What is the height of your strings on the 12th fret?

Juraj

Member
I understand that everyone has different preferences and reasons.
Friends, don't be lazy and measure high and low E 👍
 
I measure everything in thousands of an inch. So 0.080-0.100 on acoustic and 0.055-0.070 on my Music Mans. I also like straight necks without a lot of relief. About 0.005 at the 7th fret, holding down the string on the 1st and where the neck meets the body.
 
I usually measure at the last fret (22nd / 24th) and setup my guitars to be 1/16 (4/64) inch (Not 1/4 or 1/8 inch as I previously stated.) at the low E and 3/64th inches at the high E. I'll have to measure one of my guitars at the 12th fret and report back.
 
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Oops, I meant 1/8 inch.
That's quite a big difference between high and low. 0.047-0.125. You sure you not meant 1/16? That would give you 0.047-0.063.

For reference, my dread is setup for bluegrass. So quite high action, almost as high as they come. Even it doesn't have 1/8 at the last fret.
 
Fender's recommendation is around 4/64" (1/16") or 0.0625" at the 17th fret. The lighter your touch, the lower your action can be generally. Flatter radius fretboards generally can tolerate a little lower action without fretting out when bending and treble strings can usually be a tiny bit lower than bass strings too.
 
I measure everything per the manufacturer's location, 17th fret on a Fender, for example. But for the purpose of this exercise, I measured about 4 to 5/64 on my Strat and Tele. My PRS and Ibanez are much lower but I am too lazy to go measure.
 
That's quite a big difference between high and low. 0.047-0.125. You sure you not meant 1/16? That would give you 0.047-0.063.

For reference, my dread is setup for bluegrass. So quite high action, almost as high as they come. Even it doesn't have 1/8 at the last fret.

🤦‍♂️ Yes, 1/16 (4/64) inch. Would you believe that I earned a minor in mathematics in college and even got passing grades? Oy, I need to get my head checked.
 
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