Twincam Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 Decided to raise the string height back up a bit and a bit more neck relief. Funny how 2.4mm - 2.0mm .010 relief now looks pretty high. But it lets me play with a little more feeling and I think the tone is a touch better and string noise is slightly less. I did like the very low action, however I felt restrained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 Decided to use my Jazz bass instead of my PJ for a wee trial run thru the set list at home and found my fingers getting a bit of an ache. Then i realised i hadn't actually dropped the action on this bass. Checked it and it was 2.75mm at 17th. Dropped it to 2mm retuned and what a difference it made running thru the difficult songs from our set list. It doesn't take much to feel that benefit. No fret buzz and this was originally my goto bass until i got my PJ. I even raised the action a touch when i got it to get rid of fret buzz. Lighter touch lower action and no fret buzz at all. I love Basschat for help and advice on everything. I believe BC holds the secret to Life the Universe & Everything Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 You definitely need a bit of room for the string to move around for magnetic pickups to sound their best. Also I've never seen a tickler that can rock out very well, bit of action, plectrum and giving both barrels is the only way sometimes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1492882659' post='3283897'] You definitely need a bit of room for the string to move around for magnetic pickups to sound their best. Also I've never seen a tickler that can rock out very well, bit of action, plectrum and giving both barrels is the only way sometimes [/quote] Think i would revert back to a more aggresive style if i went back to playing heavy rock as tend to agree. You need the aggression to make it sound right. At the moment tho i can play more relaxed and not worry about aches and cramps from playing too hard. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoombung Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 Ultra low action means a very different technique, as others have pointed out. You can get great results if you persevere with it. I have tried basses that have been set up this way by their owners but find them completely unplayable: the strings just choke or snag when I tried as I have my basses set up with a medium or high action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skej21 Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 I'm not sure if anyone else has found this but I lowered my action thinking it would help, used lighter strings (which to be honest, were worse as they have less tension, were more floppy and as a result had more of a tendancy to slap off the frets when I did dig in, even with a decent light technique) but the thing I really struggled with was how quickly my tone deteriorated as a result of a low action. Has anyone else found this? I thought at first it was my adjustment in technique but then realised that the lower the action was, the more it stifled the tone of the instrument and I ultimately decided to heighten the action a little bit. It has vastly improved the tone from the bass and I adjusted to the higher action fairly easily once I'd put some heavier strings on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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