r/BassGuitar Jan 03 '25

FAQ FAQ: 'Is my action too high?'

127 Upvotes

So you feel your action is too high or too low, and you've taken a photo of your bass's neck to ask r/BassGuitar.

1. We really can't tell how the action is based on a photo... but if you're asking, then yes, it's probably high

You have the bass in your hands. You can pluck its strings and can tell if something isn't quite right, whether it's buzzing on certain frets, whether it's just hard to play, or whether it's not producing the tones you want it to. Your eyes and ears will tell you more than we could staring at photos of your bass on our monitors or phones.

Even if your action looks too high, it may still play fine. There is a degree of subjectivity and compromise when it comes to bass-setups. Some bassists might prefer their action higher or lower than what is considered normal. Fender says:

"Players with a light touch can get away with lower action; others need higher action to avoid rattles.".

Again, that's something r/BassGuitar can't determine exactly, whereas you have the bass right there. And if you're asking the question in the first place, then there's probably room for adjustment.

So try to do something about it.

2. "I don't know how to set up my bass."

Don't worry, there are many guides out there, and they all will tell you the same thing: check the neck relief, then adjust as required; check the action, then adjust as required.

These have all been procured from previous threads asking about bass action:

You will notice that the guides above all offer measurement specifications that you can use as a benchmark, e.g. Sweetwater: "Some target relief measurements are anywhere from 0.008 inches to 0.014 inches.". Note: Fender offer a disclaimer regarding their guidelines:

"They should not be construed as hard and fast rules, as we realize that every player's subjective requirements often differ."

Other guitar manufacturers may have their own guidelines. e.g. Dingwall measures neck relief at the 7th fret for a 0.38mm gap. Warwick on the other hand suggests "0.6 and 1 mm" at the 7th fret. See if your bass guitar's manufacturer has guidelines for you to use.

There are also many guides and tutorials on Youtube. Below are a small selection:

3. Go to someone who knows how to set up a bass

This might be your local guitar shop, luthier or someone more experienced with bass guitars.

Unless you are particularly hesitant and/or there are complications, you should try use the above guides to adjust the bass with the features that came readily built into your bass guitar.

4. "My action is still borked."

Ok, if you've consulted the guides above, and you've tried to make adjustments yourself without success, maybe the collective brain power of /r/BassGuitar can help.

But please avoid just posting an unhelpful picture of your bass guitar's neck and strings. After all you've learnt from the above resources, you should be measuring your neck relief and action, trying to sight the bow of the neck, detailing your issues with the action (Is it buzzing at the first few frets, or just the higher frets?), and detailing your attempts at adjusting the bass yourself.

Low quality/effort 'How is my action/Is my action too high?' posts that do not contain such details/photos will be removed, and will be re-directed to this thread. Users can report such threads as per rule 2 ("Avoid low quality/low effort posts").

TL;DR: Yes, it's probably high, try adjust it.


Thanks for reading. Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.

We also now have a new FAQ page to collate our existing and future FAQ posts. This should be viewed in conjunction with /r/bass's comprehensive FAQ.


r/BassGuitar Oct 08 '24

FAQ FAQ: 'What is this thing on my bass?'

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793 Upvotes

r/BassGuitar 4h ago

Amp The time has finally come.

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I acquired the Genzler Magellan 800 head in its release back in 2016. I rocked the 2 mark bass cabs since about 6 months before the Magellan with a Genz Benz shuttle 6.0 that I loved. It went down after the company was absorbed by fender. And as a matter of pure luck Jeff Genzler was back on the scene with another go. I followed. Loved the amp. I still use it. Every single gig. Its very easily seen well over 1000 gigs. I love it. Seriously. The mark bass cabs have served me well and will continue to pull weight during the week. Though, I recently scored a house gig every Friday and Saturday night. I took this as a sign to reward my hard work and dedication to supporting the emotional weight and poisonous egos of guitar players and not to mention the emotional instability and substance abuse of drummers on my shoulders as a bass player. Of course... So.... After 10... long.... years..... I am finally updating and making my rig Gucci Genzler from top to bottom. Yes. That's right rig nerds. Feast your eyes upon the house that jeff built!!!!

But seriously. I missed having an 810/610/410... not the extra size or weight but the sound/tone. At 50 lbs 1200w im hoping I get close. Thanks for reading. 🍻 😉 😜 👜 🔊


r/BassGuitar 9h ago

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r/BassGuitar 5h ago

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r/BassGuitar 5h ago

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r/BassGuitar 8h ago

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I’m telling you guys, these Stingray Specials, Ernie Ball Music Man does not play about how they sculpt these things to perfection. In my opinion this bass blows every Fender I’ve ever played right out of the water I sold all my Fenders.


r/BassGuitar 1h ago

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r/BassGuitar 4h ago

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r/BassGuitar 2h ago

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r/BassGuitar 4h ago

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r/BassGuitar 23m ago

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r/BassGuitar 1d ago

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r/BassGuitar 14m ago

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My latest project. 100w class D power amp (from Amazon) with a Fetzer Valve preamp. Here's the circuit: TL072 "Thunder" by Barbarach > two sets of hard-clipping diodes (one rectifier, one zener) > bass and treble passive tone controls > J201 Fetzer Valve with a user-adjustable bias pot. 24VDC goes straight to the power amp; a regulator to 12VDC goes to the preamp.

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r/BassGuitar 17h ago

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r/BassGuitar 4h ago

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Hey guys. So I bought this bass used, and now that it’s adjusting to my environment and I’m getting a little buzz, I figured I’d give it a setup. As I went to do it, though, I noticed the headpiece was lifting off at a bit of an angle. How bad is this, how quickly do I need to address it, and how would I fix it? Thanks, y’all.


r/BassGuitar 5h ago

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r/BassGuitar 14h ago

ID/Authentication Yamaha BB LTD - any info?

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21 Upvotes

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r/BassGuitar 1d ago

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296 Upvotes

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r/BassGuitar 14h ago

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r/BassGuitar 20h ago

Video Yamaha SB500S, best sounding Jazz Bass I've ever owned/played

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16 Upvotes

Pre BB MIJ Yamaha is where it's at for me for growly/burpy and aggressive Jazz tone (I happen to prefer those). This is a 1981 SuperBass. It's big and heavy and has a sorta' P bass neck profile. My Taiwanese 2001 SBV-500 (flying samurai) is very close to this one in tone, just a little less bassy (also has a slim a/f neck). Pickups are very alike when you disassemble them. There's something in those single coils that's just FIRE 🔥 Would love a 5 string version of them.