Setup question - If neck relief is good and the nut is good....
OK trying to setup my Yamaha AC3M myself and trying to get the action a little bit lower. It's currently 4/32" at the 12th fret, low E string.
The neck relief is good.....as low as can be without buzzing. It's got a slight amount of relief. Almost straight, but not. I checked the nut and that is as low as it should be. So is the only thing left to adjust the saddle? Is sanding a saddle down easy?I've never attempted this before but it looks easy. Or should I just bring it to a luthier to do? |
How tall is the saddle from the top of the bridge?
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It looks like this: http://i67.tinypic.com/2i74j2t.jpg |
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If you know what you have in the way of saddle height, and you know what you want to end up with, you can determine before you start if it can be done with what you have. |
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Saddle too high = problem Saddle too low = problem In trying to diagnose the problem, you asked about sanding a saddle. If the saddle is already low and you still have 4/32" at the 12th, it might be that the neck is the issue. If the saddle is too high, you can cut it down a bit. You need to measure before you cut. That goes for everything. |
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Also, "as low as it can be without buzzing" is a peculiar way to define good relief. Quote:
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Lowering it is not particularly difficult, but not everyone has the same abilities with tools. |
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Neck relief I measure by capo-ing the first fret and holding down the string where it joins with the body and then I measure in the middle (7th fret) the distance between the top of the fret and the bottom of the string. But it's such a TINY amount, it's tough to measure exactly. If I tap on the string I can see it move a little to touch the fret, but's a teeny tiny amount. I can try taking pics of the measurement, but I only have an iphone so I'm not sure they will come out ok. Nut height I measure by capoing at the 3rd fret and then measure the space between the top of the first fret and the bottom of the string. Again, there is a TINY amount of clearance here and it tough to measure, but I will try. There is no buzzing on the open strings, so it's possible it can go lower, but when I eyeball it, it looks like its not too high. |
This might be of help to you in lowering the saddle: Basic Guitar Setup 101.
http://charlestauber.com/luthier/Res...May%202015.pdf In some circumstances it makes sense to shorten the saddle from the bottom. In such cases be aware that if the guitar has an under-saddle transducer, the bottom of the saddle must be FLAT or you'll get uneven response from the transducer. |
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I had never heard of that method of checking nut height where you compare the effort needed for a bar cord at the first fret compared to say the 7th fret. I thought the bar chords at the first fret were SUPPOSED to take more effort or needed to be pressed down harder than bar chords way up the neck. |
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It is very qualitative and not a particularly "accurate" method. For actually judging the string height at the nut for each string, I prefer checking each string as I describe. Others use different methods, such as fretting the second fret and observing how much space there is above the first fret and the fretted string. Most players simply accept excessive string heights at the nut - and any accompanying intonation issued - as "normal". It doesn't have to be that way. If you've never had a good setup done by a skilled repair person, invest in one as part of your education. You'll then know what is possible and can use that as your guide for future setup work that you do. |
I see youve got enough info from the folks above so far, so I wont comment on that.
I will say that Ive read discussions here where its the height of the strings above the soundboard that is important. Of course, you need strings to have a sufficient break angle so that they dont just buzz when struck. Take that as you will. Ive no comment on the topic. |
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Setup question - If neck relief is good and the nut is good....
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Thank you for the calculation. I always knew that there had to be a calculation for resizing a bridge saddle. I would remove small amounts until I got to the correct string height. You just saved me a lot of time and effort!!! |
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