action lowered, now buzzing
 

I bought 2002 Martin OM-15 a month or two ago, I really like the guitar but I am here looking for feedback regarding a setup job I had done on it. When I first got it, the action was pretty high at the 12th fret so I had a local shop perform a setup on it and requested that they lower the action a little bit. After playing it for a couple weeks I feel like they went overboard on lowering the action. There is a decent amount of fret buzzing occurring when I play with any moderate amount of force. I noticed when I first played the guitar after the setup that the saddle had been sanded down/lowered a great deal, but I just figured it was what was necessary to get the action lower. Now I am wondering if I should take it somewhere else and have a new saddle installed and another setup performed.

Is it necessary for the saddle to be that low to get the action down to a reasonable height at the 12th fret?

As far as I can see your saddle is over sanded. It happened once to me. IT can be adjusted a little bit higher. As you do not have another saddle (I assume) I would put a tiny piece of wood just bellow the saddle (there's a name for this I can't remember ). A very thin piece of wood under the saddle, do you understand ? Well, this is my view.

where is the buzzing at . Anywhere. Only like the lower 5 frets or so. or 10th fret on up? If the lower frets an adjustment on the truss rod should take care of it. when lowering action sometime lower frets can buzz alot easier and if the nexk ios too straight it will buzz or rattle strings in the lower frets easier. If the upper frets it is more than likely to low action for you playing attack. Hard to tell but from the pics it does not look to low,

And YES on a Martin the only way to lower action( as with pretty much all set necks) if it was a Taylor one could simply reset the neck angle in less than 30 minutes and still keep a decent break angle at the saddle-- which can effect tone or power when lowered for action.

if the saddle needed sanding this much to get action to a decent standard level then it is becasue the neck angle is off. only way to fix then is via reset. sanding saddles is a band aid fix to poor neck angles.

Wow does that saddle look low to the extreme ! Not sure your shop did you any favors. Can you take it anywhere else? As a temprary fix, you might loosen the truss rod (counterclockwise) an 1/8 th of a turn or two - the small additional relief in the neck might get rid of the buzz.

Were those slots in the bridge (between the saddle and the pins) already there, or did they cut those when they lowered the saddle? The slots would have been put there to improve the break angle. If they were already there the saddle was probably already pretty low.

shim :),.........

Yeah, that looks pretty low - there's not much of a break angle on the high B and E strings anymore.

You might want to talk to the person who sanded yours down and show him the buzz that's now occurring. Some people play with a light enough touch that they can get away with really low action -- your repairman might be one of them, and he might be willing to make things right for you. I've always found it helpful if the luthier or tech you're working with will take the time to watch you play before making any adjustments.

You can shim the saddle, but I'd probably opt for getting a new one made -- or make one yourself; it's not expensive or difficult if you're patient, and it's kinda cool to have contributed some of your own "sweat equity" to your instrument.

Here's a tutorial, if you're interested in trying it: http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musi...wsaddle01.html

I just remember the name : shim ..... put a shim, very thin, wooden shim, under the saddle. I have some "jacaranda" wood here for those occasions. But the right thing is to take to the place where they messed and if needed, change the saddle. It seems too low in the pictures.

hahahaha, yes, that's it ! thanks man ! :up:

That's too low, they should happily make you a new saddle free of charge. Make sure to check that the nut isn't also too low. Does it buzz on fretted notes and open, or just one or the other? If it buzzes on fretted notes as much or more than open notes, the nut slots could be too low as well. If so, ask if they lowered action at the nut. If they did, they should replace your nut free too.

And if you even get an inkling that these guys might be hacks, take it somewhere else. Resolve to swallow the cost of that poor setup and take it as a lesson learned. Painful, but better than them giving them another crack at it and finding out that this time they've caused damage that isn't so easily fixed. It's a lesson I learned, and I will never take my guitar back to my local shop. I lost some money, and now I have a 160 mile roundtrip to look forward to when my guitar needs work, but I'm happy knowing that qualified hands are working on my instruments.

I'm not saying your guys are hacks, but anyone who who will happily set you up with a saddle that low is most definitely suspect, in my book.

The saddle looks way too low... Get a new Tusq or Bone saddle and take it to a good 'Acoustic' guitar place... Don't take it to GC or some place like that.

I love my Martin OMC-15E. I did all the setup work on it myself and it plays like a dream. I often tune down a half step with it, for some reason the Hog top seems to respond sweetly to the lower freq vibes. I don't know what your guitar has been exposed to, but if it is a 2000's guitar taken care not to leave in high or low humidity situations, a neck reset shouldn't be necessary.

Without knowing the actual string height at the 12th fret, and also an understanding of the relief and actual neck-angle, it's completely impossible to say if the saddle is now too low for the guitar.

Yes, there is not much saddle showing over the bridge. That fact, even with the buzzing you are reporting, only gives a very partial picture.

Going back to the shop where the work was done is appropriate, go over your concerns with the buzzing, and get educated on the specifics of your guitar.

NOT if you have a under saddle transducer pickup on it... :rolleyes:

what is the action measurement at the 12th fret? standard action of high E is usually like 6/64ths on an acoustic or .093 if you have a couple of feeler gauges then you can check for sure. Like I mentioned before if the buzzing is lower frets then back off truss rod about 1/8 turn and try playing.

if the action is where I mentioned which is standard then they HAD to sand the saddle down that much which means the guitar needs a neck reset.