Question for light tension / low action players

[slip]

I just wanted to field this question to see if anyone has anything interesting to add to the topic.

I keep my guitars tuned pretty low (C / B Standard) and use lighter gauge strings (relatively) because I like the lighter tension for the bends and because of the style of music I spend most of my time playing.

I have the action pretty low and do not currently have any issues with playability or fretting out. I don't really have a problem that I am trying to solve with this post.

To the question, what setup changes have you found that improved your setup when using light tension / low action? I've been playing like this for several years without any issues, but I'm wondering if there is something that I should implement that I am unaware of at the moment.

ta

 

[newholland]

only thing id dote on in that condition would be making sure your truss rod is dead on- both because keeping it mostly flat will be good for playability, but also because id think youd lose a lot of sustain if it runs even a little slack.

 

[Chocol8]

I play .08's in standard tuning on both 25.5 and 24.75 sxale guitars so pretty light.

I started as a temporary training thing because I felt like gripping too hard was one of my bad habits that I wanted to break. Beside finding out I liked it after adjusting, I think one big discovery was how important action height is. Too low and yet get fret buzz and fret out bends, but too high and you will have intonation issues even with a light touch.

 

[Eagle]

There is a sweet spot for low that if you go beyond it doesn’t get easier to play it gets harder and sounds worse. This is governed by the fret height mostly but also the radius and the relief.
The lowest usable point is going to be on an instrument with tall frets, a flat or near flat fingerboard and a dead flat to the slightest hair of relief neck. Different gauge strings and low tension don’t really matter because you have to play light enough for the dynamic range you have set up to work within. The instrument that takes this to its conclusion is the Vigier Shawn Lane . 0.8mm .

 

[FuzzyAce]

I don't really like super low action or a dead flat fingerboard. The tone suffers to me, for the way I play. I can be aggressive with my fretting hand.
But every guitar is different so you make concessions to get them where they need to be. I tried 8 gauge strings years back and really became comfortable with playing a certain way, so did that for a good while. But I've come back home to 10's and 11's tuned down to Eb or D standard. I like to dig in and use left hand vibrato a lot.

 

[Eagle]

I don't really like super low action or a dead flat fingerboard. The tone suffers to me, for the way I play. I can be aggressive with my fretting hand.
But every guitar is different so you make concessions to get them where they need to be. I tried 8 gauge strings years back and really became comfortable with playing a certain way, so did that for a good while. But I've come back home to 10's and 11's tuned down to Eb or D standard. I like to dig in and use left hand vibrato a lot.

Anything over about 5/1000” starts to eat in to your next fret clearance past about fret 10 though.

 

[Wiretap]

I don't really like super low action or a dead flat fingerboard. The tone suffers to me, for the way I play. I can be aggressive with my fretting hand.
But every guitar is different so you make concessions to get them where they need to be. I tried 8 gauge strings years back and really became comfortable with playing a certain way, so did that for a good while. But I've come back home to 10's and 11's tuned down to Eb or D standard. I like to dig in and use left hand vibrato a lot.

This.

I have no reference because you didn’t share what gauge you use, but I use 11-56 for c and b on 24.75 and 25.5 guitars and the biggest difference I discovered in the past few years was raising my action made my guitars sound way better. I pick hard, having my action a little higher just adds so much more resonance and tone.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Anything over about 5/1000” starts to eat in to your next fret clearance past about fret 10 though.

Not 100% sure what my relief is on average. I doubt it's that fine though.
Fwiw, my lowest setup guitars are probably 1/16" (1.5875 mm) clearance at the 12th fret. Others are slightly higher. Any lower than that the guitar starts to lose something acoustically and a bit of roundness around the notes. But this is to my ears and my playing style. Ymmv.

 

[Eagle]

This.

I have no reference because you didn’t share what gauge you use, but I use 11-56 for c and b on 24.75 and 25.5 guitars and the biggest difference I discovered in the past few years was raising my action made my guitars sound way better. I pick hard, having my action a little higher just adds so much more resonance and tone.

There is no loss of tone as long the the pick attack strength is within the available dynamic space that the string moves in. You only lose tone if you pick hard enough for the string to strike the frets .