String height or action describes the distance between the top of your frets to the bottom of your strings. The key point to remember is that everybody has different preferences when it comes to action height. If you have an aggressive playing style, you may find that low action causes a lot of fret buzz. Part 3 Setting Action at the Nut In the above photo, you can see that there are two screws you can adjust on the bridge posts. Generally a guitar’s string height is measured at the 12th fret. There is a factory spec for 12th fret action measurements … Guitars with a Gibson Tune-o-Matic bridge give you two points where you can raise or lower action. High action is recommended for slide playing because it gives you some extra room to move when pressing the slide on the strings. The following tables show typical action for guitars and bass guitars at the lowest and highest strings. If you have an appropriate tool (covered above), measuring guitar action is simple. Properly setting up your truss rod is crucial to get right before you adjust your guitar’s action. Once your guitar’s truss rod is set up properly, you can then measure your action height and make adjustments. Fixing the tension balance will significantly improve the guitar’s action without needing to touch the action adjustment posts. Changing string gauge doesn’t always impact action, but if you notice a change in action after changing your set of strings, the new strings may have thrown your guitar out of balance. When a guitar isn’t plugged in, even the slightest fret buzzing is instantly noticeable. How to choose your string height Guitar Action at the 12th Fret of an Epiphone 339 Electric But how do you know if the action is too high? In this guide, you will learn what guitar action is, why it is important, how to measure it, and how to adjust it for acoustic or electric guitars. Sure, I can adjust things nicely and fix any uneven frets but that’s only a (small) part of the picture. We're going to set our outside E strings before we start messing with the radius for our saddles. Now pick each string individually. This is why acoustic guitars usually have higher action than electric guitars. Marking the saddle with straight lines also helps you keep your filing straight. If it doesn’t, find out which string is touching the tool and raise that string’s action until the tool can rest against both E strings. High action can throw off your guitar’s intonation because you need to push the string further to reach the fret. Guitar Gear Finder is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, or Amazon.de, What Should the Action be on an Electric Guitar, What Should the Action be on an Acoustic Guitar, How to Adjust Action on an Electric Guitar, How to Adjust Action on an Acoustic Guitar, Find out about intonation and how to adjust it in this guide, Read through this guide to learn about Truss Rods, Learn more about intonation in this guide, Find out more about Floyd Rose bridges in my ultimate guide here, Find out more about string gauges and tension in this guide, How to Connect Guitar To PC/Laptop: Gear, Software, Tips, 5 Essential Pedals for Acoustic Guitar (Advice and Pedalboard Examples), Tune your guitar. ... take some action measurements at the 12th fret on the two outermost strings while your guitar is strung up to pitch. If you lowered the action at the nut, you must also lower the action at the bridge or your tone will be off. This Ultimate Guide on Truss Rods explains how to check if your truss rod is set properly and how to adjust it for the best results. The fret most widely used for action measurements is the 12th fret. The Martin guitar factory considers a low ‘E’ bass string to be within specification if the distance from the 12th fret to the bottom of the low E string is between 2.38 mm (3/32″) minimum, to 2.78 mm (7/64″) maximum. The guide includes diagrams and step-by-step advice on how to adjust intonation. The Stats: Common String Action Standards Used by Luthiers Many guitar setup reference guides will suggest a standard action for steel string acoustic guitars of 3/32” (0.09375”) on the bass side of the neck and 1/16” (0.0625”) on the treble side, measured at the 12th fret. There are many electric guitarists who are happy to have some slight buzzing in exchange for super-low action height. This is the measurement of the action at the nut; NB: You are not pressing on any strings when you do this as you did in the preliminary check above. That’s what players usually want. This can affect the bow of the neck (explained in this guide on Truss rods) as well as the guitar’s action. String height at the nut should be as low as possible without causing open string buzz. Do this carefully! Yes No. The below ruler won’t work because it doesn’t start measuring from the very end: If you tried to use the above ruler, you’ll end up with a bad reading. Measure from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string. Because of all these factors, electric guitar action can be set far lower than that on acoustic