# Suddenly High Action



## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Hey all, I have Taylor Big Baby, which is my sitting messing round guitar. The action suddenly feels high. I haven't played it in a while and it's only stored in a gig bag with a sound hole humidifier. Any ideas for solutions? I don't want to take it in somewhere and I'm not averse to tweaking it myself.

THanks Guys! (and girls)

Lisa


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## Wilfridddd (Jun 25, 2009)

Being a Taylor, I wouldn't expect that anything has changed structurally, like the neck joint, but I would check the relief to see if the neck has bowed a bit while in storage.... especially if the last time you used it was a while ago, before winter.


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## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

Hi Lisa....Its hard to make an accurate estimate of whats happening without seeing it...From what you are saying it would be my guess that you are over humidifing the guitar...If the humidity in your house is 40-55 (approx range) you should not have to humidify.Be aware of your humidity conditions and adjust accordingly...Hope this helps...Larry


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

If indeed the neck has bowed a bit, a 1/4 turn of the truss rod will fix it.


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

mrmatt1972 said:


> If indeed the neck has bowed a bit, a 1/4 turn of the truss rod will fix it.


+1 on that.

Winters are dry. Fretboards dry out more than backs of necks do, causing a bit of bowing. Hold a string down at the first fret and around the 14th. If there's much of a gap between the string and the frets in between then give the truss rod a turn to the right.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

its also possible that with the soundhole humidifier, its over humidified- this would cause a bulge in its belly, raising the angle from the saddle to the nut-
normally, in winter our acoustics dry up a bit- so the top flattens- this produces lower than normal action- the danger is then that itll buckle at the soundhole, creating a dish- and/ or of course, crack the top.
in summer, with higher humidity, the problem is the area around the bridge- the belly, will swell up, bulge a bit- this raises the top at the bridge area- taking the strings with it- so normally, over humidification produces higher action.
id leave the guitar out- ensure roughly 40% relative humidity, for a week or two- and see if it improves.
you could also lay a straightedge, across the top- see if there is a hump at the belly area- it wont be hard to notice-
good luck lisa!


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## Sundog Kid (Jan 24, 2010)

Another good way to test action and relief, is like Kat said, and take a quarter, put it between the low E string around the middle of the fret board. Is the gap much bigger than the thickness of the quarter?

Your action shouldnt be much higher than that thickness, from fret crown to bottom of string.

If it is, let a professional look at it.

I find with the setup work I do, alot of players dont realize how bad their neck has been, but concentrate more on the action. 

I also have a nephew who complained about higher action, but hadnt played in months. Guitar was exactly as I had set it, but he had been playing on a friends electric and forgot how 'thick' acoustics felt.

Hope I helped in some small way.


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## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

Probably the recent cold dry weather. I just bought a bass from a humidified store and after a few days at home it needs a little relief taken out of the neck. When spring arrives it'll need another tweak back.


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## Alain Moisan (Jan 16, 2010)

Hi Lisa,

It could be many things, most of them were mentioned above (too much humidity, to much neck relief). It's hard to say without having the guitar in front of me.

If you can read french, I wrote an article on what to look for when verifying if a guitar needs a tune-up. Here's the link;

http://www.guitaresmoisan.com/articles/07-2009.html

If you follow what's indicated, there is a good chance you'll understand what's wrong about your guiitar.

When was the last time you played this guitar before you left it in it's gig bag for a while? And when was the last time you had it setp up by a guitar tech/luthier?


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

check out this vid...and others...it's a fairly quick/easy adjustment...

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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Thanks Guys, I think maybe it's likely to be a bit over humidified. I have a humidiier on in the large room in the basement and I have a soundhole hunmidifier. So very likely that may be it. I shall remove the one from the case. It's been a couple months since I've taken out the baby as I've been playing my GS more. The action on the Big is noticibly high.

Thanks for all the advice! You guys (and gals) Rock!


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## gtract (Jan 18, 2008)

I used to work at a Taylor dealer and I've run across this problem a few times. The neck is secured to the body by two screws,and they sometimes need to be tightened. I've dowelled and redrilled the mounting holes on several, which works great. Nice little guitar, but I wish they'd change that joint. Good luck.
Dave.


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## Duster (Dec 28, 2007)

I was going to start a new thread, but it looks like there's some knowledgeable people here already discussing a similar topic, so I'll hijack this one a bit.

I've got three guitars. A Hagstrom Swede (electric), a G&L Legacy (electric), and a Simon & Patrick SP6 (acoustic). All the guitars are in the same room of the house, which is admittedly drafty (cold in winter and too hot in summer).

The SP6 sits in its case most of the time with a soundhole humidifier. Sometimes there's water in it, sometimes there isn't. The action on it doesn't change much (I had a setup done on it a couple of years ago, and the guitar was about 8 years old at the time). The G&L is brand new (about 9 months old). This is its first winter, and I play it regularly, as it's my number one guitar. It comes out of the house with me once a week, so somewhat exposed to the cold outside, but most of the time it sits on a stand, no humidifier. The action has been stable, what I would consider to be low action, very comfortable to play. 

