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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 17
Location: Ontario, Canada | I just did a search on raising the action of the strings. Since I got my guitar back from "the mother ship" as someone referred to Ovation, the action was a little low and I get buzzing on the high E and B strings. Although I've been playing for about 35 years, I'm one of those guys who never tried to service the guitar myself and frankly except for changing strings, don't know a lot about the "mechanic" of the guitar. I'm going to try and put some shims in myself (yikes!) but the search has left me with a couple of questions.
1. some suggest playing cards or strips of credit card while others say stay away from those materials...any advice?
2. Not knowing exactly what to expect when I remove the saddle..does the shim I put in have to be the length of the saddle or do I just put one in to raise the 2 problem strings (probably a dumb question) |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13997
Location: Upper Left USA | Read in a post that Kim Keller - aka Customer Service - suggests milk carton (plastic jug - HDP) for shims. The originals are usually a Phenolic (from electrical boards?) and a smaller HDP shim.
Size - the best way is to remove the strings completely and cut the shim to the size of the existing one(s). Other times you can slip them in with the strings loosened.
Also a good time to change pre-amp batteries, fret oil the fret board and bridge. Use a damp towel to mop out the inside of the bowl as well. Chose your favorite strings (much more discussion) and post your pictures so we can all enjoy! |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | I find it hard to believe the Mother Ship would send out a guitar that buzzed as set by them.
I would more likely believe that due to atmosphereic conditions, humidity etc etc... the relief is just a tad lower than it ought to be as recieved by you. This is not such an unheard of thing to have happen... in fact it happens all the time.
Check the relief on the neck. |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 17
Location: Ontario, Canada | Charlie B: Sorry I mislead everyone about the "mother ship". I left a lot out of the story. When I got my guitar back it was beautiful. It looked like it had just come from the store brand new and it played wonderfully. You are right...whatever the conditions were...the action did change. So no complaints about Ovation...too much in a hurry for the info I guess.
Just went to the music store and the guy gave me a shim...no charge. Will I need more than one?
As soon as I figure out how to post a picture, I'll snap one of my balladeer and put it up. |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Well then if the "action" did change, its more than likely the neck straightened a bit and you need a bit more relief. |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | More into that.... press the low E string at the fret that is at the end of the body (14 or so on my guitar, dunno about yours). Press the same string at the first fret at the same time. Use a capo if you got short fingers 'cus the next step is to look at the space between the top of the fretwire and the string at fret 7 or 8. There ought to be just a little gap there... a good starting point is the same amount of space as your high E string is in diameter (.011 or .013... or whatever). Thats a small gap. If the gap is too small, then you'll get buzzing. If the gap is too big, the action will be sorta higher than it needs to be. You'll need to loosen the truss rod nut just a tiny bit to get more gap (relief) there. A tiny bit is like 1/4 turn or so. If you loosen it, let it work in by playing it a bit, then recheck the gap maybe even a few hours later. It sometimes takes a bit of time for the neck to fully respond to a small adjustment. It sounds to me like you'll only need a small adjustment too. |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 17
Location: Ontario, Canada | CharlieB: Thanks for the helpful info. I don't have a truss rod nut on my Ovation. It's one of those aluminium necks that were never supposed to need adjusting. I think that means I have to rely on shims. any other advice on that before I start would be appreciated. I know it's not a huge operation but I'm still nervous about it. (I think my relationship with this guitar may be too intense!)
the action on my son's guitar has become a little high. Can I adjust this with the truss rod nut (his has one) or do I have to bring it in for an adjustment (It's not an ovation...it's a Simon Patrick) |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Ah, in that case... shim it! |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 265
Location: Warrenton, Virginia | Charlie B
Sending mine back to Kim for the same kind of reasons....started out two high...removed a shim and now it's buzzing. My request to Kim is that he can get the action as low as possible without buzzing....but as I sight down the neck...I believe it has a funny bow.......he may have to reset it....don't know for sure...any way he sent me return auth.# and I'm shipping this weekend....it is my new LX standard elite....will be not happy with-out it |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 17
Location: Ontario, Canada | Slap: I know what you mean about not being happy without it. The 3 weeks mine was gone was nerve racking(spelling?). I'm going to 'shim it" tonight. Let you know how it goes.
Balladeer 1139 |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Sighting down the neck is useless unless the neck is a pretzel. The few 1/1000ths of an inch difference we need to see are not visable that way.
Just depress fret 1 and fret 13 and see how much of the fret top is under the string (to top of fretwire). You'll know instantly how the neck is curved. The double fretted string makes a stright line betwen the frets. Any deviation is pretty obvious. |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 67
Location: Los Angeles, CA | Sorry, but I have a useless observation and an equally useless question. I wanted to lower the action on my EliteT and found out that I had 4 shims under the saddle. Am I supposed to have that many? How many does everyone have? |
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June 2002
Posts: 6202
Location: Phoenix AZ | The number of shims should not matter as long as the slot in the bridge is deep enough to securely hold the saddle (if it's "up" to high it can fall over). By the way, and this is particularly good advise for the holiday season, you can cut up your credit card and make shims out of it. |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | I've been messing with the action on my elite T. 4 shims sounds too high. I have just one shim, and the action is perfect. One thing I can tell you though, is that you have to be very careful to put the bridge back and seat it in the slot correctly and firmly. If not you won't get a balanced sound on all your strings. You also may want to adjust your neck's truss rod. This is not as difficult as it sounds. Just turn the allen wrench slightly in the slot, and check the difference. A few quater turns in the right direction and you'll have that baby like velvet.
Tommy |
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Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 171
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma | I did some shimmin' last night on my 1567 and on my 1611... It's simple once you do it once.... The best thing you can do to ease your shimmin' is to make sure your stings are long enough (enough wraps on the tuners) to be able to lift the bridge out without taking the strings off... That way you can add and subtract shims without restringing all the time... As the weather changes in Oklahoma this time of year the action changes ever so slightly to create some buzz... Add a shim in the fall... Take a shim out in the spring works for me...
Gerald |
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Shims again
