Members metal0822 Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 So lately I have really been favoring my Lp over my strat. I haven't even played the strat in like a week:eek: anyway, i finally pick it up again and realize theres a little bit of buzzing all over the place. when i set it up originally, i went with the lower action is better, and a little buzzing is ok. so i was bored and decided to raise the action until there was no buzzing no matter what i did. and honestly, i think i like playing it better with higher action. it might be all in my head but i think it even has more sustain from ringing out clearer. bends are easier to do and easier to control now, and every note sounds uniform, like i plugged in a compressor (even though im playing it unplugged)anyways, just figured i would share my experiences with you. i went ahead and raised the action on my already fine LP and like it better now too. maybe some of you will prefer higher action and dont even know it because you heard low action was "easier." just give it a shot if you got a minute, its pretty quick. ok, rant over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PanaDP Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 For some reason, I always seem to like strats when they're set up a little "difficult." I seem to sound better when I have to fight them a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kuroyume Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 Raising the action will increase the sustain a bit. This should be common knowledge (by now). It allows the strings to vibrate longer (removes energy lost to hitting frets or being to close to the pickups for instance). But it will also increase interval tonal disparity issues (sounding out of tune a bit) because the string is stretched more when fretted and is longer than ideal. The reason that lower action is termed 'easier' is that it takes less work to fret the string which can allow faster playing. For me, buzzing isn't good action. I like it moderately low but not so low that this happens. I always make sure that every fret on every string clears enough to avoid buzzing on other frets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metal0822 Posted January 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 the thing is that i dont consider the higher action any more difficult to play. i just feel more control. although i remember high action being a pain in the ass when i was first starting. either ive gotten better, or my guitars now are better, so high action doesnt make a difference, or a combination of both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kuroyume Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 Yes, as your muscles become stronger and callouses thicken, higher actions become less distracting to playing comfortably. This is one reason why I like to have a steel-string acoustic around because its higher action and heavier string gauge are a good counter-balance to becoming too acclimated to lower actions and lighter gauges on my electric guitars. Better guitars surely improve playability as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members johanneswiberg Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 Too high action can result in tuning problems, since you bend the string more when you push it onto the fretboard. But I agree that buzzing should be avoided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tacdryver Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 It's nice when your guitar plays better isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fred Buzz Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 Action too low and the buzz will mess-up your tone or sound cause the string can ring freely. Having said that, I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jairic Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 I like my action as low as it can go, without any buzzing or severe effect on sustain. To be able to work with this I had to learn to control the strings much more accurately, especially when attempting bends or vibrato. My Kramer has pretty low action, and I've had some Ibanez guitars that had low action but the TTM i had takes the cake. I could practically put the strings right on the board and they would still ring out and it made fretting so easy it was unbelievable. Hard work getting to the point that I could bend the strings well though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaveAronow Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 I love to bend strings and I grip and play really hard from being a bass player. Im {censored}ed. Too low and I cant grip the strings with my big fingers for bends. Too high and I mangle the {censored} out of my tuning by stretching the string because I jam it halfway through the fretboard when I play. Im {censored}ed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brewski Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 I love to bend strings and I grip and play really hard from being a bass player. Im {censored}ed. Too low and I cant grip the strings with my big fingers for bends.Too high and I mangle the {censored} out of my tuning by stretching the string because I jam it halfway through the fretboard when I play.Im {censored}ed. Funny Dave - and you are obviously not giving yourself the credit you deserve. Ima go low and then go lower kinda guy - one of my goals is to hit the million notes a second mark, really useful right? truth - raising the action will clean up note articulation and increase sustaint o a point, and as already posted be creaful how high you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members faberbz Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 Yes, as your muscles become stronger and callouses thicken, higher actions become less distracting to playing comfortably. This is one reason why I like to have a steel-string acoustic around because its higher action and heavier string gauge are a good counter-balance to becoming too acclimated to lower actions and lighter gauges on my electric guitars. Better guitars surely improve playability as well. yupI sold all my electric guitars, amps, stuff, etc. after college and went acoustic-only for over a decade. When I finally played an electric again, I felt like those athletes who train at high-altitude for a competition at sea-level. Man, was I impressed with myself!Of course, like those athletes, it only took about a week for me to "acclimatize" again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oldskool Texas Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 When bending notes, I like to get a little bit "underneath" the string, and you can't do that with super-low action. In my experience, I've found that raising the action a little and using heavier strings (.11s on my Tele) eliminates virtually all string buzz issues and gives me better control and richer tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benzem Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 Sounds like it/they need truss rod tweaks. Action is set to preference after proper set up( no buzzing even w/low action). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metal0822 Posted January 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 i dont think the truss rods need tweaking. when i fret the 1st and 14th fret, the gap at the 6th is maybe the thickness of a medium pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benzem Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 Could be nut or fret issues, but my point is there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metal0822 Posted January 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 well since i like how both guitars play there isn't an issue are you saying i should be able to slam the action all the way down to the fretboard on any guitar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JohnnyDD Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 I couldn't intonate due to high action. Adjusting string length/height wouldn't change it. Tightened the truss some; fixed. Too much relief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kuroyume Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 Sounds like it/they need truss rod tweaks. Action is set to preference after proper set up( no buzzing even w/low action). This is a valid point. Back in the late 80s, while I was chasing the 'fastest setup' with the lowest action, one of the parts of the setup to attain this was a properly bowed neck (more correctly, almost unbowed neck). That, along with nut height, bridge height, neck angle, all played into how low the action could be made without introducing buzz at any point along the neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benzem Posted January 17, 2010 Members Share Posted January 17, 2010 well since i like how both guitars play there isn't an issue are you saying i should be able to slam the action all the way down to the fretboard on any guitar? Huh? I never said that at all. Again, action preference/string buzz are two different things.Jeez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metal0822 Posted January 18, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 18, 2010 well yea, but the way everything is set up now, my action preference is achievable. so i dont need to adjust anything. im sure everything could be made a bit better, but i dont need to go lower with the strings. i really cant explain it much better than that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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