How to determine if Action is too high or low on my guitar

[Vasrely Derian]

I’m trying to find out if the action on my electric guitar is just alright. How do I determine if its too low or too high? and please send me a vid on how to adjust it, thank you!

 

[idssdi]

Basically the action will be to high if it takes serious strength to press it down on the fretboard. The action is too low if every note gets chimed for every string. How you adjust the action all depends on what kind of bridge you have really.

 

[Noah Berends]

Action height is largely preference, although having action too high can screw up intonation while action too low will make fret buzz and dead notes. To put it simply, you will adjust the truss rod for the action near the head and the bridge for the action past the 12th fret. You want to make sure they’re balanced, and this video does a good job explaining the whole process of setting up a guitar, including action.

 

[Ed Seith]

Trust your friendly neighborhood @Noah.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

I agree! It definitely depends on preference. However, you can test it in one way. I learned this on a tech site. If you have a Capo, Capo your guitar on the 1st fret. And then press your finger down on the 12th fret. Somewhere around the 6 the 7th fret, your pick should be able to comfortably slide underneath The string. Grant it if your pick is a regular sized pick and isn’t anything too crazy. If there’s too much gap your action might be too high. If you have to fight with your pick a little bit to get through, it’s too low. Also you could always do the buzz check. Play each every individual fright on every individual string and check and see if it buzzes. If it buzzes at all the action is too low.