My problem is with the Hagstrom Swede. This guitar is two years old now. When I bought it, the shop did a setup. It played well, with a nice action. I keep it out, most of the time, on a Hercules stand, no humidification. Last winter, around this time of year (its first winter, after 8-10 months of playing), the action went "suddenly high". I tried to tinker with it by screwing down the bridge a bit, but then I got fret buzzing, and generally made a mess of it. So I took it to the shop, and they did a setup. It played well after that. Now, the guitar is into its second winter. It was playing well up until a few weeks ago. One day I picked it up and thought "Hm, the action seems high...". I thought I was imagining it, maybe comparing it too much to the slick low action of the G&L, etc. But after taking some measurements, I'm convinced it's gone "suddenly high" again. 

First question: what could be causing this? I've taken to keeping it in its case now with a puck-style humidifier in the case. Also I keep it in a warmer room in the house. Don't know if that's going to make a difference. But the other guitars are fine, and I treat the G&L exactly the same way. Is it a matter of better materials or construction on the G&L? It cost twice as much, so I wouldn't be surprised...

Second question: what do I do about it? I don't want to have to bring this guitar in for a setup every winter (is that normal?) Do I screw down the bridge, or adjust the truss rod? The Hagstrom has this H-Expander truss rod that's supposed to be straighter, or better, or whatever, than traditional truss rods. If neck bowing is causing my problem, then the H-Expander rod may not be such a big improvement.

There's likely several things that can be causing this, I understand. But I'm open to theories, and I'll follow up any suggestions by measuring, etc. Also, if anyone has a good online resource that can walk me through the steps of diagnosing and fixing the problem, that would also be helpful.

Although the G&L is a superior guitar in most respects, I have a lot of love for this Hagstrom, as it sounds so fantastic. I'd like to hold onto it and play it more, but I need to get the action to be at least stable in order to keep enjoying it.

--- D


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## Alain Moisan (Jan 16, 2010)

Duster said:


> I was going to start a new thread, but it looks like there's some knowledgeable people here already discussing a similar topic, so I'll hijack this one a bit.
> 
> I've got three guitars. A Hagstrom Swede (electric), a G&L Legacy (electric), and a Simon & Patrick SP6 (acoustic). All the guitars are in the same room of the house, which is admittedly drafty (cold in winter and too hot in summer).
> 
> ...


Just based on the info you've given, I would guess the combination neck/fretboard is more sensible to humidity changes than your other two guitars. It's probably just a question of adjusting the trussrod.

Check out this thread, I show a picture explaining how to verify if the trussrod is in need of an adjustment.

http://www.guitarscanada.com/showthread.php?31200-Truss-Rod-Adjustment

Let us know!


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## Duster (Dec 28, 2007)

Thanks for the advice, guys. It doesn't seem to be the truss rod. I held the string at the first fret and 12th, and measured at the five, could just slide a card under there. Tried holding at the 22nd fret as well and measuring around the 10th-12th, doesn't seem too tight or overly large.

Can I then assume it's not the truss rod, and move on to adjusting the action another way? I'm going to loosen the string tension, and then screw the bridge down half a turn and see what happens. I fear I'm going to bugger it up and have to bring it back to the shop for another setup... 

--- D


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## Alain Moisan (Jan 16, 2010)

Well if it's not the neck that has too much relief, then I guess it's the body that got thicker with humidity (thus the higher action).

Go ahead and bring down the bridge until you get the proper action, all should be fine (that's what a guitar tech would do anyway!). Don't base it on counting turns though, that's not the point. Lower the bridge until you get the action you are used to have, both on the high and low strings. Once you will have it, the intonation should be back on track.

Hope this helps!


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## Duster (Dec 28, 2007)

Thanks for the help guys. I've tinkered with this stuff before, without bothering to look for advice first (I often overestimate my mechanical abilities). The guidance helps.

The Hagstroms have a reputation for maintaining neck straightness even in difficult conditions. I figured that was just marketing hype, but it seems to be true in my case at least... but something on the guitar has definitely changed to raise the action.

I loosened the strings and turned the bridge screws half a turn (I count the turns just so I can keep track of how much adjustment I've made), and the action has already come to within what I would consider a playable range. And without any fret buzz, as well. I think I can probably turn it down a bit lower. I'll give it a couple of days just to see if it remains where it is now, and then I'll try to turn it down a bit more and see if I can get it to where I would like it without any problems.

Do I need to loosen the strings every time I make an adjustment to the bridge? What's the purpose of loosening the strings, and what happens if I raise or lower the bridge without loosening string tension?

--- D


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## Alain Moisan (Jan 16, 2010)

Duster said:


> Do I need to loosen the strings every time I make an adjustment to the bridge? What's the purpose of loosening the strings, and what happens if I raise or lower the bridge without loosening string tension?--- D


It's just easier to move the bridge up or down when the strings are loosen. And it's easier on the bridge screws also...


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