Guiat string height

[sanman]

:) I was wondering what the height of the strings should be at the 12th fret.

[MWA]

Per Ramirez in his book, 3mm for the 1st string and 4.5-5.5mm for the 6th on classical guitars; 2.5mm for 1st and 3mm for 6th on flamenco. This is measured to the top of the 12th fret.

[sanman]

Thanks for your reply.

[Tsar]

I recently had the chance to try out a guitar with quite a comfortable low action but quite high a bridge! How is this possible, can any luthier out there explain this to me? I was quite amazed at the easy playability of the instrument in general. Although it has a scale of 65 cm, it felt like less.

Thanks for any information someone can give on this subject.

Regards,

[MWA]

Do you mean a high bridge or a high saddle? I am not a professional luthier but the height of bridge saddle/action set up is determined by the basic dimensions and geometry of the guitar. Without seeing the guitar, I would suspect that the high action could be the result of a flat neck angle in relation to the plane of the top. There could be other contributors such as a lack of radius to the top (most are built with a slight dome shape), thickness of the fretboard, and/or high profile frets.

[Tsar]

I think I mean saddle, the piece of bone inserted into the slot in the bridge. That piece protrudes more than I've ever seen on another guitar and yet is string action is quite low. I didn't measure it but it is extremely comfortable. I was quite surprised and thought perhaps a luthier or amateur luthier might be able to tell me what other factors affect action.