Do you get more sustain with higher guitar action?

-Very low action causes fret buzz. One of my favorite guitarists ever, Don Wilson of the Ventures sets up his guitar with very low action, not so it plays faster but so the notes do NOT sustain a lot. He feels this gives his tone a more percussive sound for playing rhythm. That seems to have worked for him, as the Ventures are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Low action is comfortable and allows speed but it cuts sustain if the vibrating string touches frets farther down the neck from the point the string is fingered. It's very simple geometry. The key is setting the guitar up for clarity without getting the action too high.

The responder who noted that acoustic guitars have higher action so they sustain more is correct.Very low action causes fret buzz. One of my favorite guitarists ever, Don Wilson of the Ventures sets up his guitar with very low action, not so it plays faster but so the notes do NOT sustain a lot. He feels this gives his tone a more percussive sound for playing rhythm. That seems to have worked for him, as the Ventures are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Low action is comfortable and allows speed but it cuts sustain if the vibrating string touches frets farther down the neck from the point the string is fingered. It's very simple geometry. The key is setting the guitar up for clarity without getting the action too high.

The responder who noted that acoustic guitars have higher action so they sustain more is correct.Sustain is much more about the mechanical properties of the guitar itself. If we're talking about an electric, the electronics themselves can contribute to sustain by creating a feedback loop.



A stiff, rigid structure does not allow the string vibration to decay rapidly. On an acoustic, having hard nut and saddle material helps by not absorbing the energy from the string.



In search of ultimate sustain, people have tried all sorts of ideas....Electric guitar bodies made of granite or aluminum, for instance. For the most part, these have not proved practical.

Carlos Santana, well known for his use of long-sustained notes, claims it's all in the musician's fingers.

Others would say it's that and his very high-quality Paul Reed Smith guitars.
Too high and too low action kills sustain. You get maximum sustain when the action is set as low as possible, without touching frets behind the fretted note.



xx
Not that I can tell. I like low action personally and as long as it doesn't fret out on a big bend or buzz enough to come through the amp I'm happy.
No you don't.
Not me. It just makes it harder to play.
Sometims yes,



If you have lowered the action too far, it will hurt the tone and sustain,



This is more noticeable with acoustics, than with electrics.



ha, the rappers are out tonight, passing out the thumbs down, and they don't even know what a guitar is?



lol