I would like to get it a bit lower to improve playability. what about the 4 middle strings..Ive just bought some nut files and was thinking of lowering them, could I use the 3rd fret method and lower them all so the are a whisper above the first fret when I am pressing the string down on the third fret? Hi, I put a new, Brass nut on my guitar and it was so low that no matter how high i raised the bridge i had fret buzz so i cut some really thin strips of the copper tape i used to line the controls cavity and kept adding them to the bottom of the nut until I got it to be the correct height. To lower the action on an acoustic guitar (or electric), the truss rod isnt what you want to adjust. Thanks a lot! Low E .007 A little fret buzz. I asked to have settings low but without buzzing or growling. A: 0.030 Also, you still have to know how to properly re-crown the area you flattened, and unless you have experience doing this, I recommend you leave it all to a pro. Give it a try, and if it buzzes, just raise it back up to where it was. Anything over 3mm on the low E at the 12th fret is excessively high in my opinion, unless you need really high action for playing slide guitar. Can the height of the strings affect the intonation? Instead, I use the 3rd fret press test (which is demonstrated by luthier Frank Fordon his website here) to get a general sense of whether the action at the nut is correct. Heres something thatll set your mind at ease: nuts are a dime a dozen. Or, if youre getting buzz and know your frets are in good shape, you may simply need to tweak the truss rod a little bit to account for the lower action. Ive never had it happen on 3 strings before.
Lower it till the note stops fretting significantly sharp, and once you get to that point, stop filing and move onto the next string slot. Thank you for explaining so well. I have a question GAG, Theyre not trying to rip you offits actually the recommended course of action. I wonder if this is not too low. Does this should be at .007? Hope that helps. I would like that, but Im getting buzz. The same can be said for the nut. You want to put it back in the correct orientation. UPDATE: The acoustic guitar setup guide is now available here: https://www.guitaranswerguy.com/guitar-and-bass-setup-guides/.
So now Im trying to fix it by my self. 1. SensorPush Wireless Hygrometer and Thermometer Review. When taking your guitar in for a setup, you should always give the repair tech actual measurements when telling them how you want the action set. It shouldnt cost much ($40 $60) to have the action lowered, and they can check the nut for you as well. The guy in this video (link attached below) mentions that this is a result of too high of a nut, resulting in the string bending further than it should, thus creating a sharp note. Steel string acoustic guitars tend to require slightly higher action than electric guitars, so youll see higher measurements here. Ive watched and read all of the recommended tricks I could find, and still not really sure how to approach this. Hi, I have a Fender acoustic guitar. You might get lucky and find that removing the shim gets your action exactly where you want it. Dont forget to tell me what kind of guitar you have (electric, acoustic, or Classical). However, they shouldve contacted you before doing so, so there were no misunderstandings on either side. Since my string is slightly above the black line here, I need to add 0.1mm to the measurement shown. Sometimes you get lucky and are able to lower the action a bit without any noticeable buzzing. Sometimes, the little v-groove that the string comes out of (just in front of the locking pad) is the source of the mystery buzz. The horizontal black lines on the String Action Gauge are 0.1mm thick. The risks to filing the saddle deeper is that if not done right the string could bind in the slotwhich could result in tuning instability and/or frequent string breakage. You cant see anything visually, its too small. Fear not, I got your message, but it wont show up here until I have a chance to reply to it. What is a high action? I would tell you to avoid stainless steel strings, but no one really uses stainless steel strings on acoustic guitars. This happens with all of my strings. Here are the things I use to measure string height (useful for other guitar measurements too): To be honest, this is the only measurement you need when talking about action, but later in this article Ill discuss the option of measuring at the 1st fret too. Thank you for the great info! In other words, the goal isnt always to have your guitar strings as low as possible. She was ok for 10 years, but I taked it to the beach for 6 months and she came back with several fret buzz and an annoying SITAR sound on the hi E, hi B and hi G strings, it happens when playing open strings. I put it back to where it was and now the buzz is gone. Bobby Davis is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Haha. Best regards from Mexico city! Ciao Frank. Any qualified guitar tech or luthier should know all this stuff and be able to make a better recommendation than I can over the internet. We only measure string height under the two outer E strings (thickest and thinnest strings). There is an annoying buzz on the B string from fret 1 3. Sorry for the delay.
