Gypsy Guitar Action

cantzon

What would be considered low, medium, and high action for a gypsy guitar?

In mm please and I'm guessing as measured at the 12th fret on the high and low e. Is that how it's normally measured?

Thanks.

djangology

if you dont have a ruler, it can be measured with a stacks of US coins. the thicknesses are shown on this page: http://www.handyfacts.com/dimspace.html

The bridge on my Favino is 21mm high. The action is 2mm at the 12th fret.

BluesBop Harry

I would say:
2.5mm TO 3mm. LOW
3mm. TO 3.5mm. MEDIUM
3.5mm. TO 4mm HIGH

Jack

I probably mention this every time this subject comes up, but just to be sure we're all on the same page, action should be measured from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string...

best,
Jack.

a

high

djangology

action should be measured from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string...

yeah, that being the case, I would say "

Low: 1mm
Med: 2mm
High: 3mm
Insanity: 3.5mm+

BluesBop Harry

From the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the low E is correct but you shouldn't press the string down!

Around 3mm for the low E is normal, but I wouldn't consider that high, really.
The strings, especially the basses, need enough room to vibrate freely even when attacked relatively hard (Do you gypsy pick?) and you need to put enough pressure on the top so the the guitar sounds good but not too much so it closes up.

A low setup would typically be 2.5mm for the low E with 11 gauge strings (Bireli Lagrene style), and a high setup would be 3.5 - 4mm with 10s (old school) depending on the guitar and the player.
2mm could work if your guitar has a perfect fret job, a very thin top and you're a really, really light picker.

It's all about what works for you and finding a happy medium between good playability and sound.
Here's an interesting tread from the past discussing action and setup:
viewtopic.php?t=2517&highlight=

Bob Holo

Hi Enrique - good post. I was thinking of posting yesterday - pretty much along the lines of your post but to add that it's really tough to dial in intonation when you get the action much past 3mm on any string. I've tried it a bunch of ways including multiple bridge compensation and Gilbert-style fret placement. The amount of string stretch you get up past the 7th fret with a high action pretty much hoses intonation... i.e., if you set the bridge to intonate well at the 12th, you're flat down the neck and vice-versa. If you've ever played a guitar with high action and thought: "Man, I just can't seem to tune this damned thing." that's probably a good part of it. The thing about guitars is that for reasons of string stretch etc.. guitars naturally get sharp as you work up the fretboard. Add to that the fact that all whole and half steps in the Western scale are not the same size (often called 'temperment' ... think of why violins and pianos are tuned out of tune to sound right and you'll be along the right lines) Suffice it to say that mid-fretboard string harmonics on guitars are a couple of cents sharp... and string stretch makes the fundamental go sharp... guitars just love to go sharp if given half an opportunity to do so... and add to that the propensity for the G string to be sharp on a non-intonated bridge... it's a real bugger.

For the most part now I'm setting guitars up 2.9mm lowE / 2.5mm highE with 10s at ~40 percent relative humidity because it's an action that gives you power but is perceived by most folks to be very playable and it can go up and down a bit depending on humidity changes and still be decently playable.

Heretic

Bob:

Thanks for sharing your experience on this topic. I've found much the same but had to do it all by trial and error, with a lot wondering what was going on as I made various changes.
It's a devil of a choice to go higher for tone and volume improvements, but around 3.0 mm for intonation. For me, I can't stand being out of tune.

cantzon

The coin dimension link was very helpful. It's far easier to stack the coins between the fret and the string than to hold a ruler steady and attempt to see such tiny increments. Thanks for the link.

Now the obvious followup:

How much should I sand in order to lower the action 1mm at the 12th fret?

Thanks everyone.

BluesBop Harry

I also like to use picks, like a Wegen 2.5 for the high E and two dunlop 1.5 stacked for the low E.
I'm sure if you ask Bob Holo or Josh Hegg directly they can answer your questions on setup.
I think whatever amount you take off the bridge lowers the action to half that amount. If you take off 1mm you lower the action .5mm.
But I might have it backwards...

Anyway whatever you do just make sure you don't go too far!
You might find what you need here:
viewtopic.php?t=1200