Gearjoneser
Gear Ho
I've had my Martin D-28 for about a year now, and at first, played it the way I received it, but was always bringing the action down everytime I restrung it.
After spending some time this weekend with a sheet of sandpaper, I've got it finally dialed in...playing beautifully. Now, I feel stupid for not doing it a lot sooner. I always make sure my electrics play perfectly, but somehow always felt satisfied with my acoustic just playing 'OK'.
If you've never done an 'action job' on an acoustic, it's really not that difficult, as long as you don't accidentally lower it too much.
Luckily, the nut had already been reslotted and was pretty much perfect.
First, I loosen the strings, and use a pair of pliers and a piece of paper to pull the saddle out of it's slot. I use the paper to keep the pliers from scuffing the saddle. Then, I run the bottomside of the saddle across a piece of medium grain sandpaper to reduce it's height. The trick is to do it little by little, always putting the saddle back in place to make sure you haven't gone overboard. If I'm drastically changing the action, I'll mark the side of the saddle with a pencil, to give myself some guidelines. This time, I just did it by feel till the saddle was right at the perfect height. This means the guitar's action is low as possible without any fretbuzz. Still high enough to have a bold tone, also. There's a happy medium where the playability is good, but the tone hasn't been harmed by having action that's TOO low.
All I can say is the acoustic feels like a new guitar in my hands, just from an hour's work. The guitar is essentially new, so it doesn't feel as broken in as my old Martin DR or Taylor did, but the way it plays now tells me it's going to get broken in nicely.
After spending some time this weekend with a sheet of sandpaper, I've got it finally dialed in...playing beautifully. Now, I feel stupid for not doing it a lot sooner. I always make sure my electrics play perfectly, but somehow always felt satisfied with my acoustic just playing 'OK'.
If you've never done an 'action job' on an acoustic, it's really not that difficult, as long as you don't accidentally lower it too much.
Luckily, the nut had already been reslotted and was pretty much perfect.
First, I loosen the strings, and use a pair of pliers and a piece of paper to pull the saddle out of it's slot. I use the paper to keep the pliers from scuffing the saddle. Then, I run the bottomside of the saddle across a piece of medium grain sandpaper to reduce it's height. The trick is to do it little by little, always putting the saddle back in place to make sure you haven't gone overboard. If I'm drastically changing the action, I'll mark the side of the saddle with a pencil, to give myself some guidelines. This time, I just did it by feel till the saddle was right at the perfect height. This means the guitar's action is low as possible without any fretbuzz. Still high enough to have a bold tone, also. There's a happy medium where the playability is good, but the tone hasn't been harmed by having action that's TOO low.
All I can say is the acoustic feels like a new guitar in my hands, just from an hour's work. The guitar is essentially new, so it doesn't feel as broken in as my old Martin DR or Taylor did, but the way it plays now tells me it's going to get broken in nicely.
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:laugh2: :laugh2:
