Guitar action

Buco

@voutoreenie definitely try 10s sometime. Some guitars truly sound a lot nicer with them. My Ivanovski is one of those. Every time I try 11s, the tone becomes more fundamental, it loses the overtones. Because extra tension chokes the top. Which is thin on my guitar and it just can't vibrate freely with 11s. Then every time I go back to 10s, it's like hearing angelic voices when those overtones come back.

Get some wood veneer. It's easy to cut with scissors and use what you need as shims.

ethanwm

People have strong shim opinions, but I second @Buco — I have some 1 mm ish veneer (IRW and Pao Ferro) that I cut with scissors and put under my bridge to experiment with action changes.

Went from 2.5mm to 3.0mm ish, and it sounds WAY louder and much better across strings. I may get another bridge but I haven't decided quite yet. Obviously, I like volume for jams, but louder means more possibility of dynamic differences too. Worth the slight hit in playability, but hey, that forces good technique.

I put it on the solid part of bridge foot, not across the entire bridge/guitar contact point, btw. YMMY of course, but at least to my ears, shimming seems much less finicky than previous forum threads/posts have noted — and a great way to test some of this stuff essentially for the cost of a $10 piece of veneer and some time.

I made a 2.0mm veneer by putting two together with a drop of titebond just so they don't fly away in case I feel like going even higher. Not that I think I need to, but like many things, you learn a lot by taking it too far then dialing things back in. You can also get IRW headstock blanks at 2.0mm for around $10.

pdg

Based on your reported current action, though, I'd try a 0.5mm shim of any sort (hardwood veneer preferred) first, to get you in a comfortable range (adds 0.25mm to the action), rather than a 1.0mm shim.

Here's one possibility (0.6mm):

https://volpewoodworks.com/products/east-indian-rosewood-raw-wood-veneer-sheets-5-x-26-inches-1-42nd-thick

voutoreenie

So I do actually have some rosewood shims...ngl tho, they just don't do as much for me as plastic, seemed to make the guitar's tone sound a bit "muffled" so I switched back.

Gouch

A metric tapered-wedge welding gap gauge is the killer action gauge tool IMO. It’s *much* easier to accurately read than a vertical ruler. Slide it over the 12th fret and when the bottom of the string hits the mark, your measurement is dead-on to .1mm. (There’s a bunch of these on Amazon from different sellers. The $35 ones are typically very good. I’ve bought close to 10 and gifted at least 5. I have an expensive Starrett and these are just as good, for guitar purposes).

Ex:

https://www.amazon.com/Thickness-Welding-Feeler-Measurement-0-4-6mm/dp/B0DKKM7WXF/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1GSPRXUM3SKLK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.now4UER918ZxfxZnjcZIOQ0hzO6vazKWcjDHLgoSwjrRHv9-4bFfpL8F4kS1IVVm-tpvt13cMYUQD1QtZ1brHboypHodYmmRQDE7dqVkYNFGOuK4avKyYai1NVETQJgr-XLIVx-6cbjDnikMBlRAc1gABUkddHvXwHYiyCoUPXvsvhlKmf4SnL2e1Uza8c7TYPJrpWKBtSKImDGYkVubXfKvAuHUmGhWVHjvteRsC_J9H2cISA3-pnoPGGmXgbV3xCkPWVX5A-l3j6A6HjZzMXKqEA9XozEbggmr2xNC8As.4sTuoSjXVGYzAtXmbRWyHvDrxFdfFflhZLX5NJ4ekXk&dib_tag=se&keywords=Metric+gap+wedge&qid=1749440091&sprefix=metric+gap+wedge%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-9

pdg

Might be hard to measure the action of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th strings.

Gouch

“Might be hard to measure the action of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th strings.”

It isn’t. (I got no prob if you have a better measurement system, please share how you do it 🙂).

Buco

Craig Bumgarner likes to use the feeler gauge. Similar concept to the welding gap gauge.

marcelodamon

Great topic of conversation, to be certain. I have several gypsy jazz guitars, and the action is variable on all of them. This is because of the build, and perhaps Paul can offer some insight into this, with regard to quality of wood and building technique. This is certainly true in the world of archtops, as those by D'Angelico, D'Aquisto, and contemporaneously, John Monteleone, and Ken Parker, are the loudest, sweetest sounding archtops around.

For example, my early (2004) AJL model 503 has a very stiff top, and because of this, the guitar is very loud with a minimal picking attack; even with 2 mm action at the 12th. My 2009 Dell Arte Hommage "Macias" is even more of an oddity with the action at 1.8 mm, and it is the second loudest guitar I own. I have another Hommage, which is all white and the action is 3.0 to compensate for the tinted top, and the volume is still less than Macias. Finally, my Selmer and Cattiaux are THE loudest; the former from 83 years of playing, and the latter, just from a cedar top, French polish top, and Philippe's incredible building skill (as an aside, last year Philippe sold 5 guitars at the Django festival (almost his entire stock), while the other luthiers present were not as lucky).

Finally, something should be said of rest stroke technique. I find the most powerful pickers (think Tchavolo, Moreno, and Tchou Tchan Vidal), while they pick exceedingly hard, and with great power, there is very little movement. It always reminds me of Bruce Lee, and the "one inch punch" technique as a demonstration of his power:

"Bruce Lee's "one inch punch" is a technique that demonstrates explosive power at close range, seemingly pushing an opponent back with minimal movement. It involves a quick, snapping motion from a relaxed, slightly bent fist, drawing power from the legs, hips, and shoulders. The technique isn't about just pushing, but about harnessing the body's entire energy to generate impact."

As such, when I play, I always try to harness the most amount of power (while playing), through the least amount of force. This is where the volume comes from. A well built instrument will show this with low, slinky action, while a mediocre one may require higher action to compensate. That's my 2 cents.

voutoreenie

Finally, something should be said of rest stroke technique. I find the most powerful pickers (think Tchavolo, Moreno, and Tchou Tchan Vidal), while they pick exceedingly hard, and with great power, there is very little movement.

This is basically one of the things Antoine Boyer pointed out to me a few years ago about my own playing, too much wasted movement in my right hand and that consistency plus projection is derived from short, compact pick strikes - I've made huge strides to make corrections and improve upon this with great results. This is also one of the reasons why I always recommend to new and intermediate players they should take lessons in person or virtually because while you can learn a ton on your own, there's just never any true replacement for having a teacher who can provide input and critiques as they directly pertain to your playing.