Hi,
I took the plunge on the weekend and lowered the action on my acoustic. I wanted it on the lower side of acceptable. Sanded back the bridge, it wasn't as hard as what I thought it was going to be.
Measurements now at the low E is around 2mm, high E 2.2 mm. Pretty happy with that and it wasn't too hard to do. Put new strings on it (same gauge) - not sure but I may have loost a little bit of volume, but the action is now terrific! I play the strings in a bit and see how I like it.
Didn't adjust the neck relief.
I have noticed that when playing around the 6-10 frets on the A, D, G strings I get a slight string buzz. Esp if I capo at 5 6 or 7, the buzz is there.
Should I increase the neck relief a touch (loosen the truss rod 1/8th turn) to make this better?
Thanks,
Chris
Correction -String height at low E on the 12th fret is 2.1mm, high E 1.5mm.
Chris
Sorry it took so long to get to this. Yeah, other than buying a new saddle the same as the old, you could try relief.
But what is puzzling to me is that you say you get fret buzz when playing between frets 6-10. This usually means you have too much relief and need to tighten your truss rod. So that is a little strange, you probably sanded a little too much off the saddle.
When a neck is too straight (truss rod too tight) it forces the headstock down. Your neck looks like a frown. This will usually cause fret buzz in frets 1-5.
When the neck is too concave (truss rod too loose) the headstock comes up. Your neck looks like a smile. When you press frets in the middle, usually 5-12 the strings touch frets further up the neck. This sounds like what is happening to you.
Try tightening the truss rod in very small increments, no more than 1/4 turn. Allow the neck a little time to settle out and see if this corrects the problem. Remember the original position so you can always go back. Do not make big adjustments, this is where most people make mistakes. Also, if the truss rod feels very tight, STOP. You can break the truss rod.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
May be a little late but you may want to loosen the strings before tightening the truss rod so they don't work against each other.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
~ Albert Einstein
So why is it that I keep playing guitar???
Thanks for the info. I have actually tried a few variations on the truss rod, abotu 1/4 turn either way but neither made a difference. MEasured the relief at the original position and at the 5th fret its around .10 mm which according to frets.com is acceptable.
Once again the buzz is not bad, and only really there when strumming medium-hard. So its not unplayable
Starting to think I lowered the bridge about 0.3-.5mm too far. I think I'll play these strings till they die, then get a new bridge and start all over again.
Thanks,
Chris
Yeah, too much off the bridge. Relief should only be corrected if out of spec, not to adjust action. If the buzz is higher up the neck, it's usually either neck tilt or bridge height that needs correcting, not relief. I'm guessing there is no neck tilt adjustment, so the bridge is it. The other thing that would very likely help mitigate a light buzz is moving up a string gauge -- remember to adjust relief if you do this.
-=tension & release=-
