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  #16  
Old 02-26-2021, 11:48 AM
Audiowonderland Audiowonderland is offline
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Originally Posted by charles Tauber View Post
People have done that, yes.

This comes up like clockwork. The simplest, least expensive approach is to take two pieces of MDF. Put sandpaper on one of them. Lay the second piece on the sandpaper and abut the saddle against the side of the second piece. Assuming that the side of the second piece of MDF is square to its face, the side of the MDF can be used as a support to keep the saddle square to the sandpaper.

Instead of a second piece of MDF, one can use any object that has an edge square to its face - the side of a plane, a 1 x 2, a block of metal...


Some years ago, someone on this forum described their use of a shooting board for this purpose. I thought that a great idea, since I already had a shooting board, and have used that since. It is simple and quick, if you have a shooting board.
I have a collection of scrap MDF in the garage. I could easily put together something.

The clamp would create a stop to avoid going to far and would also allow for reducing one end more than the other if that were necessary. Not sure that it is in my case but its an option if needed.
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  #17  
Old 02-26-2021, 12:15 PM
Victory Pete Victory Pete is offline
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To make sure the bottom of my saddles are perfectly flat I use a straight edge and sight them up to a light, any gaps will be obvious. I do the same for a nut in its slot.
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  #18  
Old 02-26-2021, 05:12 PM
John Arnold John Arnold is offline
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If you take it down from the top, you don't have to worry about keeping the bottom flat, plus you can adjust action on each string individually.
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  #19  
Old 02-26-2021, 06:11 PM
RonMay RonMay is offline
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Default neck relief and action?

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Originally Posted by calvanesebob View Post
I think the first thing should be to make sure the guitar is humidified. Once you are sure about that then check the neck relief. If it has too much bow you can adjust that and see if that lowers the action enough.

If you shave the saddle first, and it turns out to be humidity or neck relief, then you can not add back what you shaved off of the saddle.
Check the relief, but in all actuality it has nothing to do with action.
The action might change a minute bit, but never adjust the truss rod trying to lower or raise the action. Bad idea. It's all done at the saddle.

As long as the bottom of the saddle is sanded smooth and flat it shouldn't bother anything.

Ron
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  #20  
Old 02-27-2021, 03:38 AM
calvanesebob calvanesebob is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RonMay View Post
Check the relief, but in all actuality it has nothing to do with action.
The action might change a minute bit, but never adjust the truss rod trying to lower or raise the action. Bad idea. It's all done at the saddle.

As long as the bottom of the saddle is sanded smooth and flat it shouldn't bother anything.

Ron
I know the relief is not the action adjustment, but it does affect it. Humidification also affects it. My point was to first make sure the guitar is properly humidified and the relief was correct first before adjusting the action.
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  #21  
Old 02-27-2021, 07:54 AM
redir redir is offline
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Originally Posted by Audiowonderland View Post
Good idea. Do you work your way through multiple grits?
Not for the bottom of the saddle. I don't think that is necessary. I do to polish the saddle up though.
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  #22  
Old 02-27-2021, 09:03 AM
RoyBoy RoyBoy is offline
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Originally Posted by Audiowonderland View Post
No doubt about that.

I have checked the relief. It is currently in good shape but it will need at least a few more days to fully settle and I will check it again at that time. The nut slots are riding right on the edge of being cut too high. I may need to address that too but I am waiting for it to settle before I cut into anything. I am just doing my research on areas I do not have experience with in the meantime.

My Larrivee has insanely good action and I am probably a bit spoiled. I don't have the tools yet to check the frets to see if a level will be needed to get their. I hope not.
Nut slots on the high side is fairly common on new instruments. The manufacturer is guarding against first fret buzz which is a sale killer. Some players hit really hard so instruments will go out the door set up on the safe (high) side.