Hi Kane. Measure the distance from the top of the 12th fret to the underside of the lowest (fattest) string. 
Its also possible the nuts string slot for the B string is a little too deep as well. That said. Its difficult to say how low you can go without actually seeing the guitar myself. 3. What should i do, pls reply sir.. Hi Ayush. Does this should be at .006? Not a good idea. It sounds like youve either got: 1) a slightly high spot on the 19th fret, or 2) a low spot on the 18th fret. However, a word of caution: Spot-leveling takes the same skill as doing a complete fret job. Also replaced a new set of DAddario strings. If youd like to try this, Ive written an article where I provide links to all the ultra light guitar strings I know of: See my listing of ultra light guitar strings. As well as this what action height do you use on your electrics, any specific measurements, just interested to hear what you use, thanks! For the other setup/action questions, Id really need to inspect the guitar. So, watch that page, or join my email list to be notified as soon as its available. This is because you made the neck too flat (or might have even back-bowed it a bit). Bone nut & saddle blanks are dirt cheap, so Id recommend buying one as a sacrificial piece just for repairs like this. Sean, I just did the 3rd fret trick on my guitar and still was getting very sharp notes when checking the tuner at the first few frets. [More About Me]. and youre right, they can potentially cause distortions or other issues in that upper-fret area. You can always file deeper, but you cant go the other direction. First at all, thank you very much for this complete guide. What does it feel like? If youre lucky, youll pull the saddle out and find a very thin shim under it. The full-pocket shims are not only more accurate, there are multiple benefits to filling the entire neck pocket. Regarding your neck relief: .008 is pretty flat for an acoustic. Your email address will not be published. He recommends around 2.5 for the low E string I believe, and a bit lower for the high E. Yet others recommend only shaving the nut slots down until there is barely no clearance above the first fret when the third fret is fretted (pressed down). When setting up your guitarspecifically setting your actionyou would absolutely want the radius of your saddles (and therefore the radius of all the strings) to match your fretboards radius. AmI right? So, lowering your nut action will have very little effect on the action at the 12th fret area and higher. mean different things depending on the string manufacturer. I much prefer this over using a ruler. This is done to ensure maximum tone transfer, sustain, etc. After filing down the saddle it measures 2.5 mm at the 12 fret. i know i cant trust myself with adjusting according to what id think is right soo i definitely need some help:)) thank you for your time. As an starting point, I setted the action to 2.00 mm at the hi E string and 2.40 mm at the low B string. I have an Ibanez RG7420 from the 2000 year. I have a Faith FVHG which was professionally set up. Truss rods are for adjusting the straightness of the neck, which is just one point of adjustment in an overall setup. Will you please help me with a problem? Your nut measurements are fine, even if they may not always be spot-on with those that have been written down somewhere. Lets make sure its actually too high before you go shaving material off your bridge saddlethereby permanently altering it. I have a new thinline tele that has 1mm string height at 1st fret low E and 2mm height at 12th. I belive that they just dont know how to did it. Just curious haha. The answer is to return/exchange. Just to be clear, the shim should actually go under the saddle. Hope that helps, and let me know what you decide to do (and the outcome). I have Light and Extra Light Gauge ready to install. There are a couple tricks like this, but I actually prefer a method that mixes CA glue with bone dust (from a bone nut or saddle blank, or an old bone nut or saddle thats no longer being used). As you spend more and more time with the guitar, youll eventually develop a personal preference for what action feels right for you. Even the high-end Martins, Taylors, etc. Of course, that would alter everything else, including your action. With a little TLC you should have no problem lowering your action to 3mm 4mm (if youre still wanting it a bit high). 