#1
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truss rods, action height and humidity
Some might recall that I had an accident around a year ago, left me with nerve damage in my left arm and hand. Makes playing painful, so I've been setting up my acoustic archtops with ultra low action (.050" to .065" high and low E), extra light strings (.010" to .047"), tuning down a full step, and putting up with a little buzz. Did a complete fret dress and setup on one of them a month ago, had it playing great. Picked it up today, and action height on the neck extension was around.030" at the 18th fret, and relief had crept up a bit. So I figure the top is settling down for the dryer weather in the winter, and the truss rod needs a tweak. It took less than 1/8" turn on the double acting truss rod, and a bridge height adjustment that was around 1/16" and I had my ultra-low action back, and playing up the whole neck again. My takeaways from this are modern truss rods are sensitive as heck, trying to run an acoustic archtop like a shredder solid body electric is doable but dumb, and acoustic archtops lose a lot of tone with extra light strings. I also tune down to D-D, which probably doesn't help. But - after 14 months I can actually say I can play again, if only for ten or fifteen minutes at a time.
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia. |
#2
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Hi, yes guitars do move with the weather, both RH and temperature affects them - some more than others.
I took one of my older guitars and a brand new Eastman to my Tech last week, thinking I'd need a bit of a set up on both. He suggested a minor truss rod weak. then told me that both had double action truss rods and proceeded to explain thee difference between single action and double action, which I'm not sure I really understood although the later does tend to adjust action a little more it seems. I hope your left arm/hand continues to improve.
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Silly Moustache, Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer. I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom! |
#3
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