ravewest Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I just purchased a new DR500 RNS. I love the tone of the guitar but am worried if the guitar is set up correctly as the action seems very low close to the nut and very high at the body of the guitar. Are there any steps that I can do to determine if it is set up optimally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glide340 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 You could measure from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the E string (big one) and report the measurement . That will tell us if you're in the ball park. I set mine up at 3/32. Is there any buzzing when you play? It's a good thing if the action at the nut is low as long as there's no buzzing. Makes it a lot easier to play. Report back and we'll take it from there. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSDx Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 You could measure from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the E string (big one) and report the measurement . That will tell us if you're in the ball park. I set mine up at 3/32. Is there any buzzing when you play? It's a good thing if the action at the nut is low as long as there's no buzzing. Makes it a lot easier to play. Report back and we'll take it from there. John. How does one set the action on an acoustic ??? By filing the saddle ???? (I have an acoustic, but am fairly ignorant about their "care and feeding," compared to electrics.... also, since I got started..... how does one adjust intonation on an acoustic ??? I'd love to go with thinner strings, but worry 'bout intonation problems...... ( I just kinda accept high action as part of the way an acoustic just "is" ...... lighter gauge strings would make me a very happy acoustic blues player if intonation would be fine..... it's an AJ18-SNA, so it ain't worth investing a LOT into.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YerDugliness Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 also' date=' since I got started..... how does one adjust intonation on an acoustic ??? I'd love to go with thinner strings, but worry 'bout intonation problems.[/quote'] On an acoustic guitar there is not a mechanism to ajdust the length of each individual string (and therefore the intonation) as there is on an electric guitar, so the manufacturers generally address the intonation issue with a "compensated" saddle. There are various forms of compensated saddles, but in general the E (low E) string "breaks free" from the saddle closest to the butt of the guitar, then the A and D and G strings all break free from the saddle at ever so slightly lesser distances from the nut b/c of the way the "break free" point on the saddle is ground closer to the nut. Then, at the B string, the "break free" point is ground to the rear-most point on the saddle (approximately the same place as the low E string) and the high e string's "break free" point is again ground closer to the fretboard nut. Ergo, the "intonation" of the guitar is set at the factory (or, where-ever the "saddle" is sourced) and other than obtaining a differently ground saddle, there is no other opportunity to adjust the intonation on an acoustic guitar (this does not address the issue of a "compensated nut", which is a possibility in extreme cases but not often necessary). Changing from medium to light gauge strings won't really effect the intonation on an acoustic, but if you are one of those who has perfect pitch and absolutely MUST have perfect intonation an experienced luthier can use an oscilloscope to modify the saddle and the nut to provide much closer to perfect intonation. As for setting the action, it's a balance between sanding down the height of the saddle and getting the truss-rod adjustment correct....that can be a balancing act, but if you get the saddle too low you'll get fret-buzz, so go slowly. Once you get that high action adjusted, I'd suggest you change out your present strings for a set of "light guage" strings and see if it sounds OK to you. You might well be surprised. If your guitar's neck is designed for medium gauge strings, you can generally go up one guage and down one gauge without needing to adjust the truss rod, but more than that will probably need a truss-rod adjustment. As for just accepting the action being much higher on an acoustic than on an electric, well, you are somewhat right. I have played some acoustic guitars whose action is as low as that on my professionally set-up Epi Dot, and those guitars played very well, but as you reduce the action you lose volume on an acoustic guitar, and you can't just turn up the amp to adjust for that. Again, everything on an acoustic seems to be a "trade-off"......you pays your $$ and you takes your chances . Hope this has helped! Dugly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSDx Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Hope this has helped! Dugly Thanks, Dugly ...... I had just posted about this again, then realized I'd asked a couple days back in this thread ..... DOH !!!! I have more time to play with the string guages, now ..... I had a function requiring my acoustic guitar presence, and I didn't want to possibly screw up my intonation badly right beforehand...LOL ( I like to bend notes, and the 13s make it a lil rough on the fatter strings.....and a solo was "required"...heh) Thanks again for your response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.