Lower the action on my acoustic (martin) (pics)

Hell yeah man....if it's difficult to play because of the action, take it to a good luthier in your area.

Your nut and your saddle may be way too high.  Martin makes a great guitar, but even some of the stuff coming from their factory isn't setup very well.

Your guy may fix the nut, replace the saddle, or tweak the truss rod...probably a combination of all of them.  But if he spends a little time with you to see what sort of player you are, and what strings you like, he'll make it play like you won't believe.  You'll swear it's a different guitar!

A pro setup like that should be easily less than $100....and totally worth it.  At least it is with my guitars!

my luthier will cut/slot a nut, and file it, install it, for $50.
you could do it yourself, with the right tools and all, but it'll cost you more in decent files and raw materials than just getting a guy to do it...
that way, you're supporting someone's craft.
the action, has to be split between the nut height, bridge height, and fret height and fretboard relief.
it can be tricky, if you have issues with any of those particulars...

batsbrew


those pictures make that guitar look like a pedal steel!!!!

good googly moogly.

LOL...no doubt.  I was hoping that was just the angle of the shot.  I can't even imagine the intonation on that sucker.
 
The OP will be SO MUCH happier if he takes it to a pro to get it setup.

yeah my shelves are terribleee hahaa

I actually adjusted the tuss rod, and sanded down the saddle a bit, but that was around 2 or so months ago.

I really need to bring the guitar in I guess, because there really isn't much more I can do myself.

MiykPace


And no its not the angle of the shot, the action is literally that high. 

It was even WORSE before I adjusted the tuss rodd and sanded down the saddle, but its still really damn high. I always though I just had to play more and build bigger calluses, but when other acoustics feel like butter to press down I knew it was a problem with the guitar haha.

The neck might be warped.  This is common when the guitar has been tuned higher then A=440 (or worse an octave up !!) and left like that.  That goes double if it were heavy gauge strings.  Even heavy strings should not be so tight.

You need to get a guitar repair tech to check it out and see what needs to be done. 

Action that high is no good, not only is it hard to play the notes literally bend out of tune as you try to press them all the way down to the fret.  And if it's not fixed it could warp the neck even more if you leave it like that. 

skullsession


Hell yeah man....if it's difficult to play because of the action, take it to a good luthier in your area.

Your nut and your saddle may be way too high.  Martin makes a great guitar, but even some of the stuff coming from their factory isn't setup very well.

Your guy may fix the nut, replace the saddle, or tweak the truss rod...probably a combination of all of them.  But if he spends a little time with you to see what sort of player you are, and what strings you like, he'll make it play like you won't believe.  You'll swear it's a different guitar!

A pro setup like that should be easily less than $100....and totally worth it.  At least it is with my guitars!

+1, take it to a Lucifer, however, please note, I don't care who made your guitar? The neck will bend? And it will need to be adjusted? I have a Goodall that's worth a pretty penny... But it's not that it's a Goodall? Or a Martin? Or a Taylor? It's that "it's a wooden guitar?" And heating and cooling, and low and high humidity have an effect on wooden instruments... So As the Skullster said, "take it to a Lucifer?" I just got 3 guitars back from one, 1 6 string and 2 bases, and I'm about to take my 12 in this week to have him tweak it (Taylor 754 CE 12 string :-) It's like butta... Your action looked really high, have them tweak that neck.e

Once a year (sometime every other year) I take my collection of 8 guitars to my local luthier to have him set them up, adjust the action, intonation, clean up the finger board etc......

He does a wonderful job......it is worth every penny....the play like completly different instruments and I am reminded of why I bought them in the first place....

but before you go make sure you check the luthier's reputation. Not everyone is capabale of doing quality work.......it is worth every penny as long as the luthier does high quality work.....other wise I can PM you my address and you can send me the money and achieve the same result.

Ask your freinds, or go see bands play and ask the gtr players who they use.....google that luthier.....ask some guitar teachers who they use.....if you ask enough times the same name(s) will eventually keep popping up.....go see them. and talk to them and then take your instrument to them.......

You'll be glad you spent the time on research........cause a bad repair person can actually do more damage then good.....

Good luck
Cliff

okay so I just brought my guitar into sam ash today (where I bought it)

The repairman wasn't there, but the guy that was looking at it said that the neck is comming off, and so is the bridge. This is because I was stupid, and left my guitar in my basement for a long time (weeks probally).

I have a bad feeling that the repair is going to cost alot, chances are I wont bother if its above 200$. Once he told me this, I started looking around the store at other acoustics, and played one I really love (Martin 000-15). Its 950$, but If the repair is over 200 id rather just "repair" the guitar myself, and use it as a back up or somthing along thoes lines.

I figured if worse comes to worse, I could care less how it looks aestheticlly, I could even bolt down the bridge, and "glue" the neck down. Of course I would use a sort of wood glue/ apoxy so it would never be an issue again.

