Is my action too high?

Hey everyone,

I am just starting out and staring to lean power chords. Up until now Ive only been doing open chords with the first 3 or 4 frets where my strings are super close to the fretboard. But ow that I am working with the middle of the neck, my strings are significantly farther away from the fretboard as before and it makes chord changes much more difficult. I do not have an action guage, all I have is a standard measuring ruler. I measured the distance between the fretboard and string for the low E string at the 12th fret and the string is about 7-8mm away from the fretboard. Is this normal?

I do not know much about guitars other than what I have learned from this site. I have a squier strat for reference so lowering the strings seems like an easy turn of an allen key.

Hi Deanhorneck,

Sounds like your action might need to be adjusted, so you're probably correct. The best way to check this without tools is to simply take it to your local music store or closest guitar shop and have someone take a look at it. I know Guitar Centers have this service in their stores and it's always worth a shot.

Different guitars are of course, different but, my Epiphone Casino according to the book is supposed to be ...High e 1.6mm and the Low E at 2.4mm. My Yamaha AES is 1.9mm-2.4mm. I have them both set with the High e at 1.9mm and the Low E at 2.6mm...That being said 7-8mm is waaaay to high.

I googled Squire Strat action height and it says 4/64" for all...that would be about 1.6mm.

Originally Posted by: Deanhorneck the low E string at the 12th fret and the string is about 7-8mm away from the fretboard. Is this normal?

No.

In an acoustic 3mm would be "high". 2mm on an electric.

7-8mm is so excessively high it sounds like user error. Measure again.

If it's really 7-8mm, your action is far too high.

Read this and this, use your steel rule or buy one of these (printed so as to be purposed and easier to read) and do it yourself if you are sufficiently motivated and confident. Or take it to a guitar shop for adjustment, preferably one who is or employs a qualified luthier if you're paying for the job.