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How high, or low, do you go?
I've been playing a few different guitars over the last couple of weeks, and some are immediately "easier" to play as soon as I pick them up.
Some of that is due to scale length or the size/profile of the neck, sometimes the overall weight of the guitar or how it balances on the knee, but action height is also a factor in how easy it feels to play.
So, assuming that you've got a good straight neck, and the nut slots are cut correctly (I aim for the string to touch the first fret when holding the string down at the third fret), what sort of string height do you set-up to, say at the 12th & final frets?
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My starting point when setting up an electric is to adjust the top E to a height where it can be bent a full tone (right along the neck) without it choking, the B one and a half tones and the G two full tones (the only reason I do this is because this is how far I will be bending them when I play). I then set the D slightly higher than the G, the A slightly higher than the D and bottom E slightly higher still.
These heights (whatever they may be) are the lowest settings I can get away with given how I play. They may not be for you...
In my experience, there is a 'sweet spot' where the tone and the sustain of a guitar opens up. This point is invariably above the lowest settings which allow choke-free playing. This is the point I try to find when doing a set up.
Incidentally, when fretted at the third fret, the nut should be sufficiently high as to allow the string to be 'tapped' onto the 1st fret. In other words, there should be a very slight gap.
Hope this helps...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
As low as I can reasonably get it. Mine are all slightly different but still pretty low.
A friend of mine got a brand new LP, with a marvellous set-up done on it, and it was still higher than any of mine....
Still, what works for one guitar/player doesn't always work for another
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
small amount of relief in the neck next, and then 2/32" gap under the high E at the 12th fret, 2.5/32" under the low E and the rest set using a radius gauge to match the frets
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein