Share your action specs

[WinnipegRocker]

Out of boredom or curiosity, here's how I personally set-up my 3 Seagulls. I'll keep the measurements to inches in decimals, even though I'm Canadian eh.

Neck (relief) .010

Nut (1st fret action) Low E .022, High E .018

Saddle (12th fret action) Low E .100, High E .080

Seems to be about the best balance between tone and playability for most styles. How do you set-up your acoustics?

[EZYPIKINS]

I'll play:

Relief: .005-.007

1st. fret action: .010, .011, .012, .013, .014, .015

Saddle: ,042, .044, .046, .048, .050, .052

People think it won't work. But it does for me.

Have 8 of em right now set to these specs.

[Rev Roy]

String height @ 12th Fret:
Low E: 3/32"
High E: 2/32"

Relief: .005-.007”

[JayBee1404]

Relief - 0.006”

Nut - ~0.002” over 1st fret

12th Fret - ‘E’ 3/32”, ‘e’ 5/64”

Works for me…

[RodB]

Some differences in guitars. I usually only play fingerstyle these days and don't need much attack, so minimal relief and bass strings not much higher than trebles on my best guitars.

Relief: lowest guitar < 0.002" highest ~ 0.005"

1st fret clearance: (6th) ~ .010", (1st) ~ .002"

12th fret action (6th) 0.075" to 0.085"; (1st) < 0.070" to 0.075" depending on guitar.

[davenumber2]

6/64'' low E
4/64-5/64" high e
Relief around .005

[KevinH]

I play finger style and set my guitars to

Neck (relief): 0.005±0.001"

Nut (1st fret action): 0.002" (when fretted at the 3rd)

Saddle (12th fret action): Low E 0.075±0.005, High e 0.055±0.007

It varies with the guitar since there is some variation in fret level.

[Mike12]

A little off topic but perhaps relevant. I have recently bought a guitar which I struggled to play, I was getting pain in my thumb. I measured the spread of the strings of several guitars including a Taylor 12 string. The narrowest was 36mm the widest 41.5mm, 5.5 mm difference. The relevance is that my happiest width of strings is 38mm as I have short fingers. I have a Seagull SWS mini jumbo and found the string spread really wide so I made a new narrower nut. I appologise if this isn't relevant but enjoy those Seagull, they're great guitars. Mike

[Steve DeRosa]

When it feels/sounds right, and I don't have to fight to get what I need out of it - I do it strictly by eyeball, and it varies from guitar to guitar...

[Wardo]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

When it feels/sounds right, and I don't have to fight to get what I need out of it - I do it strictly by eyeball, and it varies from guitar to guitar...

Same here. The guitar will tell you where it needs to be.

[Glennwillow]

I set my neck relief at about 0.007-0.010" and the low E string height above the fret at about 0.080" at the 12th fret.

- Glenn

[WinnipegRocker]

Thank you to all for responding. Its enlightening to get others perspectives. I never really cared about set-ups until I got a really bad one. Twice lol.

So I bought the proper tools (feeler gauges, sanding jig, nut files, etc.) and now I do it myself. And for friends, and for friends of friends lol. Anyways, thanks again for sharing. Play on

[A.Wilder1]

I’ve been experimenting the last 12-18 months with different playing styles, strings, and guitars and I’ve landed here with my Waterloo WL-S Deluxe:

Tuning: DGCFAD
Action @12: 2.25mm (E) / 1.75mm (e)
Relief: 0.10mm
Plectra: Primetone Sculpted (.73)
Capo: Shubb C1b, C1n, C1p, C8b
Strings: Thomastik Spectrum Bronze (.11-.52)

I like it because it offers versatility for fingerstyle/strumming or if I decide to use lights or move up in tunings. I reckon I’d lower the relief a hair but it’s got a non-adjustable truss rod.

[CharlieBman]

Originally Posted by WinnipegRocker

Out of boredom or curiosity, here's how I personally set-up my 3 Seagulls. I'll keep the measurements to inches in decimals, even though I'm Canadian eh.

Neck (relief) .010

Nut (1st fret action) Low E .022, High E .018

Saddle (12th fret action) Low E .100, High E .080

Seems to be about the best balance between tone and playability for most styles. How do you set-up your acoustics?

As a somewhat aggressive player, those specs are pretty much spot on for me too. I do tend to be a little more forgiving at the nut as long as it doesn't error on the high side.

[Bluenose]

I took some relief out of the neck on my new Martin 00028, probably a bit less than a quarter turn on the nut and I sanded the saddle so I've got a little over 2mm on the 6th string at the 12th fret. I use this guitar primarily for fingerstyle old style blues, ragtime and early jazz. I had it tuned a full step down lately and I was impressed. Maybe I'll keep it that way. I've had guitars in the past that I would generally want to play with a capo but back then I didn't know what a real good setup was.