Since you know what perfect action for you feels like on your Larrivee, I would recommend you take your guitar to a good tech and have him set it up after watching your playing style. A good tech will have the tools and expertise to dial it in for you. It's a worthwhile investment to improve your playing experience IMO. I imagine the tone of the new guitar will still pale to the sound of your Larrivee though.
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  #23  
Old 02-27-2021, 09:05 AM
MC5C MC5C is offline
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What I do is fret dress (or at least check the fret level and crown situation) which in my world requires taking the strings off, adjusting the truss rod so the neck is as straight as it can be, then leveling and polishing the frets. Then I string her up, tune to pitch, check/set the nut action. I use the fret at three, check over one method. Unless you play up past the 5th fret most of the time, action feel comes mostly from the nut for open position work. Next, with the strings at pitch, I set the relief with the truss rod. I usually look for barely any relief, around .005" under a string with the string fretted at 1 and 14. If the player is looking for a moderate to slightly high action and plays hard, I would increase that a few thou. I find that too much relief tends to get buzzy around the 5th fret and higher with low action. Then I set the action and finally check the intonation. Lots of good words written about how to sand a saddle, but it's both intuitive as to how to do it right, and not hard at all. Many people have two saddles made up, one for summer and one for winter. Action height and string gauge influences intonation, so you may feel the need to adjust the break point of the string over the saddle, or not. Relief influences action height, so if you've done a full setup with impeccable skill and cunning, and it's buzzy after a few weeks (particularly if the buzz is at the first or second fret), check the relief first, my guitars (which I am currently keeping with stupidly low action due to left hand nerve damage) get the truss rod tweaked regularly.
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Last edited by MC5C; 02-27-2021 at 09:11 AM.
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  #24  
Old 02-27-2021, 04:44 PM
maxtheaxe maxtheaxe is offline
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Originally Posted by Audiowonderland View Post
I received a Yamaha FSX800C from Sweetwater. I am liking it very much but the action is a bit high. Can I just lift the bridge out and take some off the bottom? Any impact on the piezo system?

Denny
I wouldn't automatically assume that it's a saddle issue. A lot of production guitars are left a bit high so the end-user has room to have it set up to preference. It could be saddle, nut slots, excessive neck relief, et al.

I presume, since you ask, that you're not experienced doing acoustic set-ups, so I'd recommend taking it in for a set-up with a *reputable* guitar tech who can evaluate all of that. Most of the time, they can do everything for about $40-$50 bucks (unless there are further defects). Well worth the time & trouble.
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  #25  
Old 02-27-2021, 09:14 PM
Audiowonderland Audiowonderland is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyBoy View Post
Nut slots on the high side is fairly common on new instruments. The manufacturer is guarding against first fret buzz which is a sale killer. Some players hit really hard so instruments will go out the door set up on the safe (high) side.

Since you know what perfect action for you feels like on your Larrivee, I would recommend you take your guitar to a good tech and have him set it up after watching your playing style. A good tech will have the tools and expertise to dial it in for you. It's a worthwhile investment to improve your playing experience IMO. I imagine the tone of the new guitar will still pale to the sound of your Larrivee though.
It is surprisingly good, but the Larrivee is exceptional. I need something with decent electronics for playing with a new group. The Larrivee isn't equipped for that and I didn't want to be hauling in/out venues for these types of gigs.
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  #26  
Old 02-27-2021, 09:17 PM
Audiowonderland Audiowonderland is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxtheaxe View Post
I wouldn't automatically assume that it's a saddle issue. A lot of production guitars are left a bit high so the end-user has room to have it set up to preference. It could be saddle, nut slots, excessive neck relief, et al.

I presume, since you ask, that you're not experienced doing acoustic set-ups, so I'd recommend taking it in for a set-up with a *reputable* guitar tech who can evaluate all of that. Most of the time, they can do everything for about $40-$50 bucks (unless there are further defects). Well worth the time & trouble.
With acoustics, no. I have been tearing apart and rebuilding electrics for 30 years. Many of the tasks are the same, but some are not.
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