I love playing and working on my acoustic guitars. I often find myself
playing my acoustic guitars more than my electric guitars. Acoustic guitars can
be extremely rewarding to play, but they can also be uncomfortable to play.
Don't stop playing your acoustic because it isn't setup properly. You can make
almost any acoustic guitar play awesome with a little repair and setup work.
Here is a list of some of the most common acoustic guitar repairs that I
see. Take a look and try these repairs yourself. If you have any questions or
don't see an article about a particular repair, email me with asuggestion. I'd love to hear from you. Until then, check out these articles
and start repairing your acoustic guitar today!
How to adjust the action on an Acoustic Guitar.
Acoustic guitar action refers to the
height of the strings above the fretboard. It is also used to describe the
general feel and playability of a guitar. Generally a guitar's string height is
measured at the 12th fret. This center measurement gives a good point of
reference to tell how high the strings actually are. Action is also measured at
the first fret. I'm sure you have heard people comment on guitars with
"high action." This just means that the strings are too high off the
fretboard. Obviously, "low action" would mean the opposite.
Now that we know what action is, why
is it important? Action is probably the most important part of any guitar
setup. Proper acoustic guitar action not only controls the comfort and
playability of the guitar, but it also helps the guitar stay in tune and
maintain intonation. Acoustic guitar action is a little different than electric
guitar action in that acoustic guitar strings need more room to vibrate. Think
about it like this. When you play an electric guitar, you don't really need to
strum that hard in order to get a loud sound--acoustic guitars do. Also,
acoustic guitar strings are much thicker than electric strings. Acoustic
guitars need a higher action than electric guitars to prevent the strings from
buzzing. Generally, the higher the action on a guitar, the more difficult and
uncomfortable the guitar is to play and the lower the action, the easier and
more comfortable the guitar is to play. Usually an action setup is a compromise
between having the strings high enough not to buzz on the frets and low enough
for comfortable playability. If you picked up an expensive guitar in a music
store and found that it was uncomfortable to play, it could be that the action
is not properly set. The feel of this guitar has nothing to do with the price
or even the quality of the guitar; it is probably just not setup correctly.
After reading all of this, you are
probably wondering how high should your action be. The truth is that it depends
on your playing style. Acoustic guitar action and volume are directly related.
That is why classical guitar players have higher action than steel string
guitar players. Before there were amplifiers, classical players had to project
their sound, so people could hear them--thus higher action was required. Lower
action allows guitarists to play faster and more comfortably without
compromising the volume. Essentially, the action on your or anyone else's
guitar is pure preference. There is no right or wrong string height, to an
extent. Most guitars come out of the factory with standard action settings that
the manufacturer deems appropriate. Some of these setting are not always the
most comfortable for individual players' styles. I will show you how to set
your action to an industry standard action setting. Beyond that, it is up to
you to fine-tune the action on your guitar to fit your personal style.
No comments:
Write comments