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by davoomac on April 20th, 2006

davoomac

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What is an action?

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  • by Child Of The 60s on March 12th, 2007

    Child Of The 60s

    Action (just 'action', not AN action) is the term used to describe the height of a guitar's strings from the fretboard. In other words, the distance between the bottom of the string and the fret- or fingerboard. A guitar whose strings are set up low to the fingerboard is said to have "easy action"- in reference to its ease of playability. It is one of the procedures included in "setting up" a guitar in order for it to play properly.

    The action can be adjusted by a number of means- including: raising or lowering the height of the individual bridge saddles (electric guitars), the single saddle (acoustic guitars) adjusting the nut (either electric or acoustic guitars), or changing the gauges (thicknesses) of the strings. It sounds easy; however, setting the action too low will result in buzzing and/or dead spots; and setting it too high will make the guitar hard to play and can affect the intonation (the ability of the guitar to play in tune at different points on the neck); so unless one is very deliberate and careful about it, it's generally not something a beginner would want to fiddle with.

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