Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: acoustic bass guitar action ?

  1. #1

    Default acoustic bass guitar action ?

    What would be a reasonably low action (at fret#12) for an acoustic bass guitar with 34" scale length ?
    I just bought one used, the neck has some relief and action at fret#12 is 4mm.
    If I straight out the neck by adjusting the truss rod, the action goes down to a tiny bit below 3.5mm and the E and A strings have some buzz. Is 3.5mm too low ?

  2. #2

    Default Re: acoustic bass guitar action ?

    My electric bass guitar has 3mm action at fret#12. Don't know if it means anything.

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Posts
    1,249

    Default Re: acoustic bass guitar action ?

    My experiance is that my acoustic bass guitar needs a bit higher action than electrics. 4mm sounds pretty good.

  4. #4

    Default Re: acoustic bass guitar action ?

    Hi Nevin,
    is it normal that the fretting sound is quite loud on acoustic bass? Or it is caused by my poor technique.
    I do not hear fretting sound on electric bass.

  5. #5
    Registered User James Rankine's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Leeds UK
    Posts
    300

    Default Re: acoustic bass guitar action ?

    Loud fretting sound/string noise, low volume - welcome to the world of the acoustic bass. Then if you play hard you'll get fret buzz. Things improved greatly on mine by fitting nylon core thomastik strings. It gives a much more mellow upright bass sound but further robs some of the volume (but then there's a reason most of these guitars come with a pickup). You do have to adjust the truss rod after fitting them as they exert a lot less tension than metal strings. Only problem is they are ferociously expensive - I've bought guitars which cost less than a set of those strings!

  6. #6

    Default Re: acoustic bass guitar action ?

    Mine comes with a built in paasive pickup. So the tone and volume is not that great when plug in. I just spent the last hour to put in an active pickup with preamp. It sounds at least 3 time louder and much better tone.
    I will play it for a few months before thinking about putting on expensive string.

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Posts
    1,249

    Default Re: acoustic bass guitar action ?

    I use tapewound strings which cut down on the fret noise. Even flat-wound strings were an improvment on the round-wound ones it came with. Don't expect to get much volume from them without an active pickup system.

  8. #8

    Default Re: acoustic bass guitar action ?

    Searching eBay gives some tape wound string set that are quite reasonable in price, between 32$ to 37$ included. Thanks for the tip on "tape wound string". My bass guitar has an active pickup now so volume should not be an issue, except when not plug-in.
    Last edited by kkmm; Apr-19-2015 at 6:32pm.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •