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Post subject: Changing Action
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:35 am
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I know you must be annoyed reading this because of how many times this subject has been on it but...
I like my action high so I can do slide work on it too and I read about some people like there strings about 8mm away from the fretboard. Iv been working on the bridge to make it higher and I can only go up to 3mm!
How would I make it atleast 5mm?


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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:48 am
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Wow. 8mm is Empire-State-Building action. For that, I would think your only two options would be a truss-rod adjustment or a new nut. Or, inconjunction with that -- if they exist -- maybe some "taller" saddles?

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Post subject: Re: Changing Action
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:12 am
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JimmyGuitarist wrote:
I know you must be annoyed reading this because of how many times this subject has been on it but...
I like my action high so I can do slide work on it too and I read about some people like there strings about 8mm away from the fretboard. Iv been working on the bridge to make it higher and I can only go up to 3mm!
How would I make it atleast 5mm?

I recently set up one of my strats for slide. My action at the 17th fret is .120" which I think is slightly above 3mm. This is working for me although I wouldn't mind raising it slightly. But I don't think I could raise it to 5mm. The saddle angle is already pretty strange looking. Also it might be hard to fret notes at 5mm.

Stewmac has a Slide Guitar Extension Nut that you might want to consider as a way to raise the action without modifying the guitar...

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddl ... n_Nut.html

It might also be possible to buy some longer saddle height screws. Try allparts.

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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:34 am
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If you want it set up for slide do you have your bridge set up to float or do you have it all the way down to the body?

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:35 pm
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Never use your truss rod to adjust your action. The truss rod is for adjusting the relief of the neck, not string height. If you want to raise your action you can do so via the raising the bridge, then the saddles.

I also use a high action. It's better or tone and easier for slide work. If you have the two point trem, just turn the two screws to raise the bridge. You can then fine tune via the saddles. If you start turning the truss rod to adjust the action you will have everything out of whack.


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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:03 pm
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Another option to consider is to use the Gary Rossington Method of converting a guitar from standard to slide use. He would put something between the strings and fretboard at the first fret to raise the action (unfortunately, I do not remember what he used) to use his guitar for slide (like that one popular song of theirs, what was that called again?).

If you adopt this method, you do not have to mess with your string heights or keep the guitar for just slide use.

Perhaps LS fans out there would know what it was that Gary used to raise the action.

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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:22 pm
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A round pencil or dowel cut to size (width of neck) would probably work well.


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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:25 pm
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Some of these posts are making me wonder a little. Sanding a fingerboard from 7.25 to 12 inch radius on a Custom Shop neck? A five/eight mil action (8 mm is about 0.300 thou')? That's slide playing with the whole bottle, never mind the bottle neck...

Are we straying a touch into the realms of imaginative speculation here, Jimmy?

:?: - C


Last edited by Ceri on Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:27 pm
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orvilleowner wrote:

Perhaps LS fans out there would know what it was that Gary used to raise the action.


when I played, the bottle kept clinking against the frets because the strings were too low. I took a screwdriver, of all things, and stuck it under the strings up at the nut, so it would raise the strings up like a steel guitar. Then, I tuned the B string down to G -- so the G and the B strings were both tuned to G. With the two Gs, it creates a drawling, doubled sound. These days, I use two Dean Markley .017-gauge G strings for the third and second strings to make the sound more consistent, and, instead of the screwdriver, I use a little piece of wire about five inches long. That's the whole trick. I don't really need to use that little wire anymore, but I just do it out of sentimental reasons. I've never played that song live without it -- it just reminds me of the way I did it originally. It's like Jimi Hendrix on 'All Along the Watchtower.' He played the slide solo with a Zippo lighter. He couldn't get it to sound right with a steel slide or a bottle, so he used a Zippo. Each guy has his own little tricks."….. Gary Rossington

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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:12 pm
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Gary Rossington wrote:
... and, instead of the screwdriver, I use a little piece of wire about five inches long. That's the whole trick. I don't really need to use that little wire anymore, but I just do it out of sentimental reasons. I've never played that song live without it -- it just reminds me of the way I did it originally.


Yeah, "the little piece of wire" is what I read before. I'll have to see if I can find a picture because there are a lot of different kinds of little pieces of wire ...

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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:35 pm
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8mm thats a lot of height!!
I would assume youd rather get an slide guitar for that super high action :P


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