newby set up

[pjbelsch]

Hi all,
i purchased my guitar in early December, kept it at good humidity range (between 45-55%) and have noticed since receiving the action from the 12th fret and up is extremely high, using my stewmac string height cage its just way too high. The guitar is a short scale guitar so the neck meets the body at the 12th. Neck is pretty straight so i dont want to mess with the truss rod. so that leaves me to believe that the saddle needs to get sanded down some. i was thinking of tracing a pencil on it as it sits now and sanding until no pencil is left. is this a good idea?

[charles Tauber]

Probably not.

Measure what you have as string height for each string at the 12th fret. Write it down.

Subtract from that string height you would like to have for each string at the 12th fret. Write it down. (A typical string height at the 12th is 3/32" at the bass E and 5/64" at the high E.)

From the saddle, you need to remove TWICE that amount you calculated above. For example, if the bass E string is now 4/32" and you want 3/32", you will need to remove 4-3=1/32. Multiple by two for 2/32" to remove at the saddle.

Measure the amount of saddle currently projecting from the top of the bridge. You will need, AFTER, lowering the saddle a minimum of about 1/16". In other words, you must NOW have projecting from the bridge 1/16" + twice the amount you want to lower the saddle at the 12th fret.

If you don't have that amount, you won't be able to achieve the string height you want by removing material from the saddle. If you don't have that amount of saddle projecting, you'll need to look at some other actions to take. Other actions might include neck reset, bridge shaving and/or ramping of bridge pin holes.

[Rodger Knox]

Originally Posted by pjbelsch

Hi all,
Neck is pretty straight so i dont want to mess with the truss rod.

That's a reasonable idea, but you should at least check the relief. All of what Charles says above is assuming that the relief is OK. To check relief, fret a string at the 1st and 14th fret and check the gap at the 7th fret. The gap should be "small", about the thickness of a piece of paper. You don't really need to measure the gap, if it's big enough to measure easily then it's probably too big, and a truss rod adjustment is needed.