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  #1  
Old 07-16-2014, 02:39 PM
lespaul_79 lespaul_79 is offline
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Default How to lower the action on a Gretsch Boxcar (roundneck) resonator?

Hi,
So I just got a Gretsch Boxcar (roundneck) resonator. The action is kinda high (set up for slide). It's my first reso and I have no idea how to lower the action. Anybody have any idear? Thanks.
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Old 07-16-2014, 05:16 PM
Cone Head Cone Head is offline
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How high are the strings? A SMALL adjustment is possible at the saddle, beyond that you are messing with the saddle-to-tailpiece angle, and reducing that will negatively impact the tone and volume of a resonator guitar.
Here's how you adjust at the saddle:

Remove the strings.
Remove the tailpiece.
Remove the coverplate which protects the cone.
Remove the wooden saddle inserts from the groove in the "spider" in which they sit on top of the cone.
Sand the bottom of the wood inserts flat (or the top, if you don't mind re-cutting the string slots) and remember that in order to adjust the action at the 12th fret by "distance Y" you need to reduce height by "Y times 2".
Re-assemble and enjoy.

More serious adjustments require a neck angle adjustment.
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Old 07-16-2014, 07:21 PM
Dan Carey Dan Carey is offline
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Where is the action "too High"? at the nut? All the way down the neck?
What you have there is a "Biscuit Bridge" resonator.

If you haven't done one before, I suggest that you find a good tech who knows these instruments. Once the neck is adjusted so it's straight, you'll have to measure the string height at the nut, at the 12th fret and at the 19th fret. When I did my first biscuit bridge instrument, I had already purchased a spare biscuit bridge so that I could go back to whence I came if I screwed things up.

Hope this helps some,
Dan
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Old 07-16-2014, 10:34 PM
Cone Head Cone Head is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Carey View Post
What you have there is a "Biscuit Bridge" resonator.
No, a Gretsch Boxcar is a spider bridge resonator, not a biscuit bridge.

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Old 07-17-2014, 08:27 AM
lespaul_79 lespaul_79 is offline
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Thanks folks. Yeah, action is high at the bridge. Little high at neck too.
Capo helps but yes, high at bridge.

What y'all say below makes sense, I'm probably gonna have to bring it in for a set up. Whole new world.
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  #6  
Old 07-18-2014, 11:49 AM
Dan Carey Dan Carey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cone Head View Post
No, a Gretsch Boxcar is a spider bridge resonator, not a biscuit bridge.

I stand corrected. The photos that I saw led me to believe it was a biscuit bridge
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Dan Carey (not Crary)

A couple of guitars
A Merida DG16 Classical Guitar
A couple of banjos
A Yueqin
A Mountain Dulcimer that I built
A Hammered Dulcimer that I'm currently building
And a fiddle that I built!

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
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Old 07-25-2014, 03:48 PM
Pheof Pheof is offline
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Quick word of caution: keep your Boxcar humidified well! I bought one last summer and by January the house humidity dropped to 30% and it completely ruined it. The neck warped at the body joint, all high notes were unplayable and the end pin fell out and wouldn't fit back in. I wouldn't expect that on a plywood guitar. I tried rehumidifying it, but no luck. I traded it in toward something else and was lucky to get $75 for it. Wasn't interested in bothering with a warranty on such a cheap guitar.

(All my other guitars are temperature & humidity controlled all year. I just thought I could leave a plywood guitar out, didn't expect low humidity would toast it.)
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Old 12-28-2014, 03:29 PM
eyepeeler eyepeeler is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pheof View Post
Quick word of caution: keep your Boxcar humidified well! I bought one last summer and by January the house humidity dropped to 30% and it completely ruined it. The neck warped at the body joint, all high notes were unplayable and the end pin fell out and wouldn't fit back in. I wouldn't expect that on a plywood guitar. I tried rehumidifying it, but no luck. I traded it in toward something else and was lucky to get $75 for it. Wasn't interested in bothering with a warranty on such a cheap guitar.

(All my other guitars are temperature & humidity controlled all year. I just thought I could leave a plywood guitar out, didn't expect low humidity would toast it.)
Pheof, Where do you live that it got so dry?
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