lowering acoustic guitar action

[The Dali]

Hi, you've probably heard this question a million times... how do you lower the action on an acoustic? I have a cheap acoustic that has higher action from the 10th fret onward, and I'd love to lower it. I'm planning on doing some consmetic work to the guitar anyway. Can you replace the bridge, or just the saddle? If I remove the saddle would I sand the bottom, or get a new one?

Thanks in advance!

[Ned Milburn]

Action has 3 combined components: nut slot depth, truss rod adjustment (neck bow), and saddle.

Simple way is to lower the saddle action by sanding the bottom of the saddle carefully to 90 degrees. Nut action is important for intonation and playability and must be cut carefully with a small triangle file or with special luthier-specific nut files. Truss rod should be adjusted to a slight but not pronounced bow (just off the straight).

If your action is dropping suddenly from 10th fret onwards. you have have a pronounced "hump" where the neck meets the heel and body.

[dhalbert]

Good overview:
http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/r...tar/action.php

Also look at http://frets.com and http://www.bryankimsey.com/setup/

The basic rule is to look at the action height at the 12th fret. Figure out how much further down you want to go, and sand the saddle two times that measurement. So for instance if you want to go down 1/64", sand 2/64" (= 1/32") off the saddle. This makes sense if you think about the triangles formed by the string at the nut and , the 12th fret (halfway to the saddle), and at the saddle.

But for your first attempt, take less off and check a few times, so you don't go too far.

[The Dali]

Thanks for the information. This is great! I'm going to take an older cheap acoustic and try to make a "Whiskey Guitar"... and I wanted to lower the action while I'm at it. More to come...

[redir]

Whats a whiskey guitar?

General rule of thumb:

Start adjusting the action at the saddle first. Measure from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the low-e string and the bottom of the high-e string. Record these results. Determine what string height action you want at the 12th fret. A good low action would be 3/32 - 2/32 respectively but if you are considerable higher then that I would aim first for 4/32 - 3/32.

The math

(actualHeight - desiredHeight) * 2 = The amount of the saddle to be removed.

So for example your action is 5/32 and you want 4/32 that is a difference of 1/32 so in order to drop the action 1/32 at the 12th fret you will need to remove 2/32 from the saddle.

IMPORTANT: Depending on the guitar, in most cases, you will need at least 1/16th in of saddle coming out from the bridge to get the proper string angle over the saddle, any less then this then you risk losing a lot of tone, power and sustain. IF your measurements indicate that you can't get desired height without going lower then that then what you got there is what's called a slide guitar

To do that, glue a piece of 100 grit sand paper to dead flat board (MDF is good) or a piece of glass and scrape the bottom of the saddle carefully checking to see you are not sanding an angle on the bottom. It helps to do 3-5 strokes, flip it around and repeat. Mark the saddle with a line so you know when to stop.

Then string up the guitar and see if it buzzes, if not and you think you can go lower then try it again.

After that you can dress the nut. but my fingers are tired from typing

[The Dali]

Thanks!!

Well, I am going to collage the top of the guitar with whiskey labels and apply a clear coat to seal the labels. The guitar was my first guitar, but was a gift from my now-ex so I figured I would make it "more mine"...