Does lowering action loosen the strings?

[Martinaylor]

I had the action professionally lowered on my Seagull S6 acoustic a few years ago, and the strings are looser. Is this pretty much the deal with all guitars?

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Martinaylor

I had the action professionally lowered on my Seagull S6 acoustic a few years ago, and the strings are looser. Is this pretty much the deal with all guitars?

No. The only way the strings could be 'looser' is if you're using a lighter gauge than before the change.

Tension is tension. Assuming your guitar is tuned to the same pitch, lowering the action won't change it.

[mirwa]

No, strings are same tension.

Steve

[Martinaylor]

Ok thanks guys

[1833]

Lowering the action sometimes make the guitar play so much easier that it I’ll feel like there is less tension on the strings .

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by 1833

Lowering the action sometimes make the guitar play so much easier that it I’ll feel like there is less tension on the strings .

‘Feel’ is one thing. The fact that the tension is no different is another.

[John Arnold]

Pressing the string to the fret increases the tension. The further you press it, the more the tension increases. Therefore, the higher the action, the harder you have to press to make a clean note.

[Alan Carruth]

Actually, the tension change in the displaced string doesn't have much to do with it, so far as I can see. The further you have to push the string down to fret it, the larger the angle it makes. This increases the force. A small angle of displacement takes a small force. You can check this out by pressing a string down at, say, the 12th fret, and then pressing it down the same distance just in front of the bridge. The closer to the bridge you get, the greater the force required, because the angle is greater. And, yes, the tension increases more for a given displacement as you get closer to the bridge, but it's not as much as the increase in force....