So at Django in June this year, Mr Roch mentioned that he believed the action on my Alta Mira was too low... Now, I prefer low action, but I decided to give it a try so I put a couple of pieces of business card paper under my bridge to raise it slightly, and while it helped, the sound didn't change a whole lot.
Then my friend Mick removed the business card paper and replaced it with thin wood slats that raised the action slightly higher than the business card paper and.....
Kaboom ! It's like I have a new guitar ! The sound is drier, clearer, fuller, and opened wide up. I am actually shocked by the difference in the way the guitar sounds.
So then I went home and got out my 8 year old Gitane (which also has very low action), and put a higher bridge that had been sitting around since I bought it and......
Kablam ! Suddenly my seemingly unimpressive Gitane DG 300 suddenly sounds like a $3000 guitar...
I really prefer playing on low action, but I like the improvements of the sound quality of each guitar a lot more so I guess I'm gonna have to get used to it.
holy crap !
Anthony
Comments
Yes, cranking up the action will "turbo charge" your guitar. However, it's generally more effective on the Asian imports which tend to be overbuilt. A fine, handmade instrument will give you that sort of volume while still being setup with fairly low action, so you get the best of both worlds. In fact, many of the French guitars will "lock up" and just go dead if you raise the action too high as the tops are so responsive, the added pressure just shuts them down completely.
Low Action
High Action
Are we talking 2.5 mm as compared to 3.5mm ?
And doesn't this also relate to the particular instrument and neck angle and bridge height ?
A master builder can usually get that right and get a good action height at the same time.
I don't know, maybe I'm measuring wrong. In any event, on my alta mira, the action still feels quite manage-ably low. Up at the high frets, for example, if you bend a string, the strings near it still slide sort of below your fingers as opposed to getting "caught" on them like they do with guitars that have high action.
I don't know...
My Gitane, however, now has TOO high action, so I have to get that bridge fitted properly..
Anthony
If you measure it from the metal fret, then my action is comparable to Michaels Duponts.
If you measure it from the wood, it's quite on the high side.
Anthony
And ,yes, from the fret, not from the fingerboard (wood)