Its unproffesional, but if I put the money towards a new martin that I would use almost always, and have that guitar for a friend or just to bring around with me, I think it would be better than paying 300-500~ for one repaired guitar.

just my opinion on the matter :|

I'll take it off your hands for you.  Seriously.

MiykPace


okay so I just brought my guitar into sam ash today (where I bought it)

The repairman wasn't there, but the guy that was looking at it said that the neck is comming off, and so is the bridge. This is because I was stupid, and left my guitar in my basement for a long time (weeks probally).

I have a bad feeling that the repair is going to cost alot, chances are I wont bother if its above 200$. Once he told me this, I started looking around the store at other acoustics, and played one I really love (Martin 000-15). Its 950$, but If the repair is over 200 id rather just "repair" the guitar myself, and use it as a back up or somthing along thoes lines.

I figured if worse comes to worse, I could care less how it looks aestheticlly, I could even bolt down the bridge, and "glue" the neck down. Of course I would use a sort of wood glue/ apoxy so it would never be an issue again.

Its unproffesional, but if I put the money towards a new martin that I would use almost always, and have that guitar for a friend or just to bring around with me, I think it would be better than paying 300-500~ for one repaired guitar.

just my opinion on the matter :|

MiykPace,
 
You left your guitar in the basement (probably a very poor environment as far as temperature & humidity are concerned)...Then you tried to repair it youself by "sanding this & filing that"...???
 
Have you ever done any real repair work on guitars? Especially acoustics (which are entirely different than electrics)...?? You've probably destroyed whatever value your Martin originally had...It's a Martin for God's sake...treat it like one...If you have a ton of money lying around and decide you'd rather purchase a new one then go ahead...You're just throwing good money after bad because of the decisions you made in the first place...

Hilarious, wonder what it was like new? I don't know how you can even play that, good for slide work!

I can't see that 2 weeks in a basement would do all that much damage (neck and bridge coming off) although it shows a total lack of care. Considering that Martin advertises this in their catalog:

"Vern Tejas scaled Mount Everest
with his Little Martin strapped
to his backpack (bare, no case).
Even above 29,000 feet, it plays
and sounds great!"

I tend to agree with papas' last comment on this thread. Whether it's a 500 dollar or 3000 dollar model, have some respect for your instrument - (but then it's your life and money). LOL.

PS. I wouldn't buy a penny whistle from that outfit that you purchased this at, it was probably not great when you got it!

....tell 'em you just got back from Everest and the thing just 'ain't holding up like the Martin catalog suggests! ROFL :)

Hard to understand the enjoyment some people get from throwing around ridicule, derision and negative attitude. The guy came for some advice and help, he knows how and why the problem is now at hand.

To the OP:
Had to post the link to stewart/macdonald quick, and it does not surprise me that I got the names backwards, but you may find enough information there to decide if the fix is beyond your abilities or something you would like to try.

Later
Albert

MiykPace


okay so I just brought my guitar into sam ash today (where I bought it)

The repairman wasn't there, but the guy that was looking at it said that the neck is comming off, and so is the bridge. This is because I was stupid, and left my guitar in my basement for a long time (weeks probally).

I have a bad feeling that the repair is going to cost alot, chances are I wont bother if its above 200$. Once he told me this, I started looking around the store at other acoustics, and played one I really love (Martin 000-15). Its 950$, but If the repair is over 200 id rather just "repair" the guitar myself, and use it as a back up or somthing along thoes lines.

I figured if worse comes to worse, I could care less how it looks aestheticlly, I could even bolt down the bridge, and "glue" the neck down. Of course I would use a sort of wood glue/ apoxy so it would never be an issue again.

Its unproffesional, but if I put the money towards a new martin that I would use almost always, and have that guitar for a friend or just to bring around with me, I think it would be better than paying 300-500~ for one repaired guitar.

just my opinion on the matter :|

I'll be interested to hear if it can be repaired at a reasonable cost. Clearly something, presumably being stored in the basement, has really affected it. Any idea what the humidity level is in your basement?
If you go for the 000-15, I think you'll be very pleased. Mine is 12 years old and is an excellent 'no frills' instrument. There's a new version, 00-15M, that's recently come out with different saddle, tuners etc. It got a gold award in a review in 'Guitarist' magazine here in the UK.

David, in the interest of avoiding argument, let's just say that I may have "missunderstood" your comment in post #20 and leave it alone.

I do agree with 95% of everything else you've said.

Later
Albert

jhughs


Again, take it to a luthier.

As a stupid young man, I tweaked my guitar set up.  I tightened up the truss rod until it seemed about right, and then just a little more... and at that moment the guitar went "pop", which is the sound of a stripped truss rod.  That's how I learned to turn a tens-of-dollars adjustment into a ruined guitar (I never got it fixed and gave it to an ex-girlfriend's boyfriend who was learning guitar).

You're quite a forgiving soul, aren't you? *LOL* Is everyone in Napierville that amicable with their exes? *LOL*