is it strange i prefer high action on my ibanez?

jrade · #1 08-29-2009, 04:06 AM

i dont dislike low action but i play much better with high action. for some odd reason even though i can alternate pick really fast and acurate i need. high action because i fret way to fast a low action. i dont feal the strings. so i dont play with enough fidelity and even end up fretting 5 notes ahead of where i pick sometimes. so i will be on the wrong string. my hand is really fast. i am talking about liking it where my thickest string is at 1/4 an inch off the board on my rg570ct at the 12th fret. and thinest string at like 3/32 of an inch. is this weird. bad at all either for the guitar or anything. or is this just unique. i play many steve vai, paul gilbert, satch songs like this but cant play them lower. people say you want it lower right. is this weird?

IbanezFreak777 · #2 08-29-2009, 04:16 AM

Whatever works for you, is the best setup of all.....

rob777vdy · #3 08-29-2009, 04:30 AM

alot of pro's use a high action.yngwie malmsteen's action is really high.

jrade · #4 08-29-2009, 04:32 AM

then in that case as long as it does not hurt the guitar in anyway i am happy. because its so much easier for me to play like this. are there any famous musicians who like it high like this?

Brosa · #5 08-29-2009, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob777vdy

alot of pro's use a high action.yngwie malmsteen's action is really high.

+1

If it's good enough for the swedisch maestro..

Magical Muffin · #6 08-30-2009, 01:33 AM

The only reason for him to have high action is that his strings practically are floppy spaghetti noodles to begin with.

The important thing is not action height, but the actual force you need to fret your finger to make the note sound.

Btw, what gauge strings + tuning do you use? You might want to try thicker strings if your using 9's in E or Eb (particularly Eb).

kotornut · #7 08-30-2009, 02:00 AM

My theory is as long as it works correctly and is comfortable to you then there you go.

I know a lot of people try to diagnose medium low action as "high" action but it usually isn't the case. The real problem is that too many people these days play with their action choking the notes and buzzing. They just can't hear it through the super gainified metal behemoth of an amp they play through.

My friend told me my action was high compared to his strat, nice guy but honestly his strat choked every note, I got no sustain compared to my RG. And actually RGs and other floating tremmed guitars usually can't achieve as low of action as a fixed bridge guitar do to the design of the bridge limiting adjustment.

jrade · #8 08-30-2009, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kotornut

My theory is as long as it works correctly and is comfortable to you then there you go.

I know a lot of people try to diagnose medium low action as "high" action but it usually isn't the case. The real problem is that too many people these days play with their action choking the notes and buzzing. They just can't hear it through the super gainified metal behemoth of an amp they play through.

My friend told me my action was high compared to his strat, nice guy but honestly his strat choked every note, I got no sustain compared to my RG. And actually RGs and other floating tremmed guitars usually can't achieve as low of action as a fixed bridge guitar do to the design of the bridge limiting adjustment.

my lo pro edge can get my strings to extremely lo action with just a twist of the poles. i think my bridge makes it easier then fixed bridges. fixed bridges can be lowered easily but need wood work to get them high. also my guitar sounds just the same on clean when play it at like 1/64 of an inch at the 12th fret for all my strings. i noticed if you frets are not very tall then yes it chokes no matter what your setting is. but my frets are very new and tall and even so they dont choke at all and never buzz. only with my friends strat did the fret buzz from on even frets other then that never had any experience with to much of a big difference. i hear though i get more control of the sound when i play at higher action. if i push to hard it will actually make it a note off when its lower it does not matter how hard i push its seems right. the major difference i hear is i play better and i get a lot more sustain because my body vibrates a lot more i mean it feals like a machine on my knee almost jumps sometimes and moves a lot around. the weakness is if i dont mute the strings i am not using they all go wild with a floating bridge at high action compared to low action you dont get as much sustain but the strings dont go crazy too. my sustain is crazy i can hold a chord go up and down my neck for 45 seconds before it quiets down and you stop hearing it at a little more then a minute.

kotornut · #9 08-30-2009, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrade

my lo pro edge can get my strings to extremely lo action with just a twist of the poles. i think my bridge makes it easier then fixed bridges. fixed bridges can be lowered easily but need wood work to get them high. also my guitar sounds just the same on clean when play it at like 1/64 of an inch at the 12th fret for all my strings. i noticed if you frets are not very tall then yes it chokes no matter what your setting is. but my frets are very new and tall and even so they dont choke at all and never buzz. only with my friends strat did the fret buzz from on even frets other then that never had any experience with to much of a big difference. i hear though i get more control of the sound when i play at higher action. if i push to hard it will actually make it a note off when its lower it does not matter how hard i push its seems right. the major difference i hear is i play better and i get a lot more sustain because my body vibrates a lot more i mean it feals like a machine on my knee almost jumps sometimes and moves a lot around. the weakness is if i dont mute the strings i am not using they all go wild with a floating bridge at high action compared to low action you dont get as much sustain but the strings dont go crazy too. my sustain is crazy i can hold a chord go up and down my neck for 45 seconds before it quiets down and you stop hearing it at a little more then a minute.

Got a lo-pro too. I'm just saying what Ibanez Rules says, supposedly a fixed bridge is more able to be set up extremely low. Just what I heard, could be wrong, but in my experience my old gibsons could get lower action better than my Ibby.

If you want high action for any reason and it works just fine, who are you trying to justify it with? it's your guitar do what you want.

jrade · #10 08-30-2009, 03:41 AM

i am not trying to justify it with anyone i am just an unconfident newbie i have only been playing for a month and just want to make sure its not an amature mistake and wont hurt the guitar.

kotornut · #11 08-30-2009, 03:48 AM

It's not a mistake. But I'll tell you that if you have to fight a guitar too much it get's frustrating when you really start getting into techniques that take a lot of dexterity. Also, it could end up affecting your technique by making you grip the strings too hard for the rest of your playing life thus when you get better you'll hit a wall of speed and dexterity because you can't relax your hand enough. These could happen, but they aren't guaranteed.

People in my Dad's generation had that problem a lot, they only had crappy Montgomery Ward's guitars and so on to learn on with horrible action and they ended up developing an involuntary tension whenever they played. They were so used to fighting a guitar they could never get past it a lot of times. My Dad even got carpel tunnel syndrome in his left (fretting) hand's wrist. He thinks it's from that.

Homebake · #12 08-30-2009, 04:15 AM

i can get my action on my EZ rg2550 stupidly low, till notes everywhere stop working, further than you'd ever need.

i have my action set at the "low" profile according to ibanezrules.com. obviously i can go lower, but then it starts to get harder to bend properly and sustain and overall tone suffers more.

jrade · #13 08-30-2009, 04:24 AM

yeah same with me. i actually find bending easier the higher i go though some of my strings then go off the fret board. but yeah a good balance is good.

nickcoumbe · #14 09-01-2009, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kotornut

Got a lo-pro too. I'm just saying what Ibanez Rules says, supposedly a fixed bridge is more able to be set up extremely low. Just what I heard, could be wrong, but in my experience my old gibsons could get lower action better than my Ibby.

If you want high action for any reason and it works just fine, who are you trying to justify it with? it's your guitar do what you want.

I agree with the whole fixed bridge being lower thing completely. Not only because I have experienced it, buy also because it follows one of the key rules of Jemsite.

kotornut · #15 09-01-2009, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickcoumbe

I agree with the whole fixed bridge being lower thing completely. Not only because I have experienced it, buy also because it follows one of the key rules of Jemsite.

Yeah people got the wrong idea I think when I said that too. They started talking how low they could physically set their bridges. And consequently the notes all choked out but it was really low. I wasn't talking about how low you can physically adjust it. I was saying in working useful situations a fixed bridge is able to be adjusted to play lower than a floyd. The floyd isn't as adjustable for height and when using the floyd functions the strings choke out easier.