New Taylor GS mini action too low. Why?

[jpricewood]

Hi guys,

I received my new Taylor GS mini this morning, and unfortunately, I'm getting a lot of fret buzz up and down the neck but mostly between the 9th and 12th frets. I've played around with the truss rod some and tried a range of acceptable reliefs but nothing works. The action is 4/64 on the low E and 2/64 on the hi e. Usually I worry about having to lower action, so this was unexpected. I've been humidifying it for about 5 hours using a soundhole humidifier with no luck. I love the sound, so I may just exchange it.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Jared

Edit: It shipped from zzounds in New Jersey, where I'd imagine the humidity is pretty low.

[jonfields45]

Zzounds, in particular, seems to have a very dry warehouse. If the guitar has sharp fret ends too, you might consider sending it back. Otherwise give it a few days to humidify.

[jpricewood]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes. The fret ends are noticeably, but not painfully sharp. Other than that I don't notice a sunken bridge or anything indicating extreme dryness. The intonation is spot on as well.

[mirwa]

Don't put humidity correction devices in the guitar unless you know it's dry, you can cause just as much damage from it being too wet.

It's not uncommon for stores to have someone that plays the guitar when it comes in, and they get things tweaked under warranty, your neck may have been reset to bring the string action down.

If you place a ruler onto th eneck nd slide it down the neck u til it hits the bridge, where abouts does it hit or does the ruler slide over the top of the bridge and hit the saddle ?

Steve

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by mirwa

Don't put humidity correction devices in the guitar unless you know it's dry, you can cause just as much damage from it being too wet.

It's not uncommon for stores to have someone that plays the guitar when it comes in, and they get things tweaked under warranty, your neck may have been reset to bring the string action down.

If you place a ruler onto th eneck nd slide it down the neck u til it hits the bridge, where abouts does it hit or does the ruler slide over the top of the bridge and hit the saddle ?

Steve

I have bought and returned (less than I bought) a few solid body electric guitars from Zzound/SameDayMusic and every last one showed up too dry. They are a high volume Internet dealer and everything I ever bought from them was in the unopened manufacturer's packaging (not tweaked to anyone's opinion).

[jpricewood]

It must have been a humidity issue. After sitting out for a while in 50% RH, the action is now perfect and there is no fret buzz. I never knew laminate b/s guitars were that sensitive, even if they have a solid top.

[mirwa]

Good to see it was a humidity issue.

I would recommend playing it safe in future,check what the humidity actually is inside the guitar before putting any correction device in.

Steve