Guitar action, this has caused many online wars hasn’t it! High, low, too low, you’re an idiot for liking it ‘that’ low.
We all like our action at different heights, for some styles of music it’s better to have a certain action, slide you probably want it slightly higher, and for easy shredding you likely want it lower. All heights are viable, we have different hand sizes, and different ways we strike the strings.
So, what works for one player, will not feel good for another.
For me personally I like a low action, I have a lighter touch and when I strike the string, I’m not just hitting it with full force, it’s a focused action that has technique. I don’t like to fight the guitar, and I don’t like to put unnecessary extra strain on my hands.
As someone that likes low action, it has always struck me as odd that many techs I’ve taken my own guitars to in my younger years and even some ‘luthiers’ on YouTube, just outright dismiss low action like It’s an illness and flat out won’t do it! Why is that? It’s a stubborn old school way of thinking that guitars must be a certain height. I know the lower you go the more you can introduce buzz, but not if your frets are good 😉 I have good blog on that!
Now we have so many brands and types of guitars and option’s with how guitars are built and what they come with, the fundamental elements for good guitar action are all there now. In the days of just Fender and Gibson, fender has a small radius and is notoriously bad for getting low action as the high e string will choke out if set to low, you’re really pushing that high E string quite a way uphill.
The main things needed for low action is a good solid, level neck that isn’t twisted, flatter radius helps a lot, and a good fret level. See my other blog for that!10” is good, this is PRS territory. Sometimes the high E can choke over a full step bend if action is too low, but it can still go low and feels great to play.
12”-14” onwards is better, 16” onwards and It’s silly how low you can go and get massive bends. Something like and Ibanez can feel just effortless to play.
I don’t set every guitar I do up with low action, I know not everyone will feel at home with it set to low. My standard heights are more a good playable action that is slightly easier to play, but it’s good to know how to get decent low action when customers need and want it. There is more to how a guitar plays than just action, as nut action and neck relief also play a huge part in the overall feel of the guitar. It all makes the difference and even the smallest adjustments can have a profound overall effect.
There are lots of things to consider, are you and electric or acoustic player? Are you frets low? Low frets to try and bend on are tough. One comment that gets batted around is that ‘I like higher action because I can get my fingers under it’. I don think this is entirely accurate, this is more down to the fret wire. Low fret wire for me makes It so hard to get a grip of and bend with ease. But newer taller frets with lower action is totally fine, the action is almost irrelevant as you have enough depth to ‘get under it’.
Ultimately action is a massively personal thing; everyone likes it differently which is fine and a good thing!
My biggest advice is to never listen to people who say it can’t be a certain way. Experienced techs can help you get the instrument to how you want it to play, the only caveat to this is if you neck is twisted or not aligned properly to the bridge, you’ll never get it right and you’ll have other issues to address first. But otherwise with good quality work we can get the playability where it needs to be, and I encourage you to try different setups and talk to your tech about how you want your instrument to play. We are here to help. I think it’s very Important to speak to the customer coming in about what they like/dislike about their current setup and get them in a place so the instrument they get back is the instrument they want.