1) I have an old acoustic guitar and it is set up even lower .050 at fret 12 on high E and .070 for low E. I am wondering if there is any reason not to go lower than your recommendations on my new Eastman? They are very helpful. If you have a Floyd Rose style tremolo, where the saddle height isnt adjustable, you can use bridge saddle shims to do something similar. On the other hand, if youre worried about having air gaps or less contact in the neck pocketwhich are legit concerns tooconsider using full-pocket neck shims from StewMac (Amazon link). Heres a quick video demo, where they use thin bone shims: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlt49vWtH9Y. Theyll exert less forward-pull on the neck, thereby allowing it to bow backward a tiny bit more than usual. Hi Mike. It seems that the action would be lower than a full size acoustic, but I have no idea how to tell for the shorter length and google isnt helping. Thanks for sharing. Normally, you can do this yourself, but its doubtful youll have the very, very thin wooden shims that are preferred for the job. Again though, its hard for me to speculate on these things with so little information. Oh my god. A Beginners Guide to Understanding String Height, I introduced you to the concept of string height, or action (the two terms are used interchangeably throughout this article). To be clear: youll sand the bottom (flat side) of the saddle. The fact is, a good string height is whatever feels good to you. The reason youre seeing variation in opinions about how low they should be is because well thats just the nature of guitar work. Your advice has been very helpful. I have a bit of relief in the neck already. The B is a tad over 0.015 maybe 0.017 This article isnt about setting action though, its about simply measuring action. I played the guitar for a year or so, therefore I ended up having thick callus on each of my fingers, but I think having thick calluses does not really help me when playing my guitar, since it kind of feels irritating when I try to play barre chords and other stuff which I feel is beyond the limit of what I can do with my guitar that has a very high action based on your article. Generally speaking, while pressing the string at the 3rd fret, you want just the tiniest bit of clearance between the string and the 1st fret, but not too much. I only wish that I had seen this post three years ago as it would have saved me a lot of discomfort and frustration! But Ill say this: if the action at the 1st fret feels good to you now, dont alter it. The frets are perfecttly leveled and crowned. I was going through my summer setup as part of my restring, and found that I could tweak the truss rod a small bit to flatten it out a bit and did great things there. The opposite is also true: action adjustments at the bridge will have little effect on the action in the lower (first position) areas. Also, thatll allow you to use theString Action Gaugethat I recommend in this article, regardless of whether you choose the version thats in millimeters or inches. Thanks for the video as well. Just figured Id share my current experience since it seems were both in the exploration stage of figured this all out. hello:) ive had a Cort AD810 (my first acoustic) for a year & have been struggling mostly with playing barre chords which i can do just fine on classic/electric ever since. When I was a teenager, I attempted to spot level a high fret (had the same kind of buzzing as youin just 1-2 spots) and screwed it up. Hi B .003 Still having Sitar sound Required fields are marked *. Really, your only options would be to play the guitar less, or switch to nylon guitar strings. Electric guitars generally can achieve a lower overall action than their acoustic or Classical counterparts. When I was a beginner I had the same exact problem and it discouraged me from wanting to learn guitar. The extra light strings, by themselves, will probably slightly lower your action too just FYI. I was just testing it before I removed the saddle to insert the shim. I currently have an acoustic guitar. Just my personal opinion/preference though. Theres no need to measure the middle 4 strings. If not, youll need to sand the saddle. The neck relief is on 0.40 mm at the hi E and 0.50 mm at the low B. Otherwise, you can inadvertently create a non-flat surface and/or create a tilt in the saddle. This also works for 12th fret action measurement if you stack up a bunch of the gauges in the pack. So, according to what you see here, the string height of my low E is roughly 2.1mm. Im here to teach you how to work on and maintain your own guitar and show you what the best tools and products are, but also let you know when you really should take it to a pro instead. On the other hand, if youre not the DIY type or dont feel confident sanding down your bridge saddle, take your guitar to a pro. But it still has the Sitar sound. Or, alternatively, theyll keep shims in their case (for the same reason). However, I definitely think you could get by with a spot level, so push for that instead. But, I can give you one possible (and very likely) cause for the sitar-like buzz: the v-grooves of the locking nut. Once youve got a set of nice, light strings, dont unbox or install them. Im going the add another today and then measure the height. How to Clean and Polish Guitar Frets [Step by Step], Action! However, if youre just going from 13s down to 12s or even 11s, theres not much of a difference. Just know this: acoustic guitars are harder to play, period.
I completely understand your mentions about various techniques and every guitar setup being unique. After a few attempts you will be able to get exact measurements quickly without having to guess whether or not the feeler gauge is touching the string. Note: Some people (and guitar manufacturers) measure string height at some fret other than the 12th such as the 17th.
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