How Low/High Is Your Action??!

[guitfiddle]

I had Chris set up my 4003 too. He did a great job although I still keep tweaking the bridge height. Nonetheless, as a bass player himself he really knows what he's doing. On the other hand my 4004's never seem to need much at all. They're like brick houses.

[Paolo]

Judging by some of your set-ups,i think i have quite low action for an agressive picker,and strangely,no fret buzz at all!!!
I didn't need to fiddle with the neck at all when i bought it approx 3 weeks ago.There is a small amount of relief (fretted at 1st & last,there's a 0.3mm gap at the 9th fret).All i did was lower the bridge a touch.
I always thought my bass actrion was quite high,but there again,i used to be a guitarist

[mikko]

From top of the 12th fret to bottom of the E string: about 2,5mm. Neck is straight but I'm getting some fret buzz sometimes, so I guess it should be closer to 3mm.

[jps]

I usually set the height at the 20th fret to about 2.5mm across all the strings. This will vary a bit depending on what strings are on which instrument.

[MattB]

Sounds like I like the action lower than the average bear, but I also like super skinny necks. I measured the '80 4003 and it was 2mm for the E and about 1.85mm for the G. I am getting some buzz on D & G so I think that end of the bridge needs to be raised a froghair. The action on the '88 4003 isn't as low as I would like at about 2.8mm on both sides, but the sustain on that bass is phenomenal. Oh, play fingerstyle 99% of the time and prefer flats or half-rounds.

Matt B.

[jps]

I use super low tension strings on most of my basses, which, in general, require higher action to minimize buzzing. A very light touch helps much, also.

[s4001]

I play aggressively, and if a flea can limbo under the strings, they're too high.

[cassius987]

I returned to this thread to check everyone's numbers expecting mine to be much higher (I am always told by luthiers that my action is higher than they would expect for a 99% fingerstyle player). I was amazed to find that mine appear to be lower--the lowest even?? I have checked repeatedly and there is 2.4 mm of space from fret to string at the 20th fret on the E string side of both of my fretted basses, and 2.3 mm at the 20th fret on the G string side of both. I don't get any fret buzz or clack but it's probably because I use larger gauges most of the time and prefer medium-high tension. In the sake of being conservative about the numbers I think the most these values could possibly be are 2.8 and 2.7 respectively.

EDIT: Just checked out the fretless Rics: measured at the end of the fingerboard, the 4003 has 3.2 mm E/3.1 mm G and the 4001 has 3 mm E/3 mm G.