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Joined: August 2006 Posts: 34
Location: Chicago area | I have been tweaking my 6778LX to lower the action. I am now fearing that my decreased break angle may be reducing my tone (esp. on high E and B strings).
I am using .12s now, but plan to move to .13s next string change as I like Med-guage for fuller tone.
Since I am not sure I have any qualified techs in the area who are familiar with Ovations, I thought I should check here before I do anything else.
I am down to one thin spacer under the bridge, and I would even like lower action. I still have no buzzing, but my concern is that with even less break angle, each change will negatively impact tone.
Should I adjust the truss rod to allow me to put some more spacers in, thus increasing break angle?
thanks |
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Joined: December 2001 Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | action is a personal thing. the lower you go depends on the gauge of the strings and if you use lighter strings you get less sound from the guitar.
try taking out the last spacer. if that gets you were you need to be then OK, if not you can adjust the truss rod but remember, the lower the action the more suspectible the guitar will be to climate and humidity changes. But in Chicago you are probably aware of those. |
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Joined: August 2006 Posts: 34
Location: Chicago area | What is likely to happen to the action if I switch from Elixer Nano lights to Elixer Nano meds? Other than string guage, will there be more or less tension that would raise/lower action?
I am thinking I want to lower action a bit more (remove a thin spacer) but perhaps I should wait until I move to Med. strings.
Thoughts? |
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Joined: April 2005 Posts: 331
Location: San Angelo, Texas | Wait until you put the meds on...then try it and see. If I put meds on, I get a BAD buzz because I keep the action so low and use custom lights...maybe that's the problem, we all need more meds...and the ones that give a good buzz... |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 1421
Location: Orange County, California | Even with the mediums, try one thick, one thin shim, or 3 thin (YMMW), but keep at least two in there. Then take *most* of the relief out of the neck by adjusting the truss rod. This should lower the action, but still keep the break-angle good at the bridge. We're all quick to pull shims, but that's only half (actually 1/3 if you consider the string gauge) of the adjustments you can make. |
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Joined: May 2002 Posts: 651
Location: Australia | Get a little steel ruler and measure your action at the 12th fret. You can't really go below about 2mm treble side, 2.2mm bass side (top of fret to underside of string) without the chance of rattles and buzzes. Also make sure you have a little relief on the truss rod. A totally straight neck can also be the source of buzzing.
If you want your guitar to sound good forget about an ultra low action particularly on an acoustic guitar. |
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 Joined: September 2003 Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Tonight..for the first time ever on any guitar...I took a wrench to the truss rod adjustment of my AD-II. It developed a buzz on the first couple frets on the treble side. Just a quarter turn counter-clockwise did the trick.
The action on the AD-II is low...crazy low. Lower than the action on my Breadwinner. |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 1421
Location: Orange County, California | Good Job Brad!! :D |
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