anyone else rocking super low action on their soloist

[toejam]

Heck, I think Carvin makes them with 20" radius.

Only the Holdsworth models and the 8-string come standard with 20" radius. All others are 14" standard, with 10", 12" and 20" as options.

[toejam]

They all play really easy, but you can't sound a note by just staring at the fretboard either.

So my action is set pretty low, and then brought back up to a playable height that sounds good.

My action is pretty much the same. But I've mastered sounding a note by staring at the fretboard; it takes years of practice, though.

[bombtek]

Yanno ... I've tried the staring method and it works well on all of my guitars except my 7.25" Fender

[toejam]

Yeah, that 7.25" radius is way too round for it to work.

[xenophobe]

I used to love killer low action. So much so, that I would even be willing to live with some buzz. Lets face it when your playing with copious amounts of gain, a little buzz isn't noticeable at all.

I have found as I get older (shit!) that I like my action to be higher. I like to really be able to grab the note by the balls. I find my guitars intonate better, sustains better and the the notes articulate better. With all of those benefits, I also find I use less gain as well. Sadly, this has taken me 25 years to figure out.:think:

Yeah, I'm on that same boat really. When I was young, what drew me to CJ was the fact you could get silly low action.

And yeah, as my playing has improved and as I've grown older, that super low action isn't as important.

So my action is set pretty low, and then brought back up to a playable height that sounds good.

Yeah, that's basically how I set up my guitars as well. I set my action as low as I can get it making any final tweaks... then raise it up to where I like it.

[Whitecrow]

sorry to drag up an older thread but...there is some real merit here. I have an 86 model 5 mij charvel that i played for years with carvin v220 style action. shredders paradise. it is awesome to play legato for an hour with only one hand but...years later, having not touched another guitar, I bought an acoustic. My left hand was weak from playing on air. It took months to strengthen my hand to a point where i could enjoy the acoustic. I cut my teeth on a global box guitar when i was 8. grew up playing acoustic pieces. I love classical guitar just as much as shredding. 6 months later, I went back home to visit family. my nephew handed me an esp drop tuned a whole step with aircraft cable for strings and action so high you could slip a swisher sweet under the strings (not really, but very high to me). the pain that guitar caused made me realize that there is no need to set the action as low as possible. I came home and raised mine a 16th and put heavier strings on mine. my playing has improved because of it. now i can play master of puppets on the acoustic.

[straycat]

Depends on the guitar for me,a strat I like a little space to work with and the action not super low.
My 85 soloist has pretty low action for my taste but it is effortless to grab perfect clean notes.I use 10's with it because its a Kahler bridge.
OFR bridges I use 9's and have the bass side of the bridge a pinch higher than I do the treble side.That is just on my guitars I set others up how they want them.
I don't use goofy drop Q tunings and huge strings either.
I never measure string height I go by feel,start low and go up until it plays right and sounds right.

[pianoguyy]

sorry to drag up an older thread but...there is some real merit here. I have an 86 model 5 mij charvel that i played for years with carvin v220 style action. shredders paradise. it is awesome to play legato for an hour with only one hand but...years later, having not touched another guitar, I bought an acoustic. My left hand was weak from playing on air. It took months to strengthen my hand to a point where i could enjoy the acoustic.

At the store, we only had acoustic guitars. And I tell ya...
I spent so much time there that I became a very adept acoustic player. So much so, that when I started playing guitar full time again, my electric skills needed to be rehoned. Being able to make a note ring pretty on an acoustic is not the same playing technique needed for blazing fast solos with full gain, delays, and reverbs.

[Brandenburg]

i like keeping my action all about the same.. just measured it and its roughly around 1.75mm @ the 12 freton my #1 DK2.. My squire is around 2mm and plays fantastic.. my new dinky is set up similarly.. I tend to bend alot so i want the action off the fretboard some.. I use 10's on my guitars but im probably going to put 11's on my newest dinky and use it for Eb or perhaps C tuning..