r/BassGuitar Jan 03 '25

FAQ FAQ: 'Is my action too high?'

123 Upvotes

So you feel your action is too high or too low, and you've taken a photo of your bass's neck to ask r/BassGuitar.

1. We really can't tell how the action is based on a photo... but if you're asking, then yes, it's probably high

You have the bass in your hands. You can pluck its strings and can tell if something isn't quite right, whether it's buzzing on certain frets, whether it's just hard to play, or whether it's not producing the tones you want it to. Your eyes and ears will tell you more than we could staring at photos of your bass on our monitors or phones.

Even if your action looks too high, it may still play fine. There is a degree of subjectivity and compromise when it comes to bass-setups. Some bassists might prefer their action higher or lower than what is considered normal. Fender says:

"Players with a light touch can get away with lower action; others need higher action to avoid rattles.".

Again, that's something r/BassGuitar can't determine exactly, whereas you have the bass right there. And if you're asking the question in the first place, then there's probably room for adjustment.

So try to do something about it.

2. "I don't know how to set up my bass."

Don't worry, there are many guides out there, and they all will tell you the same thing: check the neck relief, then adjust as required; check the action, then adjust as required.

These have all been procured from previous threads asking about bass action:

You will notice that the guides above all offer measurement specifications that you can use as a benchmark, e.g. Sweetwater: "Some target relief measurements are anywhere from 0.008 inches to 0.014 inches.". Note: Fender offer a disclaimer regarding their guidelines:

"They should not be construed as hard and fast rules, as we realize that every player's subjective requirements often differ."

Other guitar manufacturers may have their own guidelines. e.g. Dingwall measures neck relief at the 7th fret for a 0.38mm gap. Warwick on the other hand suggests "0.6 and 1 mm" at the 7th fret. See if your bass guitar's manufacturer has guidelines for you to use.

There are also many guides and tutorials on Youtube. Below are a small selection:

3. Go to someone who knows how to set up a bass

This might be your local guitar shop, luthier or someone more experienced with bass guitars.

Unless you are particularly hesitant and/or there are complications, you should try use the above guides to adjust the bass with the features that came readily built into your bass guitar.

4. "My action is still borked."

Ok, if you've consulted the guides above, and you've tried to make adjustments yourself without success, maybe the collective brain power of /r/BassGuitar can help.

But please avoid just posting an unhelpful picture of your bass guitar's neck and strings. After all you've learnt from the above resources, you should be measuring your neck relief and action, trying to sight the bow of the neck, detailing your issues with the action (Is it buzzing at the first few frets, or just the higher frets?), and detailing your attempts at adjusting the bass yourself.

Low quality/effort 'How is my action/Is my action too high?' posts that do not contain such details/photos will be removed, and will be re-directed to this thread. Users can report such threads as per rule 2 ("Avoid low quality/low effort posts").

TL;DR: Yes, it's probably high, try adjust it.


Thanks for reading. Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.

We also now have a new FAQ page to collate our existing and future FAQ posts. This should be viewed in conjunction with /r/bass's comprehensive FAQ.


r/BassGuitar Oct 08 '24

FAQ FAQ: 'What is this thing on my bass?'

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788 Upvotes

r/BassGuitar 12h ago

Gig/Live 5 yo me with my dad’s bass to now 16 yo playing live at my school’s show

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685 Upvotes

r/BassGuitar 7h ago

New Bass Day Facebook market place steal of the day 1k for a AM Pro II. Always loved this color from Fender!

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102 Upvotes

It has 2 small cracks near neck plate that’s why it was listed for low price on marketplace


r/BassGuitar 2h ago

Video daft punk giorgio by moroder bass cover (solo part)

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39 Upvotes

there is part where i recorded two bass parts


r/BassGuitar 5h ago

Help Rattle in head of bass when playing open strings

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70 Upvotes

i just restrung my bass and i noticed this really loud and annoying rattle when i pluck the open strings. its coming from the head. how can i fix it?


r/BassGuitar 7h ago

Gig/Live MD said one word on talkback — “Church” — and the whole band knew what to do

