Jump to content

Preferred Action And Relief


Recommended Posts

Aside from factory specs, guitar variety, Where does your relief and Action measure on your favorite Electric G?

I'll start-

Relief at 7th .007

Action at 12 LOW E .055

Action at 12 HI E .043

Kind of low but clean all the way up neck.

I always shoot for .062 on LOW E and relief of .010 or under. Don't always get there... :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is with a .009"-.042" set of strings on a 25.5" scale neck with a slight tapered radius fret-board of about 11" to 13"

Relief at 7th fret : .004"

Action at 12, low E : .046" (3/64")

Action at 12, high E : .033" ? (+1/32")

I've been saying for years now, that I'm going to heavier strings and will raise the action for that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

what do you mean by that? "intonation" refers to how well your guitar is in tune when you press down on a fret. bad intonaton= even if your string is in tune when you press down on a fret it's sharp or flat. good intonation= when your string is in tune and you press down anywhere on the neck that note is perfectly in tune.

See how to make your guitar play "in tune" here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Damn... I do that a lot. I write the wrong words... sorry. I was referring to string hieghts and relief. This IS about string hieght, right? Forhive me, I am unfamiliar with certain terms, though I pick em up after looking stupid once.

I swear I'm not as n00bish as I'm being, normally!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok now I understand,

Generally a guitarist wants his/her action as low as it can be without buzzing. So a rythem player will want it a little higher, and a lead player would want it as low as humanly possiable because it makes you faster.

FYI it's always to review your post and read it through to make sure you got your point across, use right wording Etc. Etc. Etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok now I understand,

Generally a guitarist wants his/her action as low as it can be without buzzing. So a rythem player will want it a little higher, and a lead player would want it as low as humanly possiable because it makes you faster.

Not all lead players want it low. Bluesy types often like to "dig in" when bending, and ultra low action makes this tough. Plus, aggressive players hit the strings hard enough to make low action rattle a lot. SRV had high action.

And you can still play fast with high action, it's just harder. Yngwie has fairly high action (of course, his Fender axe has a pretty round fretboard radius). But yeah, most shredder types like it low.

I like mine in the middle - about 4 or 5/64" on 12th fret low E, and slightly lower on the high E.

Godin, you must have a LIGHT touch to not buzz with your action!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And you can still play fast with high action, it's just harder. Yngwie has fairly high action (of course, his Fender axe has a pretty round fretboard radius

Indeed. Here are some "pro" setups taken from Dan Erlewine's Guitar Player Repair guide.

Malmsteen: 4/64 string height at 17th fret and .008 relief at 7th

Clapton: 3/64-4/64 string height at 17th with .010 relief at 7th

SRV: 4/64 string height at 17th fret and .012 relief at 7th

Here is Gibson flat top factory setup specs:

Maximum relief at 7th: .012

Action at 12th: 6/64 low E and 4/64 high E

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And you can still play fast with high action, it's just harder. Yngwie has fairly high action (of course, his Fender axe has a pretty round fretboard radius

Indeed. Here are some "pro" setups taken from Dan Erlewine's Guitar Player Repair guide.

Malmsteen: 4/64 string height at 17th fret and .008 relief at 7th

Clapton: 3/64-4/64 string height at 17th with .010 relief at 7th

SRV: 4/64 string height at 17th fret and .012 relief at 7th

Here is Gibson flat top factory setup specs:

Maximum relief at 7th: .012

Action at 12th: 6/64 low E and 4/64 high E

That is lower than I expected. A thread over at Jemsite hinted at higher action, but I'd guess Dan is the better source... Note: 2mm is roughly 5/64"

http://www.jemsite.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php...t=yngwie+action

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...