Acoustic Guitar Setup

[Marty783]

Hi

I'm new to this forum. I've got a couple of questions I'm hoping folks can help with.

Firstly, I've a nice acoustic that was set up a year or so ago, but the G and top E strings now choke slightly around the 14th fret. Truss rod was adjusted etc., the guitar is being humidified. What's the remedy for this (common?) issue?

My other question: can anybody recommend a good luthier in London, England, who can take a look.

Thanks,

Marty

[bnjp]

Try loosening the truss rod a bit. Maybe 1/8th to 1/4 turn.

[B. Howard]

Most guitars will need set up once or twice a year. That process involves setting the truss rod as well as other things.

[jonfields45]

Once you've gotten to the 14th fret the truss rod is probably not your primary problem. If you want to not have to set up your guitar on a regular basis, have the truss rod adjusted when the humidity is highest, typically the summer (at least for Gibsons and Taylors, double rod trusses such as Martin are relatively immune to humidity), and set the action (saddle height) when the humidity is lowest, typically winter. The set up will not be optimal, but the guitar will likely be reasonable and this has worked for me for 45+ years...

Learning to adjust a truss rod and sand an after market saddle for string height are useful skills.

Jon

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Marty783

Hi

I'm new to this forum. I've got a couple of questions I'm hoping folks can help with.

Firstly, I've a nice acoustic that was set up a year or so ago, but the G and top E strings now choke slightly around the 14th fret. Truss rod was adjusted etc., the guitar is being humidified. What's the remedy for this (common?) issue?

My other question: can anybody recommend a good luthier in London, England, who can take a look.

Thanks,

Marty

Problem that high up the neck, then increase saddle height. First check for any fret up there that is not fully seated in it's slot.

[Ned Milburn]

If you are having problems near the 14th fret, you are probably experiencing troubles with the "hump".

Simply put, the fingerboard is glued onto the guitar neck and body, and there are varying degrees of stiffness at the various parts (neck, heel, fingerboard extension).

Also, nearly anything made of wood will shift and move slightly after manufacture for the first few years. (Think of new house building; within a year to five years or so, often cracks open up in drywall as the wood frame twists and settles.)

So, the hump is a reality of the structure and nature of the instrument, and is more prevalent on certain makes of guitars than others.

The BEST way to rectify the hump is to lightly fret-dress the area. In fact, many new guitars could use a light fret dressing after a year or so, since it is common for the heights of adjacent frets to shift slightly from perfect level. (Again, this is due to the nature of wood, being hygroscopic - absorbing and releasing moisture based upon air humidity.)

[Marty783]

Thanks all for your replies!

[Phlatpicker]

Some very good info in this thread! If you've narrowed the problem down to 1 fret I would recommend you purchase a fret rocker to see exactly which frets are high, you might get by with just working on the one fret that buzzes. The "hump" is a common problem and sometimes just humidifying (especially the inside of the body) cures the problem.

[Dave55]

Where can i find out about a ovation guitar celebrity with a 7 digit serial number The serial number is all i have to go on

[Phlatpicker]

This may help, or hopefully point you in the right direction.

http://www.ovationtribute.com/Date%2...20Ovation.html

[murrmac123]

I have to confess I am never sure, when people talk about the 14th fret "hump" whether they are referring to the fretboard taking a ski jump past the 14th fret, ie the fretboard shoots up, or whether they are talking about the opposite condition, where for varying reasons the fretboard slopes down past the 14th fret.

I see guitars with these conditions in equal proportions ... the down slope doesn't cause a buzzing problem , but the ski jump can, and as often as not does.

[Phlatpicker]

Most times the hump is referred to when the fretboard is sloping down after the 14th fret, the 14th fret being a high spot and sloping down from that point to the sound hole. Not always, but usually this is caused from the guitar being dried out and in bad need of humidification from the inside, being too dry will cause the entire area from the 14th fret to where the fingerboard meets the sound hole to sink in, usually it can be corrected by simply humidifying from the inside but the guitar should be well humidified from the outside first or the finish will usually develop hairline cracks. Also sometimes when the top and fretboard are sunk in, in that area, it may cause the 14th fret to actually rise higher than the rest, causing other problems of getting the action down to where one might want it without buzzing. Hope this explains it better and helps.

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by Phlatpicker

Hope this explains it better and helps.

Thank you, phlatpicker, and your commendable attempt to be helpful is much appreciated.

The fact of the matter is, however, that when people (players, not techs) post on forums and talk about their "14 fret hump" it is never obvious what they mean until further into the thread, and my experience is actually the reverse of yours ... IME what they mean , most often, is that the fretboard extension is ramping up, not sloping down.

Then again , sometimes they mean just what you described.

If you Google "14 fret hump", you will come up with a load of links to threads on various forums, this one and the UMGF in particular, which show that the unfortunate phrase "14 fret hump" is construed in two opposite ways .

I just wish there were a different, commonly accepted term to get rid of the ambiguity ...