catnine Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I have built my own guitars all solid body electrics since 1984 other than a Lennon Ric copy. Yet I never built an acoustic. I have been playing guitar since 1963 and had many acoustics and electics and right now have a seagull grand and in 2008 I got this AJ100 sunburst model from a dealer sam ash near me. Right off the action was so low all the strings buzzed all over the neck so Gibson sent me a new saddle and I fit it and raised the height so it was at spec. I have read reviews and many mention buzzes past the 12th fret. The nut seems fine and the relief is at .010" and there is a slight fall off on the neck from the 14th fret to the end of the neck. All the frets are seated fine. The guitar does play better when it's more humid but since I don't have a case I can't control the humidity the way I would like. I don't see a hump in the neck at the body joint. It almost seems like perhaps the frets are not level from the 14th fret and up to the body. They didn't have the guitar in a special room with proper humidity and I have no idea how long it hung in their store. I haven't seen others like mine since no one here stocks them yet the top is not sunken it but there are these sort of ripple type lines on the face of the guitar can't tell if it's the finish or this is the way they are. To me it looks like the grain of the top is sunken where the soft grain is. any suggestions ,should it place some damp sponges in the bottom of a plastic trash bag and tie it off and see if things change before I go adjusting things? All I do know is the action was far to low to begin with and raising the action helped all but the 14th fret and above yet the top was not sunken in it does have a nice curve across the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIX Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Welcome catnine, The ripple effect on the top of the guitar could indicate to much humidity. In which case I would recheck the neck for an up bow. And certainly from your description it sounds like that is what you have. Having said that the ripple can in some cases be due to too dry, but you would also notice the fret wire ends protruding beyond the sides of the fretboard. Here is a link that describes the effect of humidity on acoustic guitars. http://www.musiciansworkshop.com/humidity.html Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catnine Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 Welcome catnine, The ripple effect on the top of the guitar could indicate to much humidity. In which case I would recheck the neck for an up bow. And certainly from your description it sounds like that is what you have. Having said that the ripple can in some cases be due to too dry, but you would also notice the fret wire ends protruding beyond the sides of the fretboard. Here is a link that describes the effect of humidity on acoustic guitars. http://www.musiciansworkshop.com/humidity.html Hope that helps. I did notice I can feel the frets just a bit when I run my fingers along the edge of the finger board which I never noticed before. To be honest I never really paid attention to that since I don't feel them while playing. When I sight the neck it looks like the neck has a back bow on it's entire length so it is possible the guitar is to dry which would make sense since the bridge saddle needed to be raised because when I got the guitar it was far to low indicating a sunken top. My eyes are not that good anymore so I will check it over with a straight edge to check the entire finger board and to see where the top of the frets meet the top of the bridge itself. I have no idea how this top is supposed to look are far as the crown at the bridge yet I do know something is out of wack . If I ecall sighting down the side of the fingerboard it should land at the top of the wood part of the bridge and it makes sense if the neck has a bow through it's entire length even on the body that would cause the fret buzz past the 14th fret . Right now I have the action at 9/32's at the twelvth fret low E and 3/16ths 12 fret on the hight E. I don't mind the high action because I tend to play hard by nature. The top drawing you supplied shows what the neck looks like by eye yet they relief is close to .010" at the 7th fret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIX Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I had a similar problem with one of my guitar, but your sounds a little more severe. This is how I fixed my guitar, since it was out of warranty. I had to leave it clamped up like this for a month. I am not suggesting you do this to your guitar, especially if it is still under warranty. And if it is still under warranty you should take it back to the dealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catnine Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 I had a similar problem with one of my guitar, but your sounds a little more severe. This is how I fixed my guitar, since it was out of warranty. I had to leave it clamped up like this for a month. I am not suggesting you do this to your guitar, especially if it is still under warranty. And if it is still under warranty you should take it back to the dealer. I did a little checking today . I used a straight edge and lined up with the fingerboard it just touches the top of the bridge. I then placed a capo at the first fret held the low at the 14th fret and measured the relief at 7th fret and it was .010". Then I checked the from the 12th fret to the 20th fret with a short straight edge and it rocked on the 18th fret . I tried this again from the 15th fret to the 17th fret to the last 20th fret and it still rocked on the 18th fret. With the capo still in place I checked the action at the 12th fret low E was 7/64" and the high E 5/64" . So it looks like the 18th fret is high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIX Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 I would agree with you on the 18th fret. Your action at the 12th fret 7/64 and 5/64 is a bit high for me. I usually shoot for 5/64 for the 6th string and 3/64 for the first string, but if what you works for you I wouldn't change it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catnine Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 I would agree with you on the 18th fret. Your action at the 12th fret 7/64 and 5/64 is a bit high for me. I usually shoot for 5/64 for the 6th string and 3/64 for the first string, but if what you works for you I wouldn't change it. I could lower the action a bit yet when I learned guitar in 1963 we didn't have all the brands and thin gauge guitar strings there was light ,med and heavy. no one even had sets that had a plain G for electric guitar we used a B. I got used to heavy strings and high actions. Yet since I tend to play a bit harder if I lower the action like I did on my seagull grand I get buzzes on all strings. That's the only reason I got the AJ 100 to get a bit more bottom and volume because if you force the seagull grand the tone suffers and I use the grand for bare finger picking only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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