What do you consider low action?

[Rex_Rocker]

Lots of different points of view here. I honestly wasn't expecting people to consider Gibson factory spec to be low. I wasn't even expecting my 1-1.25mm action to be all that low as I'm sure I've gotten lower action before from LTD's and Ibanez. It's an interesting thread!

[Securb]

I've never had a Gibson from the factory . . . but the 2 mm at the low E described above sounds pretty decent for me.

I would say they come from the factory with a moderately low action and are set up with .10s. However, I play with .09s and like an extremely low action, so there is a minor setup to be done when I buy a Gibson. That being said, it is usually a couple of weeks to a month. I play the guitar with the .10s and factory setup, and I have gotten along with all of them just fine.

[solspirit]

Anything below Calle Seis. . .





Seriously, as close to 1mm as I can get with 9's.

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, I don't consider 2 mm on the low strings unplayable... but I'd rather not have my guitars like that. At that point, to me, it's startring to get uncofortable.

[solspirit]

Low action is normal to me, anything above 1.75 is uncomfortable and anything 2 or above is unplayable.

[Phantasmagoria]

Yeah, I'm OCD in that sense. I like to measure my action because I like to keep my guitars along the same lines. Otherwise, I'd just play the guitar with the lowest action and that's it and would never play the other.

I actually don't care for extremely low action. I can't stand even a hint of string buzz & w/ 9's (vibrate more) and stupidly low action there's likely to be some of that & even if there is'nt I think getting it (action) down too low affects the guitar's tone & natural harmonics & the way notes pop (or don't) off the fretboard. Plus as Ashurbanipal mentioned I also prefer a bit more string height for bending strings.

So most of the time I don't really go ape**** trying to get my strings down way low. Just low enough to avoid any string buzz. that's my aim & while my guitars are all in the same balllpark action-wise (low but not stupidly low), I doubt they're all the "exact same" thing. But I like a bit of variety so it's all good

[Rex_Rocker]

For me, buzz is unavoidable. Especially when picking hard like I do. I don't mind a little bit of buzz, especially since I don't play clean, as long as it doesn't interfere with the discernability of the note. I rarely ever bend, honestly. I do a whole lot more vibrato than bending, personally.

Plus like you said, action affects tone. I don't mind the brighter, snappier, stringier tone that I get from low action. I prefer it, honestly. But action too low makes the chuggs sound choked, so I avoid that too.

I'm lucky my guitar is plek'd from the factory, and my Fender's fretwork isn't too bad either.

Like I said, for me it's a personal thing. Somewhat irrational, if I must be honest. It's kinda like guitars with thick necks vs. thin necks for me. My first nice guitar was an Ibanez Prestige, so I tend to associate a nice (and stable) thin neck with good guitars. I'm kinda like that with action too. I started out on a POS Yamaha, moved then to an Epiphone Special II, and then a cheapie Ibanez SZ, all with horrible high action, or else they were buzz city. And back then, I didn't know a competent tech in town. I was traumatized. I said "no more". If I can't get my guitars to have better action that those POS, I'm just simply never going to bond with them.

[weepingminotaur]

I never measure action, but I do like low action the older I get.

[Phantasmagoria]

For me, buzz is unavoidable. Especially when picking hard like I do. I don't mind a little bit of buzz, especially since I don't play clean, as long as it doesn't interfere with the discernability of the note. I rarely ever bend, honestly. I do a whole lot more vibrato than bending, personally.

Plus like you said, action affects tone. I don't mind the brighter, snappier, stringier tone that I get from low action. I prefer it, honestly. But action too low makes the chuggs sound choked, so I avoid that too.

I'm lucky my guitar is plek'd from the factory, and my Fender's fretwork isn't too bad either.

Like I said, for me it's a personal thing. Somewhat irrational, if I must be honest. It's kinda like guitars with thick necks vs. thin necks for me. My first nice guitar was an Ibanez Prestige, so I tend to associate a nice (and stable) thin neck with good guitars. I'm kinda like that with action too. I started out on a POS Yamaha, moved then to an Epiphone Special II, and then a cheapie Ibanez SZ, all with horrible high action, or else they were buzz city. And back then, I didn't know a competent tech in town. I was traumatized. I said "no more". If I can't get my guitars to have better action that those POS, I'm just simply never going to bond with them.

Yeah,well that's exactly how it should be. There's no right or wrong. Everyone's got their own personal preference and idea of what works for them...

I just posted my own preference & gave my reasons for why that's what I consider low enough action-wise..

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah,well that's exactly how it should be. There's no right or wrong. Everyone's got their own personal preference and idea of what works for them...

I just posted my own preference & gave my reasons for why that's what I consider low enough action-wise..

Yeah, not saying you're wrong. I get where you're coming from. I'm just explaining why measuring low action on my guitars is important for me.

[JMP/HBE]

Right now, I've got my Gibson at 1mm on the 12th fret on the highest string and 1.25 on the low C. I'm not sure, but I think that's low-ish for Drop C. But I've played friends' guitars with lower action. Wonder what do you guys consider low action? What do you guys set your guitars to?

What is the factory string action on a Gibson?
Q: What is the factory spec for the string height on my Gibson Les Paul guitar? A: Gibson specs the action for the Les Paul as 5/64″ at the 12th fret for the low E string, measured from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string, 3/64″ for the high E string, measured in the same way.Jan 20, 2009

[Rex_Rocker]

What is the factory string action on a Gibson?
Q: What is the factory spec for the string height on my Gibson Les Paul guitar? A: Gibson specs the action for the Les Paul as 5/64″ at the 12th fret for the low E string, measured from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string, 3/64″ for the high E string, measured in the same way.Jan 20, 2009

Yeah, I went through that a few posts ago. Some people were saying that's low action. I disagreed and someone else did.

[Securb]

If the action is even slightly high, I feel like my fingers are doing a tire drill