Guitar Set-up (action)

[coomba]

Thanks everyone

ffsoo3 I appreciate your input , 5/64'' looks like a good place to start , which is about 0.046'' lower than where I am now so I expect the difference in feel will be substantial

Michele thanks for putting up that clip, I can understand why this would be expensive, designing and building custom cnc machines is not cheap, Its nice to know that one of
these is in OZ and I will do some searching to see If there are any Luthier's in my area, just in case I stuff everything up :laugh:

Ken Thanks for your info mate I also see you set yours at 5/64'' cheers

Wiley Mate you always spend so much time and put so much thought and detail into you responses to not only this thread but all of them I just wanted to thank you as they
have been a great source of information to me and I'm sure to lots of other members here at TG.

With the info from this thread and rd's on boning Ive decided not to change my plastic bridge yet, I'm just going to do a complete set up with new strings and then when
I am happy with the set up I'll change the bridge to Tusq to improve the sound. Hey I may not need to up grade after all but then again a lot of you seem to need
different set ups for different styles of play sooo I will still need a new guitar after all :cheer:


Thanks again to all of you
Cheers
Scott

[wrench]

michelew wrote:

Check this out.

I need to take a trip to see one of these puppies at work. It cuts and crowns the frets, cuts a saddle slot, cuts a new saddle, and cuts a new nut in 24 minutes. I do all that, too, but it takes me about a week!

Funny thing is Martin has four of these machines, but after scrounging around their factory for two days, I'll be darned if I saw one.....

[sws626]

Chasplaya wrote:

One of the best sites for set ups and quality info is Frets.com

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/pagelist.html

I have done a couple of set ups and followed the instructions from here. Now as to where my guitars are at I'll get back to you once I find my micrometer lol

Hi Chas,

I've visited that site several times before, at your suggestion, and always find it helpful. But it seems to be down now and I'm stuck with a question -- which way the truss rod nut turns to create more or less clearance on a Martin guitar (where the adjustment is in the sound hole). Anyone have the answer?

-Stuart

EDIT: Okay, I can now answer my own question. It's a 5mm hex/allen nut that turns counterclockwise to loosen, profiding greater relief, and clockwise to tighten, straightening the neck and thus reducing the relief. I know this now, but can't do anything about it since my allen wrenches are too short to reach the head of hte nut.

[skaladar]

Hi Stuart,

You may find this page a useful reference for adjusting your truss rod:

http://www.athensmusician.net/archive/2 ... ody1.shtml

However please keep in mind what's been said above. The truss rod affects the relief (bow) or straightness of the neck. Clearance is adjusted at the bridge by altering the saddle.

To quote a line from the link I've provided:

"Remember in a single action truss rod: tightening the rod straightens the neck, loosening permits it to bow."

Once you have the right amount of relief via the truss rod then you can look at the saddle to determine what needs to be done about the overall action.

Hope that helps

♫ Ken ♫

EDIT: Oops, didn't see your edit there Staurt, must have been while I was typing. Looks like you'll have to find a long shank allen wrench. I recently bought a Yamaha and it came with an allen key that was just the right length. Maybe they had to provide one because the sound hole is actually an oval therefore a little smaller.

[sws626]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. Yes, I know the difference between adjusting the truss rod and changing the saddle height. The action on the guitar is actually fine, but changes in humidity are causing the high E string to buzz when played above the 10th fret, so I thought a bit of extra clearance might be gained with a minor adjustment of the truss rod.

So I dug through my toolchest and managed to find a long enough 5mm hex wrench. But when I inserted it in the opening (which is quite deep on the newer Martins), I would feel anything that seemed like the top of a hex nut of that size. I've also discovered that this guitar has a dual action truss rod, so I'll read up on that. It seemed like a simple job, but I may pay a visit to my luthier after all.

-Stuart

[sws626]

michelew wrote:

Check this out.

Hi Michele,

I was so impressed that I booked at appointment to have this done at the end of the month. I'll post something about the process when I get it back. Now, if only they have a machine that will play it for me as well.

-Stuarth