Acoustic action too high

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dr.Bootleg
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Dr.Bootleg

Dr.Bootleg

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Hi! My girlfriend has this old Ibanez Performance acoustic and I slapped some new strings on it so I would actually have a guitar to play (no electric currently, no money). But the damn thing is killing me! The action is so high I can't play it for too long. I've been practicing almost everyday again for about two months and my fingers are pretty broken in again but that guitar is still a bitch to play.

Is there any way I can lower the action on this thing? If so do you think it would be expensive or even worth the trouble? It's a great sounding acoustic.
 
action ?

check the neck relief ...... maby you can adjust the truss rod ???
 
The best thing to do is to loosen the strings, pull out the saddle, and file it down. You want to take it slow and stop every once in a while, put in back in, tune your guitar and see how the action is. Most times this will make a huge difference and you can buy extra saddles at your local music shop. If you dont get the action where you like it you may have to file the nut. I've never had to do this and if you mess up its harder to fix.

Edit: and of course before you even start to play make sure the neck is tride and true. Read some guides on how to do truss rod adjustments because its something you have to be careful about
!
 
Don't do anything until you have established why the action is higher than you would like. Believe me I have seen sooo many guitars that have suffered from tinkering with the action when the problem was elsewhere.

A couple of questions.

What strings are you using? Gauge? type?

How high is the action at the twelfth fret both low and high E? Measure from the top of the fret to the underside of the string.

Ditto around the first or second fret.

What is the neck relief like? Hold the string to the fingerboard at the third fret and also at the fourteenth and measure the gap (if any) between the string and fret at the eighth fret or one fret either side.

Is there any noticeable drop of the belly around the soundhole or raising of the belly behind the bridge. There will be some thats normal but not too much.

Answer these and you will be most of the way to making an educated assessment of any possible problem. Report back and see if we can advise.
 
Well

It seems to me that acoustic guitars have generally higher action than electric guitars, but that might just be the one's I've come across.

Use it as a finger strength exercise! :p
 
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