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Action of a Fretted 3-String (playing with Slide)

Posted by Andreas Fischer on September 14, 2018 at 3:52pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I am just starting with CBG`s. And I never played a fretted CBG.
Regular Guitars, yes but not 3-Stringed CBG`s.

I am going to built my first 2 CBG`s and one will be fretless and one fretted.
On the fretted I want to play chords AND with Slide, too.

My Question is, how should I setup the action?
I guess there must be a compromise between easy playing chords and easy playing slide. But where to start?

Any advide?

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Replies

  • Webster Miller September 15, 2018 at 2:17pm

    To each his own but 1mm at the first fret and 2.5mm at the 12th work well for me. 

    The fretwire I use has a .046" (1.17mm) crown height.  I place a nickel (1.95mm) on the fretboard up against the nut and then slot until the file hits the nickel.  This results in ~1mm of action at the first fret and makes things pretty fool proof.  2 dimes stacked is 2.7mm and makes a decent feeler gauge for action at the 12th. 

    • Andreas Fischer > Webster Miller September 15, 2018 at 6:58pm

      Thank you i guess 1mm and 2.5mm will work for me too.
      Got no Nickels and Dimes here in Germany but ill get it.

  • BrianQ. September 15, 2018 at 1:10am

    Here’s a good start, Search Glenn Watt, he has some set-up videos too

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GiQPwDE-0U8

    • Andreas Fischer > BrianQ. September 15, 2018 at 6:56pm

      Thanks, thats an informative good Video.

      I checked with some of my Regular Guitars, the examples he shows will work for me, so i now have a starting point and when the Guitars are built i can make adjustments.

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