Musicman stingray 5 neck relief / higher action

[Delamitri79]

Hey folks.

I'm lucky enough to own a fantastic 97 SR5 with a maple neck and ceramic pickup. It's a beast.
Now, I've toyed around with multiple string heights and truss rod adjustments and bridge settings. I was always looking for that sweet spot for my kinda playing (pop/rock and I like to dig in a bit)

Recently I loosened the truss a little more than I'd normally have it (about the thickness of my bank card when 1st and last fret depressed down) and holy cow!!! It is absolutely singing.

Even acoustically it's just got huge tone. My action is probably a bit higher than the majority of players I watch on this forum but my god I love it.

Anyone else tinkered with the higher than average side action.

Many thanks

[4000]

I’ve tried pretty much everything you can at some point. However I naturally both pluck and fret very lightly - plus I like a tone with some twang, buzz and rattle in it - and high action has never worked for me. Can it sound good? Absolutely. But for the way I play, it just doesn’t work. I like a bass to be as easy to play as possible. 

[Lozz196]

Up until last year I was a high action hit hard kind of guy, but decided to modify my playing to lower action play gentler and much prefer it, I just seem to enjoy playing much more like this.

[Chiliwailer]

When I was about 19 or 20 a Producer had an early 50s P Bass in the studio. After a play I asked if I could set it up as the stings were high and the rod loose - he went on to give me a firm but fair education about the benefits of a higher action to the tone. Never forgot that, and he was right. 

[4000]

21 minutes ago, Chiliwailer said:

When I was about 19 or 20 a Producer had an early 50s P Bass in the studio. After a play I asked if I could set it up as the stings were high and the rod loose - he went on to give me a firm but fair education about the benefits of a higher action to the tone. Never forgot that, and he was right. 

Well, not entirely right. Because it depends entirely on what tone you’re after. 😉

Also (although a different issue), there’s no point if you’re then unable to play your lines….

Edited July 13, 2021 by 4000

[ped]

4 hours ago, 4000 said:

I’ve tried pretty much everything you can at some point. However I naturally both pluck and fret very lightly - plus I like a tone with some twang, buzz and rattle in it - and high action has never worked for me. Can it sound good? Absolutely. But for the way I play, it just doesn’t work. I like a bass to be as easy to play as possible. 

Exactly the same!

[Chiliwailer]

39 minutes ago, 4000 said:

Well, not entirely right. Because it depends entirely on what tone you’re after. 😉

Also (although a different issue), there’s no point if you’re then unable to play your lines….

Well I talked about ‘benefits’, not absolutes… IMO, YMMV, etc etc 🙄

[Reggaebass]

It’s all personal preference,    im in the , as low as it will go camp,   a friend of mine has the same US jazz as me and he’s a great player, but I find his bass really hard to play, his action is 3mm at the 12th 

[Mokl]

I'm in the "as low as it will go' team as well,  although I've experimented with raising the action slighlty on a couple of basses, and find that on some instruments I actually like it.  Having said that,  they're still set low. 

Almost more important to me is the neck relief -  I run almost none and find for my tastes and playing style this almost always gives me the string response (for want of a better description) I'm looking for. 

[OliverBlackman]

I prefer a medium/ high action. I just can’t stand fret buzz and I think you have more control of note length with a higher action. Speed then comes with practice and technique. Plus it’d be nonsensical to have a p bass with flats and the clackerty timbres of low action. 

[ped]

5 minutes ago, OliverBlackman said:

I prefer a medium/ high action. I just can’t stand fret buzz and I think you have more control of note length with a higher action. Speed then comes with practice and technique. Plus it’d be nonsensical to have a p bass with flats and the clackerty timbres of low action. 

See I really like my P with light flats, no relief and super low action! You get the gritty clank and chewy midrange - and that sort of ‘plasticky’ overtone when you dig a little harder. I can’t play anything with a high action, I feel like my hand is numb and can’t pull off trills or hammers at all. I think I’m mostly just lazy!

[4000]

42 minutes ago, ped said:

See I really like my P with light flats, no relief and super low action! You get the gritty clank and chewy midrange - and that sort of ‘plasticky’ overtone when you dig a little harder. I can’t play anything with a high action, I feel like my hand is numb and can’t pull off trills or hammers at all. I think I’m mostly just lazy!

I can’t stand flats and a high action, it feels horrible to me and produces the kind of tone I’m trying to get away from. 

Thing is, I don’t see why you should make things difficult for yourself. And another thing worth considering is that even though I prefer very low action and don’t go higher than 40-100, I’m already starting to feel the first twinges of arthritis in my hands (I’m late ‘50s). FWIW all my family suffer badly with arthritis. 

