Re: Collings/Webber action setup?
Originally Posted by
sblock
I would like to know better what you really mean by the "benefits" of raising action. Practically by definition, the action is too low if some buzzing occurs when you play relatively loud/hard (for you). But raising the action beyond what is reqi raised it back upuired to make this buzzing (under hard play) go away seems superfluous to me! I see no benefit whatsoever, myself. The tone does not improve for adjustments above this level. Maybe you just want to get some exercise to strengthen your grip?
Not necessilary true. Much depends on the mandolin itself. I was dealing with some minor intonation issues for a long time and after making several adjustments to the bridge , I finally lowered the action quite a bit. While it did improve the intonation a bit, it was not enough to make too much difference. However, what really suffered was the tone. It lost a ton of bass response and volume suffered as well. I left it that way for a couple of weeks to see if I could get used to it but eventually I raised it back up. Now it sounds great again.
One of the reasons many 1st and 2nd generation bluegrass mandolinists had the action so high was because they were playing through inefficient PA systems and needed every bit of volume they could get out of a mandolin. Not as much of a problem these days, but still, many mandolins just sound better with the action jacked up. Mine does.
BTW, my action at the 12th is 2mm.
Last edited by mandobassman; Mar-11-2017 at 7:35pm.
Larry Hunsberger
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3/4 guitar converted to octave mandolin
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