Lowering action

[Colin Mac]

Hi folks.

Ok, so after all these years I finally know first hand that high action, among other things can be bad for your wrists. I was thinking of lowering the action myself, just by sanding down the saddle. Seems simple enough and I found a good website taking you through things step by step. What do you think? Easy enough to DIY or take it to the shop?

[Old Gold]

I'd recommend you try and simply buy a smaller saddle. Saves a lot of grief.

[HateEvent]

As with anything - it's easy enough provided you know what you're doing! Just make sure you do it straight!

[The Sloth]

it's easy enough to DIY.

[Guest davetherave]

Saddle DIY

Its easy to lower the saddle, just make sure you sand it down on a flat surface to keep it even. Might be worth buying a few spares to practice on, that way you wont damage the original?

Also try some lighter gauge strings, I have an electro acoustic and it sounds great with EB Slinky electric strings 9-42, brighter sound and easier to play.

[Bigsby]

What type of guitar is it?

[Colin Mac]

What type of guitar is it?

It's a tanglewood acoustic. Minds made up now, DIY route it is although buying a couple spares sounds like a good idea. Seems like a waste to put it to the shop, be charged money and have to wait a week for it to come back when it's a relatively simple adjustment. Cheers folks

[HairyScaryMark]

I have never heard that high action was bad for your wrist. The worse thing for your wrist that is commonly done when playing guitar is to have your wrist an awkard angle. This will decrease blood flow to your hand and not allow you to play as well.

This is more difficult to avoid if you play standing up with the guitar really low.

Adjusting action on acoustic guitar is generally not as straighforward matter.

[Blingking]

I've done this a couple of times.

TIP: Sand the underside of the saddle so that you can keep the string spacings.

What I found would help was to mark the area you want to remove either with with a ruler and a scribe or razor blade etc. Don't use a pencil or pen as it will wear off during the sanding operation. Make sure it is square all the way round and then start sanding. This way even if you do go slightly off the square, can see where you need to sand to bring it back flat again. Check the progress often.

BTW, it can take a long time as same saddles are hard as hell.

[HateEvent]

The easiest way to see if it's flat is to have a steel rule with you. Hold the underside of the saddle against the rule and put it up to a light. If it is bowed, light will pass underneath and you can then sand accordingly.