Urgent question/help with my guitar

This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 8 months ago by FretDancer69.

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- June 4, 2009 at 10:22 pm
FretDancer69
Member

Hey guys, im playing with my band at a festival next week, and im thinking of changing the strings soon so i get usted to the new strings and be ready for the gig with new strings, but i have a problem, my guitar has the strings very high, i mean, the distance between the fretboard and the strings is considerably high, its aprox. a little less than a centimeter, but other guitarrists always tell me when they try my guitar, they tell me that the strings are too seperated, and im aware of that, but i got used to playing like that. And ive wondered if i change the strings to ” how they should be ” , would my playing be better…? or worse….?

Im thinking of changing it for the festival, but im not sure… 🙁 what if i suck at it and make a fool of myself at the gig… ? 🙁 any help please, i might post a picture of the distance between the strings and the fretboard so you guys can get an idea of my problem.

Thanks in advance

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Replies

- June 5, 2009 at 12:55 am
Sean Conklin
Member

Hmmm, yeah I’d have to see it to know exactly how severe the spacing is, but I’d definitely recommend bringing it into a local music shop to get it checked out.

If you got it fixed, you might have to adapt to it, but the bottomline comes down to how much extra energy those high strings may be causing you to exert. If the strings are really high, then that forces you to use more energy to execute the notes. You want the strings to be at a level that costs you the least amount of energy possible.

In my opinion, the closest you can get the strings to the fretboard, the better. As long as you don’t sacrifice the overall setup and intonation of the guitar.

Good luck with the upcoming gig!
- June 5, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Kjutte
Member

However, I don’t recommend moving them too close to your fretboard. It will alienate you to every other guitar than your own.

Also you’ll have to intonate, and reset your pickup height. A medium setup is, approx 3mm from fret-top to string at 24th fret. Very common action.
- August 17, 2009 at 8:21 pm
FretDancer69
Member

Here are the screenshots of the spacing of the strings, sorry i took so long xD:
- August 18, 2009 at 2:20 pm
rochus
Member

omg, i think it’s a bit painful to play when strings is so high. i don’t advise you to change strings before gig, if it’s soon. change and lower stings after show, because new strings tends to go out of tune and you should inure to play with them when they are lowered if you dont want to muff up
- August 18, 2009 at 7:50 pm
FretDancer69
Member

@rochus 8540 wrote:

omg, i think it’s a bit painful to play when strings is so high. i don’t advise you to change strings before gig, if it’s soon. change and lower stings after show, because new strings tends to go out of tune and you should inure to play with them when they are lowered if you dont want to muff up

i dont have any upcoming gig so i think it would be a good idea to lower them, if they need to be lowered. The problem is, i dont know if they should be lowered, and if so, how?! 🙁
- August 18, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Richard Lundmark
Member

There are some factors to consider other than simply playability. Intonation is also affected by string height. A very high string height, will cause you to pull the string further out of pitch in relation to the “intended” pitch at the corresponding fret. That is, you will need to move your saddle way further back to compensate for this, and at times you will run out of adjustment length to cover this. This is the reason why older acoustic guitars that have had their necks warp so that the action is very high, is so horribly out of tune high u n the fretboard. and there you can’t compensate even a little with moveable saddles.

String height is also depending on personal playing style and preference. Say you play a lot of bending with heavy string (say SRV-type texas blues). Then you would benefit from a slightly raised action and larger relief, to get a solid grip on the string, and be able to really dig in to the strings without the notes buzzing out on you. On the other hand, if you do a lot of two handed stuff and legato, you might benefit from a flatter relief and lower action, to get a more even tone when using legato and enable more effortless playing (think Holdsworth). This will not facilitate better bending though (even though you will find bending fairly easy using thin strings anyways). But let’s say you use 0.11 or heavier strings (in normal tuning) and have a low action and flat relief. Then bending will require a larger control and strength to really be easy. Look at a player like Gottardo that uses 0.11 standard tuning, pretty low action. ( to have a very playable and even response to his extraordinary two-handed stuff. I also much prefer heavier string for two-handed stuff because of the more even tone between left and right hand). He will have to work harder when playing “regular” styles and bending a lot. But in the end, it’s always a personal preference and balance between what makes your guitar sound the best, and what makes you play the best.

For more on this topic, feel free to check out my set-up tutorial here on IG:
https://www.infiniteguitar.com/guitar-lesson-tutorial.php?tutorial=182
- August 18, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Richard Lundmark
Member

PS. should you still have specific questions regarding setup on your particular guitar (for example floating tremolo-adjustment and such), feel free to shoot me a PM.
- August 19, 2009 at 4:12 am
FretDancer69
Member

Thanks, i mostly play John Petrucci type of stuff, and im kind of used to the strings being high but sometimes is annoying, i feel like i wont achieve the speed quick if i keep playing like this 🙁 :S , every time i change the strings, they always stay that high, i think i should lower them, how can i do this ? by the way im not a premium member 🙁 yet.