Got A New Budget Reso!

Thanks!

You need to fix that thing up and give it some exercise!

About that high reso action: Mine's got the strings about 1/8" over the 12th fret, which I think is perfect.

I finally measured mine. It's 3/8", low E, 12th fret. 1/4" high E, 12 fret.
I tried loosening the cone as you described. The action did lower a bit but not nearly enough. I suppose the next step is sanding the saddle? That looks a little intimidating. I think a visit to my local guitar shop for a pro setup is probably in my near future.

BTW - I really enjoyed the videos - thanks for posting them!

Oh man, you're up in squareneck, lap slide territory! My string height at the 12th fret is right at 1/8".

Bet you've got a raised nut as well as tall saddles. Sure you don't have a squareneck? They're meant to have way high strings, for lap sliding with no fretting intended.

I am sure it is not a squareneck. For one thing, the headstock is different on the Rouge reso's - square vs round. Also, I did hold a squareneck once at a guitar store. I know my neck is not like that one.

The nut is just a bit higher than the nut on my Seagull S6. I just have a basic ruler to measure with so it's hard to say how much with any precision.
At the nut, distance from fretboard to bottom of low E -
Seagull - a little less than 1/16"
Rouge Reso - a little less than 1/8".
Does that constitute a raised nut?

I think I just got really unlucky with the setup. I need to get around to bringing it in for a setup soon. It isn't much fun to play as it is.

1/8" string height at the nut sounds high to me. There'll be an article somewhere on http://frets.com/ on finding the appropriate height so the strings intonate properly on the lower frets. Too high a nut will make the lower fretted notes go sharp.

I put a link to a new video with this one down in the "Hear Here" section.

One problem with using my camera as a sound demo is that it has built-in compression. You can't hear dynamics well.