Acoustic guitars are especially affected by humidity changes. Temperature and HumidityĪs with all wood, guitars are affected by temperature and humidity. Here are several factors that contribute to poor or high action on your acoustic guitar. Without knowing what is affecting your guitar, it is difficult to diagnose the problems and properly set the action. Here is a set of wrenches that will fit most guitar truss rod nuts, so you can easily adjust them no matter what guitar you have.īefore we start adjusting the action, it is important to know what causes the action to change and why it needs to be reset. In order to properly lower the action on your guitar, you will need to make sure the neck is straight and the truss rod is adjusted. Here is another set the gauges that I use. You have to match your string radius with the fretboard to keep them all evenly above the frets. There is no way to get your strings lowered evenly without measuring the fretboard radius. It helps you measure your action, nut slot, and a bunch of other key measurements.
High action strings full#
This is the same rule that comes with the full set. If you want to get an accurate setup with low, smooth action without any string buzzing, you have to get a string height ruler. If you want to do a complete setup on your guitar, this is the set to get. It also comes with a set of gauges to measure both the string action height as well as the string and fretboard radius. The StewMac guitar setup kit comes with a straight edge to check how straight the neck is when you are straightening the trussrod. Here’s a list of guitar repair tools that you’ll need to lower the action on your acoustic guitar and make it play perfectly. 3 How do I adjust the Action on my Acoustic Guitar?.1 Guitar Repair Tools To Lower Your Guitar Action.Guitar Repair Tools To Lower Your Guitar Action Beyond that, it is up to you to fine-tune the action on your guitar to fit your personal style.
High action strings how to#
I will show you how to set your action to an industry standard action setting. Some of these setting are not always the most comfortable for individual players’ styles. Most guitars come out of the factory with standard action settings that the manufacturer deems appropriate. There is no right or wrong string height, to an extent. Essentially, the action on your or anyone else’s guitar is pure preference. Lower action allows guitarists to play faster and more comfortably without compromising the volume. Before there were amplifiers, classical players had to project their sound, so people could hear them–thus higher action was required. That is why classical guitar players have higher action than steel string guitar players. Acoustic guitar action and volume are directly related. The truth is that it depends on your playing style. The feel of this guitar has nothing to do with the price or even the quality of the guitar it is probably just not setup correctly.Īfter reading all of this, you are probably wondering how high should your action be. If you picked up an expensive guitar in a music store and found that it was uncomfortable to play, it could be that the action is not properly set. Usually an action setup is a compromise between having the strings high enough not to buzz on the frets and low enough for comfortable playability. Generally, the higher the action on a guitar, the more difficult and uncomfortable the guitar is to play and the lower the action, the easier and more comfortable the guitar is to play. Acoustic guitars need a higher action than electric guitars to prevent the strings from buzzing. Also, acoustic guitar strings are much thicker than electric strings. When you play an electric guitar, you don’t really need to strum that hard in order to get a loud sound–acoustic guitars do. Acoustic guitar action is a little different than electric guitar action in that acoustic guitar strings need more room to vibrate. Proper acoustic guitar action not only controls the comfort and playability of the guitar, but it also helps the guitar stay in tune and maintain intonation. Now that we know what action is, why is it important? Action is probably the most important part of any guitar setup. Obviously, “low action” would mean the opposite. I’m sure you have heard people comment on guitars with “high action.” This just means that the strings are too high off the fretboard. Action is also measured at the first fret. This center measurement gives a good point of reference to tell how high the strings actually are. Generally a guitar’s string height is measured at the 12th fret. It is also used to describe the general feel and playability of a guitar. Acoustic guitar action refers to the height of the strings above the fretboard.