As we've mentioned in the last post, lowering the action on most acoustic guitars is not just a matter of adjusting a couple of screws like we might on an electric. Nope. An acoustic generally requires us to remove the bridge saddle and shorten it. Removing material from the saddle lowers it, thereby lowering the action.
Last time, I outlined a trick to make this job a little more scientific and a little less scary. So, this time, we'll look at how to lower our saddle.
I'm making the assumption that you've measured your current action and have used the geometry trick from the last post to determine how much saddle material to remove in order to achieve your target action.
Can I Lower My Action? I Feel Like It's Too High.
First, if you don't have a target action, it's completely ok to work this by 'feel'. If you want to remove a little from the bottom of the saddle, re-tune to pitch and try it out, that's absolutely fine. Go for it. I'd recommend marking a straight line across the front of your saddle each time you begin to work at it, just so you can keep track of how much you're taking off each time.
Second — and more importantly —setting action isn't something that I recommend doing in isolation. By that, I mean that other factors can affect how an instrument's action appears. I definitely recommend addressing the neck relief and (hopefully) nut height
You start adjusting your saddle/action. At best, this will give you a much better overall setup but, at worst, it could serve to throw off your action adjustments so they're not where you want them (and even where they end up too low). I'll do a little blowing of my own trumpet here and recommend my Sketchy Setups guides. Particularly relevant here is Sketchy Setups #7 which is dedicated just to acoustic guitars (and even includes some sample target action measurements).
How High Should The Action Be On An Acoustic Guitar?
Remove your saddle from the bridge slot and, before you do anything else, make some mark on it to indicate which end is the bass end and which is the treble. Otherwise, you risk putting it back the wrong way around. Maybe mark a 'B' and 'T' on the side with a pencil.
(we always* remove our material from the bottom) on that side. Make as precise a mark here as you can. Repeat the process to indicate how much material you want to remove from the treble end of the saddle to achieve your target action. These two measurements may well be different.
Use the ruler and pencil to join these two marks and that indicates the new bottom of your saddle. That said, I'd recommend against hogging all of that material off in one go. It's a good idea to work there in increments and to try the saddle in the guitar a couple of times on the way. This allows you to try out the action as you go. It's very possible that you'll be happy with the feel before you get to your initial target.
Guitar Action Explained
Lay a sheet of sandpaper (around 150 to 220 grit) on a flat surface. Rub your saddle, in long straight strokes, along the sandpaper to sand away some material from the bottom.
It's better to rub in one direction only. By that I mean, don't rub backwards and forwards. It's harder to keep things accurate when going back and forth.
And it's important to keep things accurate. The bottom of the saddle should be completely straight with no high or low spots. Also, the bottom should be kept at right angles to the saddle side.
Your Opinion/experience With Cg Action?
Obviously, keep checking as you go. Like I said, it's a good idea to sneak up on this and to fit the saddle, retune, and play a couple of times.
*There are very occasional exceptions to the remove material from the bottom rule. Takamine-style integrated-pickup saddles should never be adjusted from the bottom.I'm going to talk a little about how to lower the action on an acoustic guitar or bass. That involves modifying the saddle — actually cutting or sanding to make it shorter. Before I get to the no-going-back nuts and bolts, therefore, I'm going to give you a tip for how to assess how much adjustment your saddle will need.
I should mention that setting action is just one part of a good setup and you'll get the best bang for your setup-buck if you perform all of the steps. On an acoustic instrument, I definitely recommend getting your neck relief (and nut height if possible) in good shape
Guitar String Action: The Complete Guide To String Height & Action Adjustments
You begin adjusting action. I talk about all off this stuff (and the right order for the steps) in my Sketchy Setups guides — Sketchy Setups #7 is dedicated just to acoustic guitars. If you're interested in getting the best from your setup, that's a great place to start.
Why geometry? you ask. Because we can use some pretty simple geometry to take the guesswork out of adjusting an acoustic guitar saddle. Anything that can make that less daunting is helpful.
If you picture your guitar from the side, you can imagine that the string-line, the saddle, and a line along the top of the frets form three sides of a right-angle triangle. Of course there are tiny deviations in this model but they're all negligible and we don't need to worry about them.
The Complete Guide To Measuring And Adjusting Guitar Action
To quote, Pythagoras, Right-angle triangles ROCK! Well, he may not have said that but, for the purposes of making acoustic guitar setup more straightforward, they really do rock.
The middle point between nut and saddle is the 12th fret. If we measure our string action at the 12th fret, we can know ('cos geometry) that it's half the height of the upright part of the triangle, i.e. the saddle.
Let's say you measure your action at the 12th fret and decide that it's too high. You'd rather it was 2/64 (about .8mm) lower. To get that 12th fret height lower by 2/64, we need to have the saddle lowered by twice that amount.
Common Setup Problems Affecting Beginners
Because the saddle height is twice the 12th fret height, removing 4/64 (1.6mm) from it will cause the 12th fret action to lower by 2/64 (.8mm).
In the real world, you'll want to measure the action on the top and bottom string to determine what changes you want. This will often be a different figure for each. That's ok. Note the desired change for the top string and for the bottom string, double each, and mark the appropriate measurement on the corresponding end of the saddle.
This will all become more clear when I get to the saddle adjustments. We'll look at that next. For now, you've got geometry homework to digest. 😉Guitar action is important to understand and know how to adjust. If you want your guitar to be as comfortable as possible to play, read through this guide to learn how to properly adjust your guitar’s action.
Is This Action Too High? 3.25mm (0.128
In this guide, you will learn what guitar action is, why it is important, how to measure it, and how to adjust it for acoustic or electric guitars.
Guitar action also plays an important part in your guitar’s intonation. Find out about intonation and how to adjust it in this guide.
Guitar action or guitar action height is the height of the guitar strings over the fretboard. Guitar action plays a big role in how a guitar feels to play.
Martin 000 18 1937 Golden Era
If the action is too high, the guitar will feel uncomfortable to play. If the action is too low, you will hear string buzzing.
If your guitar’s action is too high, your fingers need to push the strings down really far before they come into contact with the strings. This can make it awkward to play and slows you down.
Before we look at how to adjust action, let’s look at how to properly measure it and what your action should be set to.
Basic Acoustic Guitar Setup And Adjustments
This Ultimate Guide on Truss Rods explains how to check if your truss rod is set properly and how to adjust it for the best results. Read the guide to learn everything you would want to know about truss rods.
Once your guitar’s truss rod is set up properly, you can then measure your action height and make adjustments. But make sure your truss rod is first set properly.
You measure guitar action height with an action gauge or ruler. Rest the end of the ruler against the 12th fret on your guitar and hold it against the string. You need to measure the distance between the top of the fret and the bottom of the guitar string.
What Do I Do If The Action On My Guitar Is Too Low Near The Headstock And Too High Near The Body?
A ruler that starts the measurements from the very end allows you to press the ruler flush against the frets and get an accurate measurement.
A guitar action gauge is a custom ruler designed for measuring action on the guitar. They’re easy to use and give clear readings in inches or millimeters.
The FretGuru 2 action gauge shown below is more expensive than the above version but also measures fret height, fret wear and nut height.
Ultimate Guide To Guitar Action
Note for step 2: if you’re unsure whether your neck is straight or you need to adjust your truss
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