Another (maybe) setup /action topic

[stefvorcide]

Hey, my beloved RR 7 strings sounds like a charm (maple neck thru+mahagony wings+ BKP pickups) but what the hell is wrong with the action???

I think I'm gonna bring her to the luthier this week... Have the frets fixed and rod adjusted and whatknot to get a nice action.

I mean, now the frets 1-7 are almost perfect, after it's harder to play... then on 15-24 it's kinda buzzing, which drives me CRAZY, I can't stand string buzzing and hum thru an amp , and the sustain is hacked. It's a custom/luthier guitar btw....

What's the lowest action you guys can get ?? I don't want any buzz at all. I'm currently in Eb with 11-52 + a big 64, which was the biggest i could get my hands on. I could live with lighter high strings tho..

BTW I pick VERY hard, I might have to change my technique, most of the time I play fast heavy riffs with palm mutes... and wanking with sloppy sweeps. Someone once refered my picking to be as agressive as The Ramones (or other punk bands) but playing at 230 BMP

 

[glpg80]

first off, let me be the first to say what a fucking awsome musical instrument

eb with 11's and you are getting buzz at the higher frets?

if you look "down" the neck from the floyd to the headstock, which way is the neck going?

it should be perfectly straight, or with about 1mm-2mm of bow torwards the fretboard.

the actions varies. for serious metal players the lower the better, but too low and you cant get a good grip for string bends.

for a strat i like it at 1/16th of an inch. just a little higher than normal.

for anything else, i try to get them at exactly 1mm down the entire neck, even at the 12th fret.

sometimes i get a little above it and im still alright. my prestige is set at 1.5mm action and plays like butter.

the way you measure the action is from the top of the 12th fret and the top of the 5-6th fret, and again at the 24th fret if you have a neck that long.

stick the measuring instrument on the fret itself, and measure to the bottom of the string.

usually i go by the low E string, but you could possibly go by the 64 gauge string as well.. (A?)

another thing is the floyd heighth could be too low, but it really goes hand in hand with everything else i mentioned earlier.


there is another thing called relief that can be measured when fretting the 5th and 12th frets only. it deals with the adjustment of the truss rod. there is a certain amount of relief a guitar is supposed to have but each guitar is different. i personally dont use that method.

 

[stratotone]

Relief is measured by holding down the first fret on the low e string and the fret where it joins the body. Use the string as a straight edge, the amount of space between the string and the top of the frets is the relief. It's usually the largest around the 7th to 9th fret... for a low action, you'll want it to be as small as possible. I prefer about .009, or the size of the high E string. If the string is touching the frets, then you likely have backbow - and the string is going to buzz on the first few frets badly.

I like the lowest string action possible, on my Andersons I have around 1mm or so at the 22nd fret. A guitar with crappy fretwork though won't be able to hold a low action like that without notes fretting out or buzzing terribly. Also, play style has a lot to do with it - I play lightly, so my strings can go lower than someone who plays like SRV.

Action is generally measured at the 12th or last fret for many factory setups.

Pete

first off, let me be the first to say what a fucking awsome musical instrument

eb with 11's and you are getting buzz at the higher frets?

if you look "down" the neck from the floyd to the headstock, which way is the neck going?

it should be perfectly straight, or with about 1mm-2mm of bow torwards the fretboard.

the actions varies. for serious metal players the lower the better, but too low and you cant get a good grip for string bends.

for a strat i like it at 1/16th of an inch. just a little higher than normal.

for anything else, i try to get them at exactly 1mm down the entire neck, even at the 12th fret.

sometimes i get a little above it and im still alright. my prestige is set at 1.5mm action and plays like butter.

the way you measure the action is from the top of the 12th fret and the top of the 5-6th fret, and again at the 24th fret if you have a neck that long.

stick the measuring instrument on the fret itself, and measure to the bottom of the string.

usually i go by the low E string, but you could possibly go by the 64 gauge string as well.. (A?)

another thing is the floyd heighth could be too low, but it really goes hand in hand with everything else i mentioned earlier.


there is another thing called relief that can be measured when fretting the 5th and 12th frets only. it deals with the adjustment of the truss rod. there is a certain amount of relief a guitar is supposed to have but each guitar is different. i personally dont use that method.

 

[Random Hero]

I generally like a pretty low action, ~1mm at the 24th, which is about 0.7-8mm/1/32" at the 12th fret although I actually have my Suhr set up a hair lower than that right now. Low E I prefer around 1.4mm or so, at the 24th.

As for relief, I like it almost straight, the slightest amount of relief. Enough to clean up the lower frets but not enough so that it feels like a dip in the middle of the neck.