Acoustic setup

I would have it done professionally at a shop. (not that all shops will do a professional job.. maybe your teacher can be of assistance) If it were an electric you would have parts that would be moveable, but on the acoustic there's filing, adding pieces etc involved. Pretty complicated and delicate process. I have a cheapo acoustic that I tried to do a setup on when I first got it. Still trying to fix that as an exercise :)

oktay

Edit: As for the string loosening question. I've seen it described either way. It would not hurt to loosen them up a little bit so you could do that just to be on the safe side.

You don't want to loosen the strings for the relief (truss rod) adjustment since it in combination with the strings determines the relief. The string tension determines the relief in one direction while the truss rod determines it in the other direction. You should however re-tune after every adjustment. And remember, you are only turning the truss rod adjust at max an 1/8 of a turn at a time.

When you are adjusting the action (string height) on an electric you could loosen it a little but on an acoustic you have no choice because all action adjustments are done by removing the saddle.

Well, let me reset here.

All my initial thougts were with nothing to really take good measurements. The other night I put the capo on, held at the 14th fret, and looked at the gap at teh 7th fret. It looked like it was totally touching. I played around and really thought it was.

Fast forward to today. I came home with a set of feeler gauges. Went to the computer and posted the question. Then I setup the capo again and actually tried to take a measurement. I looks like I have about .09 inches of relief at the 7th fret, well within parameters. I then measured action, and it looks to be WAY too high, but I'm not ready for that problem just yet. When I change strings I might think about it.

All-in-all, I know now that it does need a setup, so why not try myself? The worst that could happen is I have to take it in to the shop and pay someone.

Very true. Look around on http://frets.com/ You'll find all you need to know there.

If all you need to do is lower the action, then doing it yourself isn't a bad thing. All you need to do is sand the saddle down little by little and evenly until you're happy and don't have any fret buzz.

The worst that can happen is you need to buy a new saddle or just shim the existing. Not a big deal.

I say go for it, but if you are uncomfortable doing it, take it to be done.

Since the relief is go no problem there. All that really leaves is the action (string height) so what I would do is get another saddle and set it up the way you want it. That way you can tinker all you want and can always go back to the old saddle in a pinch.

Since the relief is go no problem there. All that really leaves is the action (string height) so what I would do is get another saddle and set it up the way you want it. That way you can tinker all you want and can always go back to the old saddle in a pinch.

Great idea, Nils. I've been wondering what a better saddle, material wise, would do for the tone. It's beginning to sound like the next string change will be the perfect opportunity to give it a shot!

I've been wondering what a better saddle, material wise, would do for the tone. It's beginning to sound like the next string change will be the perfect opportunity to give it a shot!

Bone and Tusq (man-made "ivory") blanks are around the same price. Ivory and Walrus Tusk are supposedly better, but cost much much more.

I used Tusq and it was easy to work with. Sustain is much better than with the cheap plastic saddle that came with the guitar. But since then I've played a couple of guitars with bone and I'd probably recommend that instead (though it's close, and there are other factors that could explain the differences.)

Anyway, it's easy enough to do if you take your time; follow the article here:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/MakeNewSaddle/newsaddle01.html