Adjusting your action on an acoustic.

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Thomas
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Adjusting your action on an acoustic.

Post by Thomas »

is this just something that shouldn't be attempted by anyone but a professional?

I just want to lower my action a little bit but I don't know which way or how much you're supposed to do it. and i didn't really want to pay for something as simple as turning an allan wrench but i will if i have to.
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CWMCALL
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Post by CWMCALL »

http://www.frets.com is a great site for all things guitar tech related and here is a link from that site that addresses truss rod adustment specifically.

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musicia ... tradj.html
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Nitro1515
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Post by Nitro1515 »

I would bring it to a professional. I just got mine done and they did it way better then I could have done it on my own.
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T714
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Post by T714 »

Lowering your action by way of a truss rod is the biggest misconception in setups.

DO NOT TOUCH THE TRUSS ROD TO LOWER THE ACTION.

The truss rod is for adjusting relief, or "bow" in the neck (adding relief or subtracting), and sanding the saddle is for lowering action. the truss rod will have an effect on action, but by means of a side effect. if you start cranking your truss rod, you will effect the bow of your neck, and you might mess up your intonation.

you can visit frets.com for help, but i suggest taking the guitar to a pro. setups are about $40, and are well worth the headache of not messing up your guitar.
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dmbandummer
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Post by dmbandummer »

T714 wrote:Lowering your action by way of a truss rod is the biggest misconception in setups.

DO NOT TOUCH THE TRUSS ROD TO LOWER THE ACTION.

The truss rod is for adjusting relief, or "bow" in the neck (adding relief or subtracting), and sanding the saddle is for lowering action. the truss rod will have an effect on action, but by means of a side effect. if you start cranking your truss rod, you will effect the bow of your neck, and you might mess up your intonation.

you can visit frets.com for help, but i suggest taking the guitar to a pro. setups are about $40, and are well worth the headache of not messing up your guitar.
I just got my guitar setup, and I couldn't be happier. The guy was so nice, way experienced with Taylors (where I took it, they actually have a full Taylor room with about 40 Taylors on the wall). He lowered my action a lot, back to factory spec.

The guy filed down my bridge and sanded the saddle, adjusted the truss rod, dressed the frets, polished the whole body, cleaned all the electronics, fixed a 'scratchy' bass pot, re-strung and tuned my baby up. All for $45. He was even nice enough to throw in a set of Martin strings free. I play Elixirs all the time, and asked him for a bronze, non-coated recommendation...that's what he gave me. (They're cheap, I know.) Plus he complemented my TRC. :D

Now, I love to work on my guitar myself, but every once in a while, this really needs to be done by a professional.

It's so much easier to play now. Sounds like gold. Like butta. :thumbsup:
joe.


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hcole
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Post by hcole »

T714 wrote:Lowering your action by way of a truss rod is the biggest misconception in setups.

DO NOT TOUCH THE TRUSS ROD TO LOWER THE ACTION.

The truss rod is for adjusting relief, or "bow" in the neck (adding relief or subtracting), and sanding the saddle is for lowering action. the truss rod will have an effect on action, but by means of a side effect. if you start cranking your truss rod, you will effect the bow of your neck, and you might mess up your intonation.
Amen
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c_tietze
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Post by c_tietze »

T714 wrote:Lowering your action by way of a truss rod is the biggest misconception in setups.

DO NOT TOUCH THE TRUSS ROD TO LOWER THE ACTION.

The truss rod is for adjusting relief, or "bow" in the neck (adding relief or subtracting), and sanding the saddle is for lowering action. the truss rod will have an effect on action, but by means of a side effect. if you start cranking your truss rod, you will effect the bow of your neck, and you might mess up your intonation.

you can visit frets.com for help, but i suggest taking the guitar to a pro. setups are about $40, and are well worth the headache of not messing up your guitar.
your are correct, can you imagine how many people have royally fucked up their guitars like this

it's always simple shit that luthier/guitar tech can fix, for instance my martin (typically martin's have high action) had high action and my guy made adjustments at the nut by using special files and a little sanding on the saddle, no truss rod adjustments needed
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