Do you all prefer low action?

I am in a quandry right now. My son loves his action low and I like mine a little higher. I was told I was heavy handed and have bad technique, but that may be cuz of my age and arthiritis. Wanted to get a feel for what others think and if they had this problem too when first learning. I been playing for little over 6 months now so still very new.

I just raised my action and got everything good to go tonight so we will see what happens. I got it to 5/32" on the 12th. Is that considered too high?

No, I don't prefer "low action" and in the end I was not a fan of zero fret on the Flea. BTW, there's a certain myth about low action and more specifically lower profile neck being necessarily less painful for everyone. One of the worst "sprains" (almost) playing guitar for me was with an Ibanez electric after coming from a Les Paul.

Don't worry what others "measure" in terms of action. Custom for you is different. Custom means custom (not designer rack custom).

Besides, why kill tone by lowering action (to near shredder guitarist levels?) the way a lot of folks do and then shortly thereafter need to get a uke that sounds better (after maybe they killed it). What amuses me is how often people will tell someone (or strongly suggest) to really take the time to "get used to" soprano or concert size necks and frets but when it comes to action what emerges as "unplayable" becomes almost an emergency (though simply "medium high" )...and then come all the string choice threads, questions (post-filing the nut, post-sanding the saddle)...about buzzing?

IMO, it's a cycle that often starts with jumping the gun on lowering the action...

I would say I like my action "medium" on a uke. I'm a bass player, so even HIGH action on a ukulele is really quite easy for me to play. As long as the intonation is on, it doesn't really matter to me if the action is a little high. If it's too low, I think you lose some volume and some tone (in my experience).

Chris Tarman said:

I would say I like my action "medium" on a uke. I'm a bass player, so even HIGH action on a ukulele is really quite easy for me to play. As long as the intonation is on, it doesn't really matter to me if the action is a little high. If it's too low, I think you lose some volume and some tone (in my experience).

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I agree with this 100%

Action depends on several things, but mostly where you play on the neck. Although string height is usually measured at the 12th fret, we all tend to play mostly in the upper portion - the first five frets. The string height there is usually a lot lower. If you play up the neck a lot, then it starts to matter more.

If the strings are too high, it takes longer and more force to push them down on the the fretboard. This can affect your playing by slowing down the left hand, and sometimes cramping it. You might have read about Deach's "kung fu" grip on this forum. Well, if the action is too high, you'll need that, especially higher up the neck.

Also, high strings make for intonation problems higher up the fretboard.

On the other hand, too low, and the strings can buzz.

I came from 40+ years of guitar, including a lot of electric rock, so I usually like low action. But you get used to what you play. My Mainland tenor had "medium" action which at first seemed quite high to me. But after a while, it became natural to play it a that height and I adjusted to the difference easily. My Boat Paddle is so low I am always amazed it doesn't buzz like crazy, but it is smooth all the way up the fretboard. All I really have to do with different ukes is change my hand positions slightly to accommodate the higher or lower strings.