The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Build and Repair

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 07-19-2021, 09:53 AM
calvanesebob calvanesebob is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 524
Question Did I Do Good?

Got a Martin D-28 Standard a couple days ago at GC (new). Awesome sound but it seemed harder to play the further up the neck I played, so I checked the neck relief and the action. The neck relief with a capo on the first fret and holing the strings down where they meet the body, and tapping the strings in the middle. It seemed a little high so I gave the truss rod about a quarter turn, retuned, and it looked perfect after that.

The action was still about 3 1/2 thirty seconds at the low E, and about 3 thirty seconds at the high E (my ruler only measures down to 32nd's).

I had a ridiculous amount of saddle height to work with so I decided to take 2 thirty seconds off of the saddle, which would lower the action 1 thirty second.

I marked the bottom of the saddle all the way around, laid a piece of sandpaper on a flat table top, and sanded a little at a time. I checked frequently to make sure it was sanding evenly and that the bottom of the saddle remained perfectly flat, had no rocking, and stood up perfectly straight.

Once I got to my mark I reinstalled the saddle and put the strings back on. I tuned it to pitch and measured the action. I is now 2 1/2 thirty seconds at the low E, and 2 thirty seconds at the high E. I then played every note on every string all the way up the neck with a heavy pick and there was no buzzing.

The guitar plays like butter now, even with the medium strings. It even plays easier that a Taylor 814ce that I had that had light strings on it.

So did I do that right?
__________________
~Bob~
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 07-19-2021, 10:03 AM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 8,381
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by calvanesebob View Post
So did I do that right?
Yup. Proof is in the pudding.

Next check the string height at the nut.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 07-19-2021, 06:27 PM
calvanesebob calvanesebob is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 524
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by charles Tauber View Post
Yup. Proof is in the pudding.

Next check the string height at the nut.
Thanks.

Yes, I checked the nut action and it looks fine.
__________________
~Bob~
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 07-21-2021, 12:06 PM
Boozehound's Avatar
Boozehound Boozehound is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 934
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by charles Tauber View Post
Yup. Proof is in the pudding.

Next check the string height at the nut.
This is the real 'secret sauce' to a great guitar setup, IMO. I haven't owned a guitar, including the likes of Froggy Bottom, Collings, Lowden, and Santa Cruz, that didn't benefit from some amount of lowering of the action at the nut. I play a lot in the first 5 frets, so that actually helps more than lowering the action at the saddle for me.

I got a set of Stewmac files and learned to do it myself since no one could consistently get it quite right, and I like to adjust it slowly over some time.
__________________
| 1968 Martin D-28 | 1949 Gibson J-45 | 1955 Gibson LG-2 | Santa Cruz 000 Cocobolo / Italian Spruce | Martin D-18 1939 Authentic Aged | Martin Gruhn Guitars Custom D-21 Adi/Madi | Gibson J-45 | Fender American Elite Telecaster | Fender American Standard Stratocaster | Gibson Les Paul Standard | Gibson Les Paul Studio | PRS Custom 24 10-Top | Gibson Les Paul 1960 Reissue (R0) |
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 07-22-2021, 12:18 PM
Pura Vida's Avatar
Pura Vida Pura Vida is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Sacramento, CA & Tamarindo, Costa Rica
Posts: 3,878
Default

You did good, Bob.
__________________
"It's only castles burning." - Neil Young
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Build and Repair

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:05 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=