What do you consider "good action"?

[zeegler]

Everyone has a preference on how high or low they like the action on their guitars. I always figured I'm probably in the middle. I don't need ultra low action to play a guitar comfortably. In fact, if it's too low, I find it not only sucks tone, but is harder to play for me.

However, my question is, how low is low?

For example, I have a cheapo SX GG1 Supreme that cost me $189. At the twelfth fret the string height is 1.14mm. I know this because if I slide one of my pics between the fret and the E string, it just barely fits without moving the string. The action is a little lower on the high strings. Now that seems pretty good to me, on a cheapo Chinese made guitar, with decent action, and not one dead fret. There is a very slight occasional buzzing when playing the low E up around the 16th fret or higher.

So what are everyone elses preferences?

[dg]

I usually shoot for the action at the 12th fret to just catch on a Jazz III pick, which is 1.38mm. I have some guitars that can go lower with no buzz, but I don't like it that low.

[Newc]

I've never measured mine, but as a general rule I start with a straight neck, strings tuned to the pitch I want (E, Eb, D, C#, etc) and then drop the bridge until full-step bends on the 1st string at the 15th fret grind out, then raise the action until they no longer grind out.

Once in a great while I'll set one up where bending will result in total grind out, but the fretting is so effortless on that setup I'll just slide to higher notes or pull up on the trem to raise notes.

[JacksonWarrior]

Im right at 1.5mm at the 12th fret with no buzz, standard tuning with regular light guage(10-46) D'addarios. I could get it a bit lower but I like it fine how it is.

[Bengal65]

Anything less than 12mm at the 12th No kidding, I learned on a banana necked cheap acoustic when I was young Realisticly anything at factory spec is good for me.

[Racerx2k]

I typically use somewhat high action, merely because I hate fretbuzz.

[soc_monki]

around 1.3-1.5 on the high E at the 12th fret...low E will be a bit higher of course.

i hate low action with a passion. mines about medium i guess.

[Razor]

I set my action between .010 to .012 on the low E with a feeler guage between the 6th fret and the low E string. I put a capo on the 1st fret and hold the low E sting down at the top of the 12th fret when I do the measurements.

That usually gets me 4/64 on the low E with minimal buzzing from my heavy attack.

[dg]

That's a measurement of neck relief. It's a factor in the action along with bridge height, but In theory you could have little or no relief and still have high action if the bridge is set high.

[seafoamer]

I lyke the really low shyt.

[rjohnstone]

I usually shoot for the action at the 12th fret to just catch on a Jazz III pick, which is 1.38mm. I have some guitars that can go lower with no buzz, but I don't like it that low.

+1

[Nazgul]

+1

+2. That's about the highest as I can handle.

[MichaelLitvak]

i can slide a 1mm tortex (blue ) in the 12 fret and it just fits right with a tiny bit of more room.. perfect action.. too bad there's so much fret buzz on the lower strings, lower frets.. i need a setup.. didnt do one since i bought my dk2 a year ago

i cant find a proper luthier to do setup, i tried a couple and they all raised the bridge and said "there, your fret buzz is gone"

[dg]

Sounds like you need a little bit of relief in the neck, Michael. 1mm action is going to take a pretty painstaking approach that not many techs are willing to do, plus some guitars just aren't going to go that low without buzz. Most techs are just going to tell you it needs to be raised at the bridge. You either have to find a great tech or start working on your own guitars.

[Chad]

I don't mess with that metric stuff. lol. I've always used a 6" rule that measures in 1/64" increments. I usually measure the distance from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of both the high and low E strings. No capo installed.

It varies for me depending on the guitar and what it is used for. For metal, I like it to be around 4/64" for the low E and around 3.5/64" for the high E.