What does lowering the action mean?

[gtds]

I always thought it meant having the strings nearer to the frets.

 

[tubedude]

Yep. More often than not you can achive the same results by adjusting the rod and getting the bow out of the neck.

 

[foo]

Lowering the action does mean getting the strings closer to the frets.
There are different ways to accomplish this.

First off, many people think that a guitar neck should be straight, which is not the case. It should have a slight bow in it.

As tube rightly says, you can adjust the amount of bow by adjusting the truss rod.

What is the real question here?

foo

 

[Lopp]

Right.

You can also lower the action by adjusting the bridge height and the saddle height, by filing down the nut, and by placing a shim in the neck joint. Depending on your level of expertise, you may want to have some of these techniques performed by a tech.