How Low Can I Go?

[DrPAR]

[color=#222222]Less than two months into my life as a bassist and things are going fine. However, my tutor pointed out in this week's lesson that my fretting hand has "flying fingers" and this is preventing me from playing economically and fluently. [/color]

[color=#222222]One of the exercises that I’m doing to correct my technique involves anchoring the little finger on the 12th fret of the G string and playing the 9th, 10th and 11th frets of the D string with the other fingers. However, the resistance and strain that I’m feeling in my little finger and forearm when I’m doing this has made me aware that the action of the bass may be set too high. I measured the space between the bottom of the E string and the top of the 12th fret as being 4mm (or 5mm from the bottom of the string to the fretboard) and wonder whether this is too high. It seems so to me. In order to achieve greater comfort and be more fluent in my playing, how low should the strings go?[/color]

[color=#222222]By the way, I’m currently playing a Gretsch G2224 Junior Jet II (30.3” scale) but hope to add a Squier VM ‘70s Jazz to my small arsenal of guitars next week.

Many thanks.[/color]

[gary mac]

It depends on the radius of the fretboard but I tend to go with about 2.4 mm from the top of the 17th fret to the underside of the E string and 2 mm on the G.

[Michael J]

Practice slooowwwwly. The effort required to hold down a string is probably far less than you are actually applying. Work on using minimum force, and maximum precision, and go slow. Speed comes naturally, it is accuracy that you want to get into your hands.

[HowieBass]

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1476950990' post='3158662']
It depends on the radius of the fretboard but I tend to go with about 2.4 mm from the top of the 17th fret to the underside of the E string and 2 mm on the G.
[/quote]

I go for similar string heights; I usually measure at the 12th. If you currently have the action at 4mm then it really is way too high in my opinion. Also, what sort of relief do you have in the neck at the moment? I'm surprised your tutor hasn't had a look at your bass to advise you on its setup.

[DrPAR]

I'll need to have someone look at it to answer any technical questions. It was bought second-hand and so was set-up to suit the previous owner.

[paul_c2]

You can set action as low as you like, the lower limit will be when picking/plucking louder notes start buzzing. The heavier the strings, the later this occurs - so if you have thin gauge strings, you can't set the action so low. You may need a truss rod tweak as you get lower and lower though.

[brensabre79]

[quote name='DrPAR' timestamp='1476953507' post='3158688']
I'll need to have someone look at it to answer any technical questions. It was bought second-hand and so was set-up to suit the previous owner.
[/quote]

4mm sounds quite high, especially if you're doing exercises at the dusty end, and you should be able to easily halve this on most basses by adjusting.
You might be OK just lowering the bridge saddles...
Or, it may be that you (or the previous owner) have put heavier strings on than the bass is set up for - this will cause the neck to bow forwards and the gap between strings and fretboard will increase. So it might be as simple as changing to lighter strings (Do you know what it has on there?) without making adjustments...

I would advise getting it set up properly though - and to your liking. It may not have been to the previous owners liking either.
Whenever I buy a bass a setup is the first thing I do. So if you're going to buy a VM (great basses btw) I'd budget for a setup and a new set of strings too...

[DrPAR]

The strings on the Gretsch are D'Adarrio ECB81S Chromes Bass, Light, 45-100, Short Scale.

[machinehead]

Your string height would be too high for me too. It might be worth spending the money on a good setup. You can learn to do a setup yourself later.

When I started playing guitar (6 string) in the late 1960s one of the main reasons kids gave up early when learning to play was poor setup/action on the cheap crap that was available back then. Things have improved vastly since than with cheap and GOOD instruments available these days.

Frank.

[ubit]

Put the action down as low as you can until you get buzz. Then gradually bring it up until the buzz disappears. If it won't disappear until the action is very high, then you may need a tweak of the truss rod. If you are not happy doing this, take it to a music shop and they will be only too happy to do it for you. For a price of course.