Lowering the action at the bridge. Any tips?

[schoolie]

Use calipers to check your progress. You can also mark the saddle with the calipers to provide a mark of how much to sand off.

[YamahaGuy]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

So I've decided to lower the action on my good acoustic a little. It's on the high side, and while I don't love super-low action, it's higher than I'd like.

I've watched a few videos. Doesn't seem that hard - take out the saddle, use sandpaper, keep it square so you have a nice flat base to the nut.

Any little tricks to it before I give it a go? Things you wish you were told before you tried it? Anything not obvious?

(This is a guitar with an UST, is that matters.)

Don't forget to check your plugged in tone before you call it quits. Common issues will be a booming loud high e or low E string, or a quiet high e. Make note of the profile of the bottom of the saddle before starting. Some are perfectly flat, some are radiused. Some have a little relief on one side or the other. Try not to move the pickup/transducer too much as that can affect things too.

Plan on installing new strings if you make several goes of it. All that tightening/loosening/retightening weakens the strings.

[Mirosh]

Originally Posted by schoolie

Use calipers to check your progress. You can also mark the saddle with the calipers to provide a mark of how much to sand off.

Getting a digital caliper was one of the best purchases I made for guitar work. My old caliper was OK for bicycle work, but the easy-to-read digital readout and the ease of switching between metric, English digital and English fractional has been a game changer for working on guitars.

It's gratifying to me how an under $20 tool facilitates precise work and compensates for my aging eyes.

[schoolie]

Originally Posted by Mirosh

Getting a digital caliper was one of the best purchases I made for guitar work. My old caliper was OK for bicycle work, but the easy-to-read digital readout and the ease of switching between metric, English digital and English fractional has been a game changer for working on guitars.

It's gratifying to me how an under $20 tool facilitates precise work and compensates for my aging eyes.

I agree completely! Essential for guitar work.

[pickinray]

Originally Posted by Mirosh

Getting a digital caliper was one of the best purchases I made for guitar work. My old caliper was OK for bicycle work, but the easy-to-read digital readout and the ease of switching between metric, English digital and English fractional has been a game changer for working on guitars.

It's gratifying to me how an under $20 tool facilitates precise work and compensates for my aging eyes.

I also agree. A digital caliper and a string action gauge like the one below are essential tools. They make it much easier get the desired action.

https://www.amazon.com/Dunlop-Action...s%2C373&sr=8-5

[TennesseeWalker]

Originally Posted by Mirosh

"Chris says to measure neck relief at the 12th fret. I always thought it was at the 6th-8th fret."

You are right. This is an obvious misstatement by Chris on his otherwise excellent demonstration.

I am surprised he has not corrected this. He could put up a written statement at that moment of the video and avoid having to reshoot that part.

His 12th fret comment was regarding action, not neck relief.
See about 3:50 to 4:10 in the video
Neck relief is different and adjusted usually with the truss rod.

Believe Chris is correct them

[Mirosh]

He says he goes with about 0.004" relief, but he does not say how that is measured. A usual way to measure it is to fret the first and 14th fret and measure the clearance around the 7th fret.

Later he says relief of 5 - 10 1/1000ths at the 12th fret, but again, does not say how to do this - whether to fret the first and 14th fret, or just what.

These could be made more clear.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

So I've decided to lower the action on my good acoustic a little. It's on the high side, and while I don't love super-low action, it's higher than I'd like.

I've watched a few videos. Doesn't seem that hard - take out the saddle, use sandpaper, keep it square so you have a nice flat base to the nut.

Any little tricks to it before I give it a go? Things you wish you were told before you tried it? Anything not obvious?

(This is a guitar with an UST, is that matters.)

I always put my saddle bottom up in a smooth-jawed vise and use a flat block with sandpaper on it to sand down until the sandpaper just kisses the tops of the jaws. This way I know the saddle's bottom will be square and flat and likely need less tweaking with UST string balance later on. For those willing to go down the rabbit hole, I always use a small surface plate with a dial-travel indicator to square up the saddle's bottom along its length in the vise before sanding and I can set the saddle's bottom height above the jaws for the amount I want to sand off its bottom.

[EZYPIKINS]

I'm glad Youtube wasn't around when I set up my first acoustic.

I had been setting up all the electric guitars in my band for years.

When I acoustic electrics came out. At first, I thought it was, what it was. And they didn't get played on stage verry much.

I bought a J-185ec for stage work. Loved the Fishman Aura Pro electronics.

If I played it for an hour, my hand would be shot. Action was very disappointing to say the least.

I had a cheaper acoustic at the time. So I decided to make the cheaper one my Guinea pig. And knowing how to do electrics. I got my nut files and went to work.

Cutting slots in the saddle. The same way you would cut a nut. Only I did all slots with the .056" file.

String by string, just like an electric. I filed till I got the measurement I wanted. I never needed to know the radius of the fretboard.

Filing string by string and cutting .002" higher for each larger string. .042, .044, .046, .048, .050, and .052

(Using contact core strings) You won't be able to get a regular string this low, without a neck reset.

Next, I removed the saddle. Put in a vise and filed off the top, till I got down to the slots.

Reinstalling the saddle "(in reverse)" so the B string relief is on the A string leaning forward. I began the intonation process.

Using my strobe tuner, I tuned, fretting the 12th and filing back a touch till it was intonated.

When I was finished, I had a guitar that played very near as easy as my electrics. And incidentally, this guitar is intonated better than all my other acoustics.

Since then, I will always start with a bone blank. Have 4 Martin's, 2 Gibson's and a Guild set up this way.

Can play any of them for hours on end.

Seeing as how I can only get them this low with contact core strings. I can't see why all these guys on Youtube are scared they will get them too low, and they may buzz. Really?

Maybe they're cutting the nut too low. Got those numbers down to a science too.

[Hotspur]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I want to take about more off the low side than the hi side. That does feel like it makes the whole thing a little more complex. Any tips for handling that transition smoothly?

[Placida]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I want to take about .3mm off the action on the high E-string side and .8 on the low side. That does feel like it makes the whole thing a little more complex. Any tips for handling that transition smoothly?

Take it off the top of the saddle where the string crosses, carefully.

[EZYPIKINS]

As an addendum to my previous post. And also touching on rmp's post, yes.

It is true, when I get my acoustics set so low where I like to play.

It does lower the volume as well. It won't change the resonance. They still ring like a bell.

But you may not want them as low as me if, Say , you are playing acoustically in a Blue Grass circle.

All my guitars are electric as well. I can get all the volume I need, plugging into a PA.

That said, they are plenty loud enough, to play with no electronics just guitar and vocal, for a small group of people. Did it just the other day.

Played for a group of about ten people. Grabbed a chair, sat down, tuned and played for about an hour. It was fine.

Just remember Volume and tone are two different things.

[YamahaGuy]

Originally Posted by Placida

Take it off the top of the saddle where the string crosses, carefully.

That's not a bad route to go in this case. Plus, if the low E string isn't already intonated, you can file the appropriate ramp angle to do that while you're at it.

See first image for an example: (note, the right side is the bass side as pictured)
https://www.sweetwater.com/c1239--Gu...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Robin, Wales]

I can't see that anyone has yet suggested buying a new saddle and working on that?

Keep the original saddle for reference so you have some comparison for your calipers. It makes the whole job so much easier and more accurate.

As has been said, definitely set up the relief and nut prior to shaping the saddle.

[Hotspur]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

I can't see that anyone has yet suggested buying a new saddle and working on that?

Keep the original saddle for reference so you have some comparison for your calipers. It makes the whole job so much easier and more accurate.

That's an absolutely fantastic suggestion! Thank you!