How long to let a new guitar "acclimate" before getting a setup?

[JackB1]

just took delivery of my new Yamaha AC3M and the action feels a little high. Should I let the guitar sit for a few days before making any adjustments or can I immediately take it for a setup or adjust the truss rod a little myself?

[Wade Hampton]

You can tweak the truss rod a little (as in, no more than a quarter turn,) but I’ve found that it takes a couple of weeks for acoustic guitars to acclimate to a new climate. So I’d recommend that you give it that long before taking it in to get optimized.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[sid45]

I dont think the truss rod is the way to go for high action, give it a week and let someone experienced adjust the "action" or string height to your preference, hopefully the store you purchased from will do it free

[charles Tauber]

You can check the amount of bow in the neck - .005" to .010 is typical. If it is more than that, then adjust the rod by whatever amount is required to achieve the above. If it is not more than that, leave the truss rod alone. If the action is still too high, nut and saddle need to adjusted.

At this time of the year, in many places, the relative humidity is low, which would cause the top to flatten out and lower action. If your action is too high, once acclimatized, it will likely still be too high. I'd wait a few days, if still too high, then take it in.

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

You can tweak the truss rod a little (as in, no more than a quarter turn,) but I’ve found that it takes a couple of weeks for acoustic guitars to acclimate to a new climate. So I’d recommend that you give it that long before taking it in to get optimized.

Hope this helps.

Wade Hampton Miller

wow, that long huh? I was thinking a few days, but who knows?

[hearsedriver]

Except for minor tweaks, I would wait 3 weeks. Keep it in its case as much as possible with some Humidipaks to stabilize the humidity. Also, take that time to experiment with a few different string types and gauges until you settle on the ones that you will most likely use. A setup for light gauge strings can be different from one with medium strings.

[AgentKooper]

I'd say it depends how playable it is to you right now. If it's not pleasant to play, I would take it in for a setup now. Worst case scenario is you'll need to get it tweaked again down the road. My tech will do free adjustments for a few weeks after a setup.

If it's just that the guitar is not perfectly dialed in, but is still playable, I'd wait a few weeks or a couple months to take it in.

I've never had a guitar change THAT much after acclimating to my house.

[Earl49]

Truss rod adjustments are easy enough. But that only addresses the relief (curvature) of the neck, not the action (height of strings above the frets). But if you do not make big truss rod changes -- no more than one or two quarter turns -- you likely cannot mess things up.

I would let the guitar acclimate to your environment for two weeks or so then re-evaluate. And if / when you do take it in for set-up, have the tech start with a new saddle blank, keeping the original unaltered. It is February, and lots of us in winter climates have two saddles. The high one for winter when the wood shrinks and the top dips a bit, and the lower one for summer when the top swells and the action raises. Then instead of constantly chasing the set-up you can simply swap the saddles for the seasons. This trick does not release you from proper humidity care, but is just a response to prolonged seasonal changes if you cannot maintain 40-50% RH in the case (or the room).

[rokdog49]

Generally I waited a few weeks.
None of mine played badly from the get go.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by JackB1

wow, that long huh? I was thinking a few days, but who knows?

Yup -- weeks, not days or hours. It takes wood a bit of time to lose or gain moisture -- that doesn't happen instantly. And realize that almost every builder ships new guitars with a fairly high action. It is easier to shave the saddle than to shim it up or make a whole new saddle if the factory set-up is too low. They would rather the guitar be slightly harder to play than have buzzing strings in the showroom.

[HodgdonExtreme]

Originally Posted by Earl49

If/when you do take it in for set-up, have the tech start with a new saddle blank, keeping the original unaltered. It is February, and lots of us in winter climates have two saddles. The high one for winter when the wood shrinks and the top dips a bit, and the lower one for summer when the top swells and the action raises. Then instead of constantly chasing the set-up you can simply swap the saddles for the seasons.

This is really great advice

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Generally I waited a few weeks.
None of mine played badly from the get go.

It's not playing badly...it's just a little higher action than I would like.

[Shortfinger]

I took my Yammi to CME after it was two weeks old thinking the action was a teensie bit high. They said I should just lessen the neck relief by turning the truss rod nut. I did it and all is well.

Chicago Music Exchange. Yeah.

[Orfeas]

I did a slight truss rod adjustment 3 or 4 days after I open the case for the first time.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by JackB1

just took delivery of my new Yamaha AC3M and the action feels a little high. Should I let the guitar sit for a few days before making any adjustments or can I immediately take it for a setup or adjust the truss rod a little myself?

Depends on the humidity where it's been and where it is now.

Last time I took a relatively "wet" guitar (too long in a humidified case) to a good luthier, he wanted to let it sit for 2 weeks before a setup. But that was a fairly extreme situation.

But in truth, I'm impatient, and would tweek it myself in 2-4 days.