How High To Raise Action For Slide?

Hey Roy,
Before you adjust your action, check out this link. All you do is loosen your strings, insert this thing and you're good to go!
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddles/Resonator_nuts,_saddles/Slide_Guitar_Extension_Nut.html

I'd do it with some pieces of SS TIG rod......

That's just me though...

i've never bothered raising the action. i don't know if it's necessary, although i don't get into it all that often so i'm not sure if you should ignore this.

I'd do it with some pieces of SS TIG rod......

OK... I'll ask. What the .... is SS TIG rod?

Thanks for the responses so far folks. Never thought to put something near the nut to raise them a touch.
OK... I'll ask. What the .... is SS TIG rod?
I had to google it. Welding rod. Never heard of TIG, but have heard of MIG. I did some arc welding in High School and a couple things for fun here and there when given the opportunity. I LOVE the smell of arc welding. I have laid some pretty impressive beads......and some not so impressive. Same kind of rods in the old style theater movie projectors. They provide the light. Two ends about 1/3rd inch apart as I remember. Big dark thick glass window covering the action, but you knew when they lit. Crap! I'm rambling again. :oops:

That Stew-Mac device looks like just the thing you need, and for under 5 bucks too 8)
Same kind of rods in the old style theater movie projectors. They provide the light. Two ends about 1/3rd inch apart as I remember. Big dark thick glass window covering the action, but you knew when they lit. Crap! I'm rambling again. :oops:

Hey, you used to do that job too? cool.
I ran a pair of projectors that are older than I am for about 3 years in my late teens.
Some spot lights (the type used at arena and stadium size shows) use the same thing for a light source.

I'm guessing the copper clad carbon rods might be a bit too fragile for this application, though.

/ramble on...

The extension nuts works great, BUT - that way you'll have a lap steel that is unusable for combining slide with fretted notes, one of the (few) advantages bottleneck slide has over lap steel.

If your slide is a heavy one you'll need to raise the action a little, but not much over 'medium' action in my experience. It takes a bit of practice to develop the right touch and slide without hitting the frets, but someone like Derek Trucks plays with a very low action, even for regular guitar playing, using 011 strings.

Personally I don't have any problems playing slide on my regular guitars with 010 strings and a low/medium action at home or in the studio, but live I need to raise the action a bit because I tend to dig in a little harder then..

Steainar's exactly right, raising the nut makes the guitar a lap steel. That may be what you want to do, and many people have done that to play slide solos in a band setting with backup. Won't work well if you want to play self-accompanied stuff like Delta blues. You need to be able to fret with reasonable intonation. My 12th fret string heights are all between about 1/8 and 3/16" on my bottleneck guitars, with normal nut heights.

Actually, I keep it low enough to play regular.

I think of it like this....I want to go into a guitar shop to try a guitar.

They're not going to raise the action for you so why do it at all.

Once you get used to a lighter touch, things work out rather smoothly.

I mentioned TIG rod, because it's something I have.
TIG= tungsten & inert gas....also called heliarc now refered to as GTAW, Gas tungsten arc welding.

They can't make up their mind what to call it.

Someone told me to get a nut extender when I started playing slide. I agree, totally useless unless you are playing lap. These things raise it so high you can't fret at all.
When I got my National Style O it had a low action so I got a new biscuit and cut myself a bridge with an 1/8" action at the 12th.
Now I've got better at slide my touch is much lighter and I have taken that down to 3/32'' which is also comfortable for fretting. All this meant a lot of work on a National!!
If you've got something like a Les Paul it is so easy to raise the bridge a little when you start out then lower it as you get better at slide.

Hey, Parker...why adjust the height at all??? You won't play anythin' tasty if you bear down on the strings, anyhoo???

Cat

Thanks Ricochet! This was just what I was looking for.

Thanks to everyone else for your insights and thoughts on the subject. Loads of options an ways to do everything with this guitr stuff.
Hey, you used to do that job too? cool.
I never had the job. A buddy of mine and his father used to. I'd hang out and assist on weekends sometimes. They eventually let me do more and more and probably would have ended up with the job, but we (the family) moved away before that happened. Remember, not until the 2nd circle. :wink:

Little update. I used my heavy metal style H-S-H ESP/LTD M-252 that I got for way cheap a couple years back. It's got some dings on it, some belt rash and wasn't functioning all that well when I bought it. Installed a new input jack on her and she popped to life and has been a really flexible guitar. Has Duncan Designed pick-ups and a FR style bridge with locking nuts up at the nut. I probably could not sell it for $150 due to the shape it's in, but it functions very well.

I tuned to open G and got the height to between 1/8th and 3/16th. Perfect. I can now make slide noises as they should happen. I had been putting this off for a couple of weeks, but finally did it tonight. It took about 45 minutes. Not too bad, I guess.

Thanks again for the help and comments, and thanks for sharing your measurements with me Ricochet! Now I gots me something else to fiddle with. 8)

That's terrific! Enjoy!