it wasn't such a nice p laying and sounding guitar, I would have sold it in no time and looked for another one...but I just liked it too much...now it's in great shape, still doing a good job and gives me no trouble onstage. That's important, I use it on at least a half dozen songs a night. Going to have to replace the jack before long though, it's started crackling when I move around...so far contact cleaner is helping but it won't last long...only a matter of time.

Howdy George!
#294318 by RhythmMan-2
Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:43 am
Planetguy wrote:Hey George. Good to see you around!

How do you tell the difference between a rock gtrst and jazz gtrst?
Easy, The rock guy is always grimacing and trying to make everything look like he's working so hard at it. And the jazz guy is working at looking at like it's nothing at all.


Aint it the truth!
#294325 by gbheil
Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:57 pm
Hello bro . . .
Good to hear from ya
#294504 by RhythmMan-2
Wed Apr 03, 2019 4:11 pm
sanshouheil wrote:I play pretty hard . . .
. . .
I have a hard time with extremely low actions . . . so I play n tweak till it feels good and sounds clean.
George
Jericho March

.
Yeah we've gotta adjust it for our own playing, for sure.
.
Good to see a decent guy come back again, George.

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