Acoustic setups

suspiciousminds · July 2014

I'm finding it quite difficult to play any type of bar chord on my fender acoustic so i'm thinking of lowering the action.
Is it a job to try yourself?
Or would it be better to use lighter guage strings - if i remember rightly i'm on medium guage.

octatonic · July 2014

You can try yourself if you want but usually people come unstuck with acoustic setups.

Go too far with saddle or nut and you are making a new one.

Try a truss rod adjustment and lighter gauge strings first.

Can you be sure this isn't a technique problem?

ICBM · July 2014

If by 'medium' you mean 13s - which is what they are called for historical reasons, they are considered heavier than medium now - try 12s, which are the modern 'standard' gauge, or even 11s which are in fact only very slightly lighter usually (often having some of the strings the same gauge as the 12s). 10s are really very light for an acoustic though, I wouldn't go that far.

If you do that, the chances are the neck will move back slightly of its own accord as well, so you'll get a double lowering of the difficulty to play. It's unlikely that it will go so far as to cause a back-bow, since the chances are that it has too much relief at the moment - most guitars do if they have not been set up since they left the shop, as the wood settles down.

Easy to check - hold the guitar in the playing position and fret the G string at the first fret and the first which is over the body (usually 15th on an acoustic) and have a look at the gap between the string and the 7th-8th frets - if it's more than the string diameter there is too much relief, and even that's a bit too much… less than half the string diameter is ideal.

Check the nut height by fretting each string at the 3rd fret and looking at the gap between the string and the 1st fret - again look for less than half the string diameter, on any string, and preferably much less than that especially on the wound ones - ideally between about a tenth of the string diameter and a quarter… ie *tiny*.

The bridge height is slightly harder to assess, but essentially if you bend the top string up a tone at any fret above the 12th fret and it doesn't buzz or choke out, the action can probably come down.

suspiciousminds · July 2014

Ahh, theres no choking so i guess it could come down a little - i'll try some different strings then first and see how that does.
Thanks chaps.

luscombe · July 2014

Good luck. it could be the start of a long journey!

nickp · July 2014

a setup is less than forty quid. your call. I feel that I should be doing my own and educating myself......sod that.

Frankieabbot · February 2015

How has the setup gone suspiciousminds? Could you give us an update.

Frankieabbot · February 2015

Has anyone got a compensating nut on any of their acoustic guitars? Do the work?

richardhomer · February 2015

Frankieabbot;539946" said:
Has anyone got a compensating nut on any of their acoustic guitars? Do the work?

No - and tbh I've never felt the need. I've never had intonation problems on my acoustics. I always feel things like this are designed to cure a problem which doesn't really exist.

Frankieabbot · March 2015

But surely it may help people who have intonation problems that can't be rectified because they can't move their saddle towards/away from the nut.

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Acoustic setups

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