Guitar restoration - Part 16 - Adjusting the action
After putting the strings on the guitar I could see that the action was quite high at both the 1st and the 12th fret. Quite high meaning 4+ mm on both sides at the 12th fret, and ~1.2mm on both sides at the 1st fret. The "normal"/medium action based on several sources is somewhere a bit below 3.2mm (0.125 inch) on the bass side and 2.5 mm (0.095 inch) on the treble side E (see https://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/action.htm)
So I took my saw and cut about 3-4 mm from the bottom of the saddle (given that the material removed from the saddle should be twice as much you want to lower your action at the 12th fret), which was too much, given that I have quite a deep groove (5mm) for the saddle, and the saddle sides at the treble and bass E went below the bridge level. Not good. Another mistake. But learning is good. Measure twice, cut once proved to be a good motto again. Nevermind, I took another saddle, which was a bit smaller than the previous one (at least in height, it was also 3-4 mm wider, but sanded that amount of material down equally from both sides, by making sure the compensated B slot is lined up on both the old and the new), and it was almost perfect. The action was about 3.5mm at the 12th fret. That was surely lower than previously, and as I didn't want to break my last saddle, I went over to the nut.
The original nut was a black plastic nut, I bought a generic unslotted replacement bone nut, which I have radiused to match the fretboard radius, slotted based on the slots on the previous one, and trimmed to size. The action was high with this too, so I started sanding the bottom, and after 5-6 runs of sanding and checking again and again, the action at the 1st fret was down to about 0.8mm on both sides. Still higher than the recommended 0.5mm for treble and 0.75mm for bass (I can't find the source for these recommendations, but I surely saw these), but lower than it was, and easily playable. I'll probably try lowering the treble side both for the saddle and the nut, but for now I'll simply enjoy the guitar for a while, and adjust the action when mounting the preamp later on, as that will need removing the saddle (and sanding some material off to fit the piezo rod) and all the strings, which makes this operation a lot easier.
But first, I'll have to decide what preamp to use (currently the contenders are no-name preamp with microphone+piezo, fishman presys 301 blend with microphone+piezo and g-tone GT-6 with piezo only, but chorus, reverb and delay effects built-in). Given the characteristic sound unlike than any other guitar I've played, I'm really leaning towards something with a microphone, but I would like to adjust the blending ratio (or mic and piezo gain individually), and also have an XLR output. Unfortunately none of the above fulfill all my needs. An OEM Fender Presys with XLR output would work, but it being OEM, I can't really find, and I haven't found a fake for this). No images for the action, but this is it for now. It was quite a journey, and learned quite a bit.
So I took my saw and cut about 3-4 mm from the bottom of the saddle (given that the material removed from the saddle should be twice as much you want to lower your action at the 12th fret), which was too much, given that I have quite a deep groove (5mm) for the saddle, and the saddle sides at the treble and bass E went below the bridge level. Not good. Another mistake. But learning is good. Measure twice, cut once proved to be a good motto again. Nevermind, I took another saddle, which was a bit smaller than the previous one (at least in height, it was also 3-4 mm wider, but sanded that amount of material down equally from both sides, by making sure the compensated B slot is lined up on both the old and the new), and it was almost perfect. The action was about 3.5mm at the 12th fret. That was surely lower than previously, and as I didn't want to break my last saddle, I went over to the nut.
The original nut was a black plastic nut, I bought a generic unslotted replacement bone nut, which I have radiused to match the fretboard radius, slotted based on the slots on the previous one, and trimmed to size. The action was high with this too, so I started sanding the bottom, and after 5-6 runs of sanding and checking again and again, the action at the 1st fret was down to about 0.8mm on both sides. Still higher than the recommended 0.5mm for treble and 0.75mm for bass (I can't find the source for these recommendations, but I surely saw these), but lower than it was, and easily playable. I'll probably try lowering the treble side both for the saddle and the nut, but for now I'll simply enjoy the guitar for a while, and adjust the action when mounting the preamp later on, as that will need removing the saddle (and sanding some material off to fit the piezo rod) and all the strings, which makes this operation a lot easier.
But first, I'll have to decide what preamp to use (currently the contenders are no-name preamp with microphone+piezo, fishman presys 301 blend with microphone+piezo and g-tone GT-6 with piezo only, but chorus, reverb and delay effects built-in). Given the characteristic sound unlike than any other guitar I've played, I'm really leaning towards something with a microphone, but I would like to adjust the blending ratio (or mic and piezo gain individually), and also have an XLR output. Unfortunately none of the above fulfill all my needs. An OEM Fender Presys with XLR output would work, but it being OEM, I can't really find, and I haven't found a fake for this). No images for the action, but this is it for now. It was quite a journey, and learned quite a bit.
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