Dreadnought Action

Tannin · June 2023

Buy a set of feeler gauges at a car parts shop. That will set you back about the price of a set of strings and they are handy things to have in your repair kit. Capo on the 1st fret, sit the guitar in playing position (not flat on a table) and depress the string at the 12th or 14th fret. Now measure the relief at the 7th fret. (Use the same frets every time for repeatability.)

The neck relief gap should be very small, just barely detectable by eye, so chances are that you could tweak the truss rod a little to adjust it and that alone will be all you need to do to get that slightly-too-high action down to more like 2.6 or 2.7mm, which should still sound fine and make it noticeably nicer to play.

When you adjust the rod, just do a little bit at a time. An eighth to a quarter of a turn is plenty. Then give it time to settle. Do a bit more then next day if needed. Keep track of how much you turn it so that, if you want to, you can return it to the original position.

thomasross20 · June 2023

Good advice, and I'm giving it time to settle.. but the nut defo feels a hair too high. I think that needs addressed at the least. It's not terrible but I'm pernickety about getting it just right.

mgaw · June 2023

thomasross20 said:

Haha yeah.
Tbh (and I think was joking?) I've got five really good and different Larrivee's for less than the price of one of these high end ones, and I think the gains are marginal past a certain point (I know, I've tried a bazillion of them). Still.. it's got a bit crazy of late.

Time for a picture @thomasross20 ;

thomasross20 · June 2023

Going to need a fish eye lens : D

Mellish · June 2023

It depends. As has been said, there is no one-action-suits-all.

Take the bluegrass player. He has to compete with banjos, so his action is likely to be set a bit higher.

thomasross20 · June 2023

Very true, and I look forward to seeing your banjo oo-er lol

Mellish · June 2023

^ you know me and posting images. I couldn't get it right if I *got* it right!

But never say never. Meantime, it's an Ome North Star. Ome is a small manufacturer in Boulder, Colorado.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Dreadnought Action

Comments