Edited July 13, 2021 by 4000

[OliverBlackman]

8 hours ago, ped said:

See I really like my P with light flats, no relief and super low action! You get the gritty clank and chewy midrange - and that sort of ‘plasticky’ overtone when you dig a little harder. I can’t play anything with a high action, I feel like my hand is numb and can’t pull off trills or hammers at all. I think I’m mostly just lazy!

We need a sick face reaction adding “🤮” 

[artisan]

My band plays exclusively early Black Sabbath songs so I'm playing at the base of the neck most of the time, so it's pretty high action for me on my P bass.

However my Dingwall Combustion is set as low as possible without fret buzz,so I guess it just depends on what style/sound you are wanting to achieve.

Edited July 14, 2021 by artisan

[ped]

I think on a stingray in particular, a low action/relief gives that nice clicky percussive sound that's so instantly recognisable in a mix.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

20 hours ago, Chiliwailer said:

... he went on to give me a firm but fair education about the benefits of a higher action to the tone. Never forgot that, and he was right. 

What are the benefits? Genuine question, as someone who plays with a low action.

[Chiliwailer]

Best (or worst!!!) way to describe it is how the note breathes, resonates, and sustains. He’s a multi gold record winning producer, we got a great bass tone so I tried an A/B with my own bass and it helped get that tone. I’m not a high action player, but have since done the odd action raising tweak when needed, and I do notice a difference when my action is too low. 

[OliverBlackman]

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

What are the benefits? Genuine question, as someone who plays with a low action.

For me it adds warmth and clarity to the note. Higher string gauges and tension also help with this. Although I already played with a higher action it was interesting viewing Janek’s blog when he decided to try increasing the height from a low to a very high action.

[Dad3353]

3 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

What are the benefits? Genuine question, as someone who plays with a low action.

The benefits of a low action are speed and muscle efficiency; if such performance is not a criteria, a pure tone with no interference from the neck is easier to obtain with higher action. Taken to the extreme, of course, the instrument becomes difficult to play, but 'as low as possible' does not suit everyone's purposes. I play a Hofner Verithin, with 'Trubass' black nylon-coated strings. No slapping or popping (I wouldn't know how...), and melodic playing, or blues- or jazz-style walking bass lines are more my cup of tea (Mmm... Tea..!). I always want a clear tone, no 'dirt', no Fx, just straight into a Hiwatt 200w valve PA amp, that's all. Too low an action would hamper what little ability I have, and speed is certainly not of the essence for me. I'm not a 'pro' player, being asked to play the latest hits; I play whatever I feel inspired to play, and the set-up of the bass gives me that 'inspiration'. 

Edited July 14, 2021 by Dad3353

[ped]

Whatever works for you, really - I dislike the pure note on it's own going 'buh' and like a little bit of fret clank and/or rattle behind the note to help it growl, in varying amounts of course.

[Mokl]

3 hours ago, ped said:

Whatever works for you, really - I dislike the pure note on it's own going 'buh' and like a little bit of fret clank and/or rattle behind the note to help it growl, in varying amounts of course.

What he said!

[artisan]

4 hours ago, ped said:

Whatever works for you, really - I dislike the pure note on it's own going 'buh' and like a little bit of fret clank and/or rattle behind the note to help it growl, in varying amounts of course.

Baaaaaa 

In my day "just after t'war" you'd be shot for 'avin' fret rattle.

Mind we played  proper basses in them days.

Upright buggers

None of this fancy stuff

Tha naaaas 

😁

 

Edited July 14, 2021 by artisan

[4000]

5 hours ago, OliverBlackman said:

For me it adds warmth and clarity to the note. Higher string gauges and tension also help with this. Although I already played with a higher action it was interesting viewing Janek’s blog when he decided to try increasing the height from a low to a very high action.

I found that really interesting because I thought he had a better sound before. 😉 😂

If you want a big round sound, want big, ringing clean notes and don’t play very many notes (unless of course you’re James Jamerson), a higher action will doubtless be very helpful.

Personally I don’t want a big round sound, I want a twangy, buzzy, growly sound and I’m generally pretty busy, so for me it doesn’t really add anything I want. I’m from the Entwistle/Squire school and we all know how the Ox liked his action; “on the other side of the frets”. 😁

FWIW all through the ‘80s I had engineers and producers telling me I couldn’t use any distortion, so much so that they eventually talked me out of it. Until I rediscovered it and finally got a sound that (a) I liked and (b) actually worked.  Apparently Geezer Butler got the same thing. 🙄

[Dad3353]

And there's all theses luthiers, engineers and experts working their socks off to get good-sounding, reliable musical instruments, only for it all to be reduced to 'clank', 'mush' and distortion..! S'a funny ol' world..! 

...

[Reggaebass]

I’m learning lots of sayings here, gritty clank, rattle, chewie midrange, buh, clicky percussive, buzzy, clackerty timbres, plasticky overtones, twangy, clank, mush , I didn’t realise you could get so many sounds 😁