lowering the action on an acoustic guitar

geordief

i've got an old Ibanez acoustic guitar (metal strings) that ,after 30 years of playing, I realised that I could drop the strings by way of tightening the truss rod in the neck.
I was a bit surprised that it was successful since it was so stiff that I actually needed to use a hammer (in conjunction with the allen key , obviously) to free it.
Clearly this was a bit reckless but part of me thought that this guitar didn't have that much monetary value after so many years.

Anyway ,I was able to lower the action very considerably ,without much ,if any, buzzing .However I have noticed that the action tends to creep up over a period of weeks.The amount of effort required to readjust the bolt is still pretty great , although I can get away with brute strength rather than hammer blows most of the time.

Is this normal? Should I apply a bit of WD40 or will that just mean that the guitar will be even less likely to hold its position and I will have to keep on adjusting it even more often ?

I don't think I have damaged the threads -otherwise how could I be succeeding in lowering the action in the first place- unless the rust is somehow holding the thread together?
I imagine that if the thread IS damaged that it would be a fairly expensive repair?

Demeyes

You don't adjust the truss rod to lower action, you adjust the truss rod to alter the relief in the neck. If you aren't fully sure what the truss rod is doing you should look up some youtube videos and see the best way to use it. The truss rod shouldn't need adjustment in the same direction again and again, it should only need a little bit of turning with the seasons and with big temperature shifts.
If there is a problem with your truss rod then it would probably be an expensive enough repair, I'd imagine the fretboard would need to be removed to get full access to it. If it is only a problem at the end with the allen key there might be an easier way to fix it though.

Hayte

The truss rod is there for adjusting neck relief (a side effect of which is a change in string height). Nut and saddle height adjustment directly affects string height (action).

If you want to do this properly by yourself you should be using feeler gauges to determine whether neck relief is in spec. Then make adjustments to the saddle, unless you have literally no saddle left to work with (which is a separate problem).

Bottom line: take your guitar to a qualified tech and let them sort it out. Without measurements its impossible to say what the problem really is. I'm not even going to offer a suggestion for fear that I would be giving you incorrect advice based on not enough information that at best won't make your guitar completely unplayable.

Edit: Beaten.

Edit 2: I would also contend that the effect of humidity is sometimes overstated, or at least it is not as applicable in Ireland. Over here we tend not to have large seasonal changes in humidity. Its pretty humid all year round (as in, almost always between 60% and 100%).

sarkozy

WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

I have a 30-year old Ibanez and even back as a teenager getting it up to scratch, I knew NEVER to mess with the truss rod and knew it NEVER had anything to do with action.

I brought it to a proper expert to get it reconditioned.

As others have said here: action is adjusted at the nut and bridge. What you're doing right now is potentially damaging your guitar's neck beyond repair!

Bring it to a shop NOW.

geordief

well alright .
I did take it to a specialist a good year ago as it was buzzing on the 7th fret (which he replaced) and I asked him if it was possible to adjust the rod (since it was so stiff and I was frightened of forcing it).

He said it would be OK to do but I am surprised he didn't warn me since I don't think I came across as very knowledgeable.
Maybe he was just being uncommunicative.

No harm has been done though as it is still very true but I will probably follow your advice and ask him directly if he can lower the action for me since I definitely prefer it that way.

I wonder if your Ibanez is like mine (it seems around the same age)?
Mine is a 340BS (1981)

Parsley

Jeeeezus. can't a man adjust a truss rod without getting his head bitten off? it's entirely possible that the neck bowed over the years and as a result had high action, in which case tightening the truss rod is a legitimate action to take. if the thing's still playable after adjusting it, he clearly hasn't damaged it beyond repair.

to answer the original question though, I'm not sure how to alter string height on an acoustic other than using the truss rod as the bridge saddles and nut are generally not adjustable at all.

demanufactured

Parsley wrote: »

Jeeeezus. can't a man adjust a truss rod without getting his head bitten off? it's entirely possible that the neck bowed over the years and as a result had high action, in which case tightening the truss rod is a legitimate action to take. if the thing's still playable after adjusting it, he clearly hasn't damaged it beyond repair.

to answer the original question though, I'm not sure how to alter string height on an acoustic other than using the truss rod as the bridge saddles and nut are generally not adjustable at all.

To lower the action you loosen all the steings, Remove the saddle and file down the side that goes into the guitar body.

Iomega Man

demanufactured wrote: »

To lower the action you loosen all the steings, Remove the saddle and file down the side that goes into the guitar body.

Exactly...

sarkozy

Yep, I had a 'nut job' done on it to lower the action by Musician Inc. when they were around.

geordief wrote:

I wonder if your Ibanez is like mine (it seems around the same age)?
Mine is a 340BS (1981)

I'm 100% sure my Ibanez dreadnought is pre-1978, and 75% sure it's pre-1975. I researched it before and it doesn't bear a serial number, only a yellowed label inside with 'Made in Japan' and stamped with 'Dirk Witte', the job in Amsterdam it was bought in. It's a Martin-style dreadnought with a Martin-style headstock. Unusual from what Google eBay are throwing up.

I really need to get it reconditioned and ask whether it can take alternate tunings at this age.

Edit: So it turns out the guitar is most likely No. 627/6 or No. 654/6 and I guessed right, about 1974/1975. You can research your own at this handy site.

geordief

sarkozy wrote: »

I really need to get it reconditioned and ask whether it can take alternate tunings at this age.

QUOTE]

Well I got a second guitar a month back and now use the Ibanez in open G or A (the new guitar is seemingly for standard tuning).

To my mind the open tuning has improved the sound ( tonality /feel) but I am not sure if that is in my own head or whether the guitar naturally responds to open tunings
(it is also the first time in years (almost ever) that I have the strings tensioned properly to the correct tunings since ,with the action a bit high ,I found a lower tension easier)

I had already found that vintage website by the way.(I can't find the link below again though.. it's something like www.ibanez.co.jp/anniversary3087.jpg but it won't let me back in as I mangled the address somehow on my harddrive)

sarkozy

Ahh ... yours is maple. Interesting.

I do believe that will respond especially well to lower tunings.

I bought a new guitar last week - a Tanglewood TW40 O AN E - basically a 'folk size/orchestra size' modelled on the 1930s/40s Martins. It sounds beautiful in standard tuning, and it's why I bought it, but last week I tuned it down to an open-C#m and it came alive. I play many other songs in open-D so shifting down to the minor is a case of altering one string. There's just something about how this guitar responds to that particular tuning.

Amazing, really, that guitars are, in a sense, living things like this.

geordief

I got a bit of ribbing before for mentioning this on the internet but ,if I sit on an empty wooden clothes chest, that improves the sound even further. I think it must be a bit like the way people who are deaf can hear sounds through their bodies.

sarkozy

Probably acts as a resonator somehow. I once lived in a house with a room like that - the whole flippin' floor and room below acted as a resonator. I spent a good while finding the sweet-spot.

geordief

@sarkozy

"I really need to get it reconditioned and ask whether it can take alternate tunings at this age"

Is that a common thing to get done?

I am quite fond of this guitar but I am not really sure what a luthier would do with it as it seems in tune (even up the 12th fret)

Playability is not really a problem either so all I would be hoping for would be some tweaking around the actual sound.

It is more or less the only guitar I have ever played so I am not jealous of other guitars nor would I in all likelihood be technically competent to own one of the more expensive guitars probably wasted on me

geordief