How low/high should my action be?

sunshinewelly

rico said:

@FelineGuitars what would you say a 'small gap' would be? Something in the region of 0.3mm?

For most people that's a bit high. Relief should be around 0.15 to 0.25. Although some players again like it slightly higher

On my guitars I have the neck as flat as possible 

sunshinewelly

FelineGuitars said:

Take a capo and a purple tortex pick.

Capo at 1st fret

Hold strings down at body join and adjust truss rod till you have a very small gap between 7th fret top and underside of string

The use pick as feeler gauge - set action height at 12th fret so purple pick is just touching underside of string and fret top

Do the same on the treble side, but do it at the 17th fret.

If you  have 6 height adjustable saddles - why not repeat at 13th fret on A, 14th on D, 15th on G, 16th on B

Now use this as your starting point and go either a little up or down to taste

If you are getting a lot of fret buzz you may have underlying issues that may need attention (or you play harder than I do)
You may also have a too high nut if things feel too stiff  on open chords and that may need cutting





I did not think you use a capo when setting the action on a guitar 

ICBM

rico said:

The nut will really only affect open chords...

No, the nut affects everything. If you don’t have the nut height right you won’t be able to set the guitar up properly, and it certainly affects the measured action height as well as the playability.

The good news is that you only have to do it once, so if you’re not confident about doing it yourself you can get a professional job done and then you can adjust the truss rod and bridge yourself as necessary later.

I’m also in the don’t-measure-it camp - I check the nut height by fretting each string at the third fret and checking the gap between the string and the first fret (aim for 1/10-1/4 of the string diameter), the relief by fretting the G string at the first and usually the 17th fret (first over the body) and looking at the gap at the 7th-8th frets (aim for under half the string diameter) and the bridge height by playing bent notes at the 12th-15th fret and checking for choking. Then tweak until it feels and sounds right if that all doesn’t quite work straight away.

FelineGuitars

sunshinewelly said:

FelineGuitars said:

Take a capo and a purple tortex pick.

Capo at 1st fret

Hold strings down at body join and adjust truss rod till you have a very small gap between 7th fret top and underside of string

The use pick as feeler gauge - set action height at 12th fret so purple pick is just touching underside of string and fret top

Do the same on the treble side, but do it at the 17th fret.

If you  have 6 height adjustable saddles - why not repeat at 13th fret on A, 14th on D, 15th on G, 16th on B

Now use this as your starting point and go either a little up or down to taste

If you are getting a lot of fret buzz you may have underlying issues that may need attention (or you play harder than I do)
You may also have a too high nut if things feel too stiff  on open chords and that may need cutting





I did not think you use a capo when setting the action on a guitar 

I do it to eliminate the effect of how well or  the nut is cut as that must be dealt with as a separate issue- as ICBM says 

Kalimna

Some very useful tips here.

May I ask how much play there tends to be in dual-action truss rods? Reason I ask is that my first home-built has a *very* flexible neck - I got a little carried away with the carving. I think I have the nut slots at an appropriate depth (perhaps room for a little deeper, but only a smidge), but the action I feel is still too high. It might be that the neck is just settling down after a couple of years of not being used, now that it has a lower-set bridge.

However, I don't want to keep tweaking the truss rod until I hear the *snap* of a thread being destroyed.

So, any pointers to how far the rod can be adjusted?

Cheers, Adam