Your preferred action height on you EBMM?

[silverman]

I have my cutlass set up medium-low, but just how I like it at roughly 1.6mm at the 17th. Plays great with no unwanted sympathetic noises. I checked the EBMM website as I was curious what the recommended specs were and was quite surprised to find that they recommend 1.6mm at the 12th! This seems quite high for such a well made guitar.

Anyhow, I'm curious about the preferences and experiences of other EBMM enthusiasts when it comes to string action height.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I usually set mine around 1.4mm at the 12th fret on the high e, and 1.6mm at the low E. Higher action in many cases results in a better tone. Also I can dig in more and not have to worry as much about buzz.

 

[DrKev]

2 mm over 12th fret on the low E, 1.75 mm on the high E. 0.2 mm neck relief.

Most manufacturers that make specific recommendations suggest 2 mm on the low E string and 1.75 to 1.5 mm on the high E-string. 0.2 to 0.3 mm neck relief works well. If I hand a client a guitar setup that way they are usually delighted and rarely want much change from that. Of course people should set their guitars up for whatever feels and sounds best to them but that's a good starting point and adjust to taste thereafter.

Personally, I'm amazed that people can play with anything lower than 1.5 mm without too much buzz. That to me is LOW! How Petrucci can play with action as low as he goes, I just don't know! Of course there was a time when I played a vintage reissue strat with 2.5mm action and I can't quite understand how I did that either!

 

[fbecir]

Hello

I never measure the action height when I setup my guitars. Every neck is different (profile and radius) and for me the most important things are :

• no buzz
• no choke out
• feels good !

Besides I play with 10-52 strings, and I play also a dobro and acoustic with heavy strings (for slide), thus very low action is not for me !

I believe in my case, the action is always > 2 mm.

 

[vuduhwy]

Hello

I never measure the action height when I setup my guitars. Every neck is different (profile and radius) and for me the most important things are :

• no buzz
• no choke out
• feels good !

Besides I play with 10-52 strings, and I play also a dobro and acoustic with heavy strings (for slide), thus very low action is not for me !

I believe in my case, the action is always > 2 mm.

This is it for me also. I never measure mine either. I make sure I have a good fret and nut job, A teency bit of relief in the next and then I noodle all over and play with the saddles until I get clear notes (for the way that I play) Some of my guitars have lower action and some are higher.

 

[Terry007]

As low as possible with no buzz.

 

[Astrofreq]

As low as possible with no buzz.

This exactly.

 

[agt]

About 4/64 (approximately 1.6mm) on the low E and closer to 3/64 (approximately 1.2mm) on the high E. Distances are from top of 12th fret to bottom of string with strings unfretted.