Should i lower the action on my guitar

To lower the action on your acoustic guitar, find the truss rod screw, then use an allen wrench or nut driver to adjust the action. Alternatively, loosen the strings and take off the lower 3 strings to remove the saddle from the bridge. Then, slightly sand the saddle down to lower the action before replacing the saddle and strings, and re-tightening the strings. To learn how to lower the action by filing the notches on the nut, keep reading!

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Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article parts. Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1. Check the straightness of the guitar neck. To determine whether you need to adjust your truss rod to lower the action, you must first take a close look at the neck of your guitar to determine whether it is upbowed or backbowed.

To check the straightness of the neck, hold it at eye level and look straight down the neck, or lay it flat on a table or bench and look at the neck at eye level.

There's another way to check the straightness of your guitar neck, but you'll need a helper. Press a string down at the first and 14th frets. Have your helper line up a ruler next to the string you're pressing down at the sixth fret. There should be approximately 0. Locate your guitar's truss rod.

The truss rod is a slim, steel rod inside the neck of your guitar. You can find the adjusting nut either at the peghead or through the sound hole, depending on how your guitar is designed. A one-way rod will only straighten the neck of your guitar against string tension and upbow, while a two-way rod can also correct a backbowed neck.

With a one-way truss rod, there's no way to adjust a backbowed neck. However, if you have a newer guitar you typically have a two-way truss rod, since these became standard in the s. Adjust your strings. Particularly if your truss rod is only accessible through the sound hole, you'll want to loosen your strings before you attempt to adjust your truss rod.

This will make it easier for you to get a tool into the sound hole and turn it. However, don't remove your strings entirely. Check the truss rod to see what kind of tool you're going to need for the job. Typically it will either have a nut or a hex key slot. If your truss rod is only accessible through the sound hole, you'll probably want a longer allen wrench or nut driver to turn it so you're not trying to stick your whole hand in the sound hole. If your truss rod is accessible from the headstock, you don't need to worry about the sound hole.

You just need to unscrew the screws holding the truss rod cover in place. When you're adjusting the truss rod from the headstock, don't loosen your strings — you need to have them tuned to pitch so you have appropriate tension on the neck and can see the extent to which you're adjusting it. Turn the truss rod screw. Use your allen wrench or nut driver to slowly and gradually turn the truss rod screw. You may need to lubricate the truss rod nut, especially if you have an older guitar or the truss rod has never been turned.

Remember "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey. If the two notes match, the string is intonated correctly. If the fretted note is sharper or flatter than the harmonic, then you need to make adjustments. If the note is sharper, that means that the string is too short. You can use a screwdriver or Allen key to move the saddle away from the nut. If the fretted note is flatter, the string is too long.

Use a screwdriver or Allen key to move the saddle closer to the nut, usually a counterclockwise turn. Action refers to the height of the strings relative to the fretboard. This can seriously slow down your playing. First, measure the action at several places along the neck of the guitar to check for consistency.

If your action is measuring greater than that, you should consider making adjustments. The way that you adjust depends on your guitar, but the easiest way to adjust action is to raise or lower the bridge or individual string saddles.

If your bridge has individual string saddles, you can use an Allen wrench to turn the screw. Turning the screw clockwise will raise the action, and turning it counterclockwise will lower it. Then you can adjust the heights of these two posts as needed. Simply turn the screw on the bridge post next to the low E string and slightly lower the post. Once you have your ideal action height on the low E string, measure your high E string and adjust the other post as needed. If the action on the middle strings is too low and causing issues, you will need to compromise and raise the action across all strings.

Floyd Rose bridges use two posts to adjust the action and are similar to the above Tune-o-Matic bridges. Find out more about Floyd Rose bridges in my ultimate guide here. To adjust action height with a Floyd Rose bridge, use an Allen wrench 3mm to adjust the height of each post.

A poorly set up Floyd Rose bridge will cause action height problems as the bridge is designed to raise and lower. If the bridge is imbalanced, you will see a big change in action. The above guitar will likely have action so high it becomes unplayable. Bridges with individual saddles give you the most control over action height, but require the most work to set up properly.

To adjust the action height on this type of bridge, you need to use a 1. With this type of bridge, you need to go through each string and check the action height for each one. Some guitarists like to use an under string radius tool as shown below to adjust the action on each string to perfectly match the radius of the fretboard. For most guitarists, buying this tool is overkill as you can properly set the action for each string with careful measurements.

But if you want to use one, check out this set here. Then hold the correct radius tool for your guitar under the strings near the bridge as shown below:. Make sure the tool touches both E strings. By raising the action height of that string, it will eventually allow the tool to rest against all the other strings.

Lowering the action height of that string until it touches the tool will make sure the radius is correct. Now pick each string individually.

If the string buzzes against the tool, it means the action is fine for the radius. If the string rings out clearly, you need to raise the action for that string until it starts to touch the tool. You know when you have set the action right on all of the strings when all of them touch the tool. Adjusting the action height on electric guitars is fairly simple and easily reversible if you go too far in one direction. Adjusting the action height on acoustic guitars is a bit of a pain and you need to be careful that you do it properly.

The issue with adjusting the action on acoustic guitars is that it requires you to modify the saddle. In the below photo, you can see that the height of the strings is set by the height of the saddle. Imagine removing this saddle and replacing it with a shorter one. The action across the guitar would lower due to the shorter saddle height. Changing the action on an acoustic guitar is a painful process as you first need to slacken the strings enough to slide the saddle out.

The first way is by adjusting the height of the bridge saddle. This is the method I will be covering below because it will likely lead to the ideal action for most guitarists. I like very little relief, almost flat in fact, so I turn the truss rod counterclockwise and press down the G string on the first fret and the last fret and see how much string clearance there is at the 12th fret. I then adjust the bridge saddles as low as they will go with out buzzing or fretting out where the string hits the next fret and goes dead.

Then I cut the nut slots with nut files or sandpaper on a feelers gauge to as low as you can go without fret buzz. Actually the nut slot adjustment is the most important, especially for playing chords near the nut.

It's a tricky practice, that's why so many guitarists pay their luthiers to do what is called a "setup", which is basically what I just explained. Only you can determine if the string action is too high. Lowering the action can give problems with string buzz, and especially if you are striking the strings hard. But give it a go to lower the action. The guitar gets easier to play with lower action. Another thing you could try is to just change to thinner strings.

Thicker strings gives more tuning stability and a slightly heavier sound, but they also makes it harder to play. You probably should make the groves in the nut deeper. That height is definitely not a nut issue, the nut looks low enough. Have you had anyone help you set the neck bow? How is your bridge height? You could try adjusting the neck first and then the bridge height second. Another option, not sure what gauage strings you are using but you could try a lighter set. I know at least one string maker i think ernie ball makes a set with lighter bass strings and heavier small strings.

I liked the sound and feel of that set. They are a lot easier on your fingers. Or like some of us have done, suck it up and keep playing until your fingers build enough callous that you don't feel anything anymore :P. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams?