Does higher string action really make a guitar louder?

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Interesting video from Mikko. His conclusion is that higher action makes a guitar louder because the strings can vibrate more freely. However, I‘m not 100% convinced, although his audio examples really show a considerable difference. To me this would only make sense if the action was indeed so low before that the strings could no longer vibrate freely but actually touched the frets. But that would have led to audible string buzz anyway, wouldn‘t it?

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Interesting video from Mikko. His conclusion is that higher action makes a guitar louder because the strings can vibrate more freely. However, I‘m not 100% convinced, although his audio examples really show a considerable difference. To me this would only make sense if the action was indeed so low before that the strings could no longer vibrate freely but actually touched the frets. But that would have led to audible string buzz anyway, wouldn‘t it?

IME the only way the get louder by increasing the distance is because they were to close before.
IOW it’s fixing a problem that shouldn’t exist, rather than an improvement of something tried and true.

So if you start from a spot where the magnet doesn’t pull the strings and increase the distance between strings and pick up you get less volume and loose sustain.
The inverse … if you decrease the distance output and treble increase