guitars, typically anywhere from .15″ to .05″ lower, on average. Find out more about Floyd Rose bridges in my ultimate guide here. With this type of bridge, you need to go through each string and check the action height for each one. They’re easy to use and give clear readings in inches or millimeters. September 11, 2018. If you file too much off or accidentally create a curve in the bottom of the saddle, you’ll need to buy a new saddle and start again. The above guitar will likely have action so high it becomes unplayable. Guitar action also plays an important part in your guitar’s intonation. Try to find the limit on how low you can set your action to, then decide what the ideal height is for you. The second way is to adjust the height of the nut. But the pickups are far away from this buzzing, which is why it doesn’t pick it up very well. In the below photo, you can see that the height of the strings is set by the height of the saddle. Subscribe to Acoustic Guitar on . Initially appeared: June 03, 2014 Was this page useful? A typical action on an acoustic guitar is at around 5/64″ (2.0mm) on the high E string and 7/64″ (2.8mm) on the low E string. How to remove bridge pins on an acoustic guitar It’s vital that you check the rest of the guitar is set up correctly first. For most guitarists, buying this tool is overkill as you can properly set the action for each string with careful measurements. This is why acoustic guitars usually have higher action than electric guitars. ... mark the saddle under the low and high strings and connect them with a straight line. If the action on the middle strings is too low and causing issues, you will need to compromise and raise the action across all strings. There are two ways to tell if the action on your guitar is too high: intonation and feel. Let’s say you have measured the action on your low E string and you want to lower it. If the string buzzes against the tool, it means the action is fine for the radius. If you use a standard ruler, take multiple measurements to make sure you read the ruler properly. File off a small amount, replace the saddle in the bridge, tune-up the strings and measure the action again. If you hear a difference between the two notes, it means your intonation is out. There are generally three steps involved when you adjust the action on an acoustic guitar, which include checking and possibly adjusting three separate areas of your guitar, namely the truss rod, nut, and bridge. How To Lower The Action On An Acoustic Guitar? Make sure you adjust both height screws to the same height so your saddle stays flat. Removing the nut from the Guitar. Be careful not to apply too much pressure on one side of the saddle or you’ll end up with uneven action across the strings. The guide explains how string gauge and tension affect your guitar and will help you understand what gauge strings are best for you. Let’s look at how to raise or lower the action of an acoustic guitar. Read through this guide to learn about Truss Rods and how to properly adjust them. The below photo shows what is meant by the height of the strings over the fretboard: Guitar action is important to get right because it can completely change how a guitar feels to play. Learn more about intonation in this guide. High action on an acoustic guitar not only affects the intonation, it can make the instrument difficult, if not painful, to play. Unlike electric guitars, any buzzing due to low action is obvious on an acoustic guitar. Also, hovering the cursor over most linear dimension values will convert the values to decimal inches, fractional inches, and SI units. Action measurements are typically taken using a ruler with its end sitting on top of the 12th fret. This distance plays a key role in your setup because it determines the ease in which your guitar can be played. • Latest American Lutherie article: "Resurrection and Modification of an Inexpensive Old Factory Guitar", American Lutherie #138 Table of Contents, • Latest research article: "Quantifying Player-Induced Intonation Errors of the Steel String Acoustic Guitar". Steel String Acoustic guitar The low E action at 1st fret .023″ | The high E action 1st fret .013″ Low E action at 12th fret .090″ | high E action … Action measurements are typically taken using a ruler with its end sitting on top of the 12 th fret. While this is a lot more work, it may prevent filing off too much and having to start again on a new saddle. Adjust the string action. This ensures the right tension is applied to the neck, Make sure your neck is straight and adjust your truss rod needed, Rest the ruler or string action gauge tool on the 12th fret, Read the ruler from the bottom of the string, Repeat this for any other string on your guitar you need to measure. Action determines how much pressure and distance is required for the string to make full contact with each fret. The string height markings are at increments of .010" (ten thousandths of an inch). But if you want to use one, check out this set here. Don’t try to file your saddle