The Story On Chet's Action, My Action

[Ray Cummins]

Some of you know I practice around the house on my tele. Over the years 1 or 2 people have commented that the action was a little high. I couldn't believe it. But they were comparing to a guitar with strings right down on the neck. As low as you could get them. You know what I mean. I would not want my Gibson CG down that low.
But all my guitars have low action. They play great. Barr them at the 12th fret with my little finger.
I just want to put to bed the story going around about Chet's action is high. Maybe 2 people out of 300 may say that. But Chet's guitars played like a dream, just like mine. I remember asking Steve Wariner in Cincinnati about what he thought about Chet's 59, because he had played it on Chet's show. He said, played so easy. I also played it and his Super Chet, his classical's. They played soooo easy. The Haile guitar that is in The Smithonian plays wonderful. Photo of me on my website playing it with Tommy Jones watching. That one photo circulating around showing Chet's bridge high, I had to laugh, he was working on it...
I was at RCA with Chet and Hascal Haile. Hascal brought a new guitar down for Chet to look at, no finish and it wasn't set up. Chet played it for 10 seconds, handed it back to Hascal and said, Action's to high, I like the one at the house better. Of course Hascal had not set it up, he just quickly put some strings on it so Chet could see it.
My point, Chet liked low action, same as what I like. Not too many people want to fight a guitar because the strings are high. Once Chet played my Super Chet. He loved the action. Every time I got a new Haile I would go to Chet's office and show him. He always commented how nice it played. Then I would play his Hail cutaway, played the same. Played like a dream, low easy action....

[RandeDager]

Ray, I really appreciate your testimony on all of this. I remember when I would go to Chet's office with Tommy Jones in the early 80's and would get to play a few of the guitars standing around and I too noticed the low action and was envious. The stories I've seen on this board about the high action and how it effects the sustain have all made sense but they never quit fit in with my memory of when I played any of his guitars. I don't claim to have the wide range of exposure to Chet's collection that some do, but I would assume that the 2 or 3 that I played were representative of his collection as a whole. I would expect that he had them all adjusted for the action that he preferred the most.

Thanks for the clarification.

[BillB]

I wonder if once Chet switched to Gibson, if he just put the '59 away in the case, or if he kept it around to play occasionally at home. I get the impression that it was put away, but I don't know if that has ever been discussed. It sure looks clean and playable in the MAMG book. And when I saw it at the CMHOF this summer, it looked ready to go. Of course, they may have gotten it cleaned up and all before the pictures were taken for the book. I guess Paul would know, and may have gotten it out a time or two with Chet's permission to pick a little at the home studio.

Bill B.

[guitarchuck]

Ray,
I agree with you on this one. I know this may be unpopular with some on this board. I've only played one of Chet's guitars. The action on it was perfect, no buzzes, but not too high. I looked at his 59 Country Gentleman a couple of weeks ago at the Hall of Fame. The action looked like an average good playing action to me. I also looked fairly close at his Gibson CG after his show at CAAS one year. Same story again. I have friends who have what I call super low action on their guitars, easy to play, but lifeless tone in my opinion. I believe Chet's action is what I consider low. I do think it was high enough to not ever get any fret buzz.

[Norm]

Just a comment here... no disrespect intended, but over the years Paul has remarked that Chet's action (as well as his own) was higher than was comfortable for most guitarists. There was a picture of Chets' bridge on his '59 (on the second Bear collection) that showed the bass side of the bar bridge at a remarkably steep height. Then there is this YouTube clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHCgh76DRLY

which, if you watch closely, you can see the bass strings are really high off the fingerboard as they travel as he frets the instrument

Ray, you said yourself that others consider your action on the high side so I think it may be a matter of perspective. You are possibly/probably used to a higher action than many would consider comfortable.

One of these photos is of Paul getting the old '59 ready for the HOF and of course he had occasion to play it many times not to mention measuring it for accuracy in creating the 6122-59 but in this photo the bass side looks a bit high





It's also possible that Chet dropped his action as he got older. When he was young he didn't always have the facilities to amplify his guitar for radio and had to depend on a mic which would almost require a stronger attack and a higher action. Particularly during his L-10 and earlier days. The other thing is this: "high action" means different things to different folks and is all a matter of taste. And those who play guitar for a living are apt to have stronger hands than your hobby guitarists.

The only reason I dipped my oar in here is because I've maintained a pretty detailed archive of Paul's comments on the Life and Times and, as I already hinted, he was pretty adamant about Chet liking a high action on his working guitars.

Like I said, I'm just advocating here...nothing is cast in stone and Chet could very easily have changed over the years.

[Eddie Estes]

I played one of Chet's Gibson CG at the 1986 convention.
It was hard fro me to play. Which surprised me.
If Paul says Chet liked his action high I take him at his word on it.

[guitarchuck]

I really wish someone at the CMHOF would measure both of the E strings height at the 12th fret. Then we would know if we personally would consider it high or not. Wouldn't be much trouble for someone to do.

[Rodney]

Thank you Ray Cummins! I never post, but I always wanted to every time someone said Chet's action was high. Chet even stated in an article, he hated high action. I was fortunate enough to get to play Chet's Super Chet and Haile Cutaway in Dayton, OH Mid seventies..Big dressing room at UD Arena. Like Ray, Rande and Chuck said, it played so easy. Any guitar player would have loved it. Another time at Memeorial Hall I was fortunate to play the 59. Low action, easy as pie. I KNOW it was low. I don't know what some people on here are afraid of. Again, thanks Ray for setting it straight and bringing people like me out to finally tell it like it is. We know... and it's really not that big of a deal. It was low action..so what....By the way Ray, you are MR SMOOTH. Love your playing!

[guitarchuck]

I know it was a different type of guitar than the Country Gentleman, but on Chet's Peaver guitar his action was:

On the bass E string: 3/32"
On the treble E string: 5/64"

Guitar Player Repair guide says that the Gibson electric factory setup specs are:

On the bass E string: 5/64"
On the treble E string: 3/64"

So comparing those, Chet's action was slightly higher than Gibson specs.

[Eddie Estes]

Rodney nobody is afraid of anything. I played Chet's Gibson in 1986 at the CAAS convention. The action was high for an electric.
Was it impossible to play? No. But it would take some getting used to.

Paul set up Chet's guitars from time to time as I recall and until any of us can say they
spent as much time with Chet as Paul did I take Paul at his word.

I mean Chet even had Paul change his D'Angelico back to an electric.