How to lower strings?

[coyoteguy]

On my acoustic, my strings are so damn high off the frett board its crazy. Now my guitar is a rather cheap one, but is there a simple way that I can lower the action on my guitar? Thanks

[bighuk]

Depends on if you wanna risk breaking it. If you're technically adept get some allen wrenches and look inside your sound hole towards the neck. You should see a block of wood with a hole in it. INside that hole is a bolt that connects to a what they call a truss rod. Depending on which way you turn this you can lower or raise the strings. This is different on every guitar. Now the downside to this is you can break your truss rod by over tightening or loosening iti, so be very careful if you choose to do this.

[Machtimus]

sand down the saddle

[bighuk]

Ughhh... I would recommend to someone to recommend the saddle because if you sand too much you can really fuck your guitar up... I wouldn't let anyone touch the saddle unless they knew what they were doing.

[jsgksu]

take it to a guitar shop or a luthier, get the action lowered. I wouldnt do it yourself at all, too much risk if youve never done it before. It shouldnt cost too much and youll really like it afterwards.

[onid41]

i sanded down my saddle to lower down the action on my seagull...it was great for a while till my guitar started to lose its tone. I feel that the top base strings are losing some sound..i dunno, im takin it to the shop to see what they can do.

you should get it done professionally in my opinion.

[thejoe]

sand down the saddle

THANK YOU
adjusting the truss rod indirectly adjusts the action by changing the curve of the neck
it is not made for lowering action

[bassman462]

sand down the saddle

THANK YOU
adjusting the truss rod indirectly adjusts the action by changing the curve of the neck
it is not made for lowering action

even thought that is how they do it, depending on the guitar depends on which way they'll lower it, my brother just did a few small turns with the truss rod, nothing happened with my neck and the strings are so much lower now.

[hcole]

sand down the saddle

THANK YOU
adjusting the truss rod indirectly adjusts the action by changing the curve of the neck
it is not made for lowering action

Amen.

Bighuk, while sanding the saddle improperly can fuck up the tone a saddle can be replaced for 10-15 bucks. Turn that truss one to many times and you'll snap the neck off your guitar. If you want your action lowered do it the way it was intended to be done.

[DMBFan63]

Ughhh... I would recommend to someone to recommend the saddle because if you sand too much you can really fuck your guitar up... I wouldn't let anyone touch the saddle unless they knew what they were doing.

You can buy new saddles for a couple bucks, it's not that big of a deal if you butcher it. But yes, get the action lowered at a guitar shop, it's worth it

[bighuk]

Amen.

Bighuk, while sanding the saddle improperly can fuck up the tone a saddle can be replaced for 10-15 bucks. Turn that truss one to many times and you'll snap the neck off your guitar. If you want your action lowered do it the way it was intended to be done.

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Understandable, i suppose a mixture of both would be the proper way to do it. I've never replaced a saddle. Is it attached to the bridge with a glue or does it just sit in the groove?

The only adjusting i've ever done personally was a truss rod, all the saddle work was done by a martin luthier. If it just sits in the groove then I can definately see that it wouldn't be that big of a deal if you goober'd it. I've actually been contemplating sanding my saddle down a bit because of the grooves the strings are leaving behind... On my wrap strings especially the G i'm noticing that they are very hard to get into proper tune now because of the grooves it's creating, I believe that's the problem anyway.

Appreciate the heads up,
cj

[Ricky the Pilot]

Take a look at the Taylor Guitar Tech Sheets. They have a lot of good info.
http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/re ... heets.html

[hcole]

I've actually been contemplating sanding my saddle down a bit because of the grooves the strings are leaving behind... On my wrap strings especially the G i'm noticing that they are very hard to get into proper tune now because of the grooves it's creating, I believe that's the problem anyway.

Appreciate the heads up,
cj

It sounds like you may just need a new saddle. Typically whens you sand a saddle you sand from the bottom.

[bighuk]

Does the saddle just sit in the bridge groove or is it secured with a glue or something?

[Brock]

It generally just sits tight and the tension from the strings keeps it down.