down in one go: there’s nothing worse than filing too much off of your saddle and having to buy a new one or shim it. Re-tune your guitar (every adjustment will impact your guitar’s tuning) and re-measure the action. You may find that a slightly higher action works best when you regularly use a capo. He likes a low action--just above buzzing--and uses John Pearse "Slightly Light" strings that are not Extra Light but are lighter in gauge and tension than the standard JP Lights. The slight increase in action height gives an acoustic guitar’s strings more room to vibrate. High action can also be a result of a poorly set truss rod. If your guitar’s intonation is out or the guitar feels awkward to play compared to other guitars, the action may be too high. The first way is by adjusting the height of the bridge saddle. If the bridge is imbalanced, you will see a big change in action. You end up with fret buzzing. In this video we learn to measure action of an acoustic guitar using a 2mm thick coin. For acoustic guitars, the default action is typically 7⁄64 in (0.28 cm) on the bass side and 5⁄64 in (0.20 cm) on the treble side. For example, if your Floyd Rose bridge looks like this in it’s resting position, you need to fix it first before you consider adjusting the action: A poorly set up Floyd Rose bridge will cause action height problems as the bridge is designed to raise and lower. This gives you a clearer tone and allows you to strum chords without ending up in a buzzing mess. Some electric guitarists prefer lower action than this while others prefer higher. Find out about intonation and how to adjust it in this guide. It was not the topic I was looking for It didn't have enough information It had errors or incorrect information It didn't seem trustworthy Something else Additional details: Cancel. Raising the action can remove the buzzing and clean up your playing. Because that distance increases the further away from the nut the measurement is taken, we typically just measure this at a single fret for representational purposes. The distance you push the string causes the note to bend out-of-tune. If your guitar’s bridge doesn’t allow you to adjust the height for each string, you only need to measure the action on the high and low E strings. If you want to lower the action on your acoustic guitar, you need to remove the saddle and file it down. Imagine a jazz guitarist playing some fast and soft passages with gentle picking and a soft touch on the strings. That’s the limitation with this type of bridge. There are three ways you can control the action on an acoustic guitar. 3/32" from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the low E and 2/32" for the high e are standard middle-ground measurements. Check your guitar’s intonation by playing a 12th fret natural harmonic and compare the pitch against the fretted 12th fret note. what not to do when you lower an acoustic guitar’s action.Don’t mess with the truss rodIt used to be when I first started playing guitar a couple decades ago that adjusting the truss rod was a smart move This is very important. Finger pickers may like them a bit lower, flat pickers who like to dig into the strings, a little higher. If you are soft when picking the strings, the strings aren’t likely to buzz against the frets. Rest the end of the ruler against the 12th fret on your guitar and hold it against the string. The high ‘e’ treble string should measure between 1.59 mm (1/16″) and 1.98 mm (5/64″) at the maximum. So use a pen and ruler to mark a line on the saddle (shown below) so you can easily see how much you have filed off. If the neck has too much relief, it will cause high action. Find out more about string gauges and tension in this guide. A ruler that starts the measurements from the very end allows you to press the ruler flush against the frets and get an accurate measurement. Measure from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string. You may find that the buzzing almost completely goes away. Simply turn the screw on the bridge post next to the low E string and slightly lower the post. If you play an acoustic guitar and then pick up an electric guitar in a store, you will probably notice the lower action on the electric guitar. Once you measure the action, remove the saddle and use a file to shave material off of the bottom of the saddle while keeping it straight. The right action for your guitar depends on two things: the type of guitar you have and your playing style. You measure guitar action height with an action gauge or ruler. Customers call us every single day asking how to adjust (usually lower) the action on their acoustic guitar. This is the method I will be covering below because it will likely lead to the ideal action for most guitarists. The aggressive playing style causes the strings to vibrate wide and low action would cause serious buzzing issues. If you want to try and go for a lower action height, try lowering it slightly and listen for any increase in buzzing. 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