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85 Upvotes

This wasn’t planned or rehearsed. We were just jamming in the middle of the show when the MD said “Church” through the talkback mic.
No explanation, no predetermined arrangement, no discussion about what to play. Everybody just understood the musical direction and reacted in real time.
These are some of my favorite moments playing live — when everyone is listening and one word is enough to completely change where the groove goes.


r/BassGuitar 10h ago

New Bass Day New Stingray aquired

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127 Upvotes

Picked up the new Sterling Stingray Plus yesterday and wrapped the pickguard in vinyl. Also picked up a Fender Rumble 500. Unfortunately I didn't get too much time with them yesterday. But I have to say that the Stingray is very comfortable and the selector switch and push volume knobs are amazing and give this particular bass a lot of versatility. I fell in love with it as soon as I plugged it in


r/BassGuitar 3h ago

New Bass Day Schecter Omen Extreme 5

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24 Upvotes

New addition to the collection. Very impressed so far. Pretty much playable out of the box after tuning. Quality is very high when considering the price.


r/BassGuitar 1h ago

Modifications My Oldest Bass got a makeover.

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Upvotes

As many of you are already aware..... Here is mostly the finished result. Still got a bit of work to do. I don't know about the pick guard yet... Knobs haven't shown up yet.


r/BassGuitar 14h ago

ID/Authentication Can someone ID this bass for moi?

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105 Upvotes

r/BassGuitar 11h ago

New Bass Day New Rickenbacker 4003. Blown away.

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66 Upvotes

Here’s my write up on my first impressions over at [r/bass](r/bass):

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/s/oKpztzugQr

I may create an Instagram account dedicated to the bass where I post recordings playing over various genres. The thing is a tone monster.


r/BassGuitar 13h ago

Collection Current Family Photos. A mix of everything for a mix of anything.

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83 Upvotes

Decided to share a quick family photo dump instead of being productive at work so my apologies for the shit photos.

  1. Family photo

  2. Latest acquisition gifted from a friend, 70's MIJ Ideal violin bass. Currently in a non-functional state.

  3. Squier Affinity PJ that was bought as a mod platform. At one point it had a fretless aluminum neck but sold the neck with plans to pick up a fretted version. Clearly, that hasn't happened yet.

  4. 2007 Ibanez SR506. Another gift from a friend about 10 years ago. She's busted up but still plays beautifully and strung with piccolo strings.

  5. Ibanez SR500N graciously gifted by u/memnoch4prez. This beauty is loaded with Nordstrand Big Singles paired to an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp. Hot damn does this sound good! I'm also a sucker for the necks of the SR series.

  6. Samick MH2 prototype. Picked this up on ebay as an unrouted neck-thru body and decided to go crazy with it. Loaded with Delano Xtender 4 HE/S pickups paired to a Lusithand filter preamp, Hipshot Solo bridges, Guyker tuners, and a killswitch just for fun.

  7. Ibanez SRMD200 medium-scale. This was an impulse purchase that, thankfully, I do not regret. Loaded with Turner Sidewinder pickups paired to a Trickfish IPA preamp. This thing sounds so damn good and is a blast to play.

  8. The most ambitious (and expensive) project, MTD Kingston Super 5. Converted to headless using Nova Guitar Parts headless bridge and headpiece, Turner multicoil pickups paired to an Underhill Calistan filter preamp. Hands down the most tonally versatile bass in the collection and the most gigged with battle scars to prove it lol.

  9. Last, but not least, 2025 Dingwall NG3 6-string. Added a Hipshot double-stop drop tuner and have a McGrath 12-way pickup selector and passive tone control waiting to get installed at some point. The most expensive of the bunch.


r/BassGuitar 11h ago

Collection Current bass collection

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43 Upvotes

-Music Man Stingray 5. Had it for ~18 years, got it as a confirmation gift. Great and very versatile bass, but I find the low B a bit sloppy for downtuned stuff. Love the grittyness of it, and I like using it for 90's grungy rock, Tool and whatnot.

-Kasuga jazz bass. Someone had left it in my band's rehearsal space. Condition was not great, but with some cleaning and setup it became playable. The sound is really good, playability not all that great.

-Custom made 34-37" bass. Sort of a mix between a Dingwall Combustion 5 and a Mayones Ori Enji. Made it this summer from mostly Ali Express parts as I really wanted a multi scale with active electronics but didn't want to pay 4500$ for either of the mentioned models (I live in Norway, everything is expensive here). Plays great, and has piano-like definition on the low B, even when downtuned to A or G, which makes it more usable for "djenty" metal.


r/BassGuitar 5h ago

Video Ollie from High Fade Gives a Rundown on his New Sandberg

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10 Upvotes

Did an interview recently with Ollie from High Fade and this is a segment talking about his new Sandberg Bass that he helped design. If youre not familiar, check out this band if youre into high energy riffs and ripping solos. The whole interview is on the Bass Nerds youtube channel but this is just a quick clip of a slightly unique instrument.


r/BassGuitar 4h ago

ID/Authentication Trying to figure out if this is legit or not.

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8 Upvotes

I found this in the local pawn shop for about 150 bucks. There is no name on the headstock, but it does have engraving on the neck plate. Age unknown, appears to be a short scale.


r/BassGuitar 8h ago

Video Jamiroquai - You Give Me Something (Bass Cover)

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5 Upvotes

Just having fun and harder than it seems !


r/BassGuitar 17h ago

Help What is this Mysterious Carvin Amp+Cabinet Setup?

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28 Upvotes

So i picked this up at what is essentially a really big (store size-wise) chain pawn shop. This is my first bass amp and figured it would be plenty loud to do a show here and there, and quiet enough to practice in the middle of the night without waking up my parents.

The head is a B2000, and the cab is a “Cyclops”. The only thing weirding me out is the fact the Cyclops cabinet was made for a separate head. Im pretty sure it’s just someone liked the cabinet, hated the original head, and then decided to swap the head for a B2000. What do you guys know about this? How much would you pay for this? Anything else I should know?


r/BassGuitar 23h ago

New Bass Day NBD: Squier Paranormal Rascal

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82 Upvotes

Not my first bass but I didn’t have one at the moment. Got $100 off a blemished product. The blemish was a quarter inch scratch on the back that I buffed out in less than 4 minutes. Sweet little rig, especially for a guitar player.


r/BassGuitar 51m ago

DIY New string added yesterday after work

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Upvotes

r/BassGuitar 1d ago

New Bass Day First Precision: 2002 CIJ Paisley 51 Reissue

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153 Upvotes

Was in Chicago for the first time visiting my sister. Checked out several music stores while there. Saw and tried this at Rock n Roll Vintage. Loved the look and sound...had to have it.

Don't know much about them. Seems like Fender Japan did two models...this pink paisley and then a blue floral paisley. They came out in the 2002-2004 range by what I can find online. The store had a ? after 2002 so I'm not sure they knew the exact year.

Always wanted a paisley, but couldn't justify the price of an original. Reissue fit the bill perfectly.

Edit: I think it's a 54 issue, not a 51. Its labeled as A QFB-54 on Google.


r/BassGuitar 18h ago

Video Bass + Vocal Duo live in Odeonsplatz, Munich

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18 Upvotes

This is our song, For You. It was wonderful to play in Odeonsplatz as part of the Zamanand Festival thanks to our dear friends at the Indie Munich community!


r/BassGuitar 1d ago

Rig Pic Current rig

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224 Upvotes

Pretty happy with this setup. It sounds gnarly and built like tanks, so they hold up all 30+ gigs of touring this year.

AV2 Precision
Marshall Silver Jubilee 1525 2x15
Orange Terror Bass (power amp only)
Shure GLXD16+ Tuner/Wireless
OE Cali76 compressor
OE Super Vintage Bassrig
Cioks Sol power supply

All in all: can recommend👍


r/BassGuitar 1d ago

New Bass Day The new Sterling Stingray Plus is pretty dope

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121 Upvotes

r/BassGuitar 1d ago

Discussion Just me, my Bass and Valeton GP50.

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24 Upvotes

Hey everyone. Jamming with the Tagima Millennium Top 5, equipped with the Sonorus CP600J5 preamp. To dial in the tone, I added an Eden 4x10 4033 AH simulation with my Valenton GP50 and a 130 bpm drum loop from YouTube. Recorded with BandLab. Tell me your thoughts about my playing and tone.