How do you lower the action on a guitar?

Question

Anyone know? Thanks!!

Answer 1

Take it to a qualified guitar repair person and let them do it.

Adjusting the truss rod inside the neck is one way; sometimes it may also be necessary to cut the slots in the saddle or the nut a bit deeper so the strings sit a bit lower.  But if you don't know what you're doing, doing any of those adjustments yourself could potentially mess up your guitar.

Let a pro do it.

Answer 2

Most guitars have individual adjustments on the bridge to lower the string heights for each individual string, and to move the saddle back and forth to adjust intonation.

The ONLY reason to mess with the truss rod is if your neck is warped. If your neck is straight, Don't mess with it!

Just try to lower your bridge saddles and tune the strings. when the strings are tuned, make sure you can play each fret on each string all the way up without buzzing.

You won't mess up your guitar by doing that. If your action is still too high after you lower them or your stings buzz even with high action, then you should take it in to be looked at.

If you have a Fender or Fender copy, you can get instructions online from Fender.com on guitar setup. Just download the instruction manual for a Strat.

the manual gives you the technique to set intonation, which adapted to whatever type of guitar you have is still basically valid. Same with the String height adjustments.

Or you can do what the other guys said and pay money at a guitar shop.

It is best to learn how to do it yourself, however.  If the guy at the guitar shop is cool, he might explain to you how he does it.

But do look at the fender instructions and it will let you know more about what you may need to do.

Good Luck

Answer 3

Hi GuitarM

You can lower the bridge to the max. Once it stars buzzing, then , raise each side of the bridge 1/2 a turn at a time. Once the sound is clear, you have reached the lowest action. The other way is to file down the frets,m and there, you need a Luthier. This is a delicate job and you can ruin your neck if you don't know what you are doing.

Another point, sometimes the neck is too bowed and you need to tighten the truss rod 1/4 turn at a time clockwise, if the strings are distant too far from the fingerboard. If the bow is in the oposite direction, you need to loosen counter-clockwise, 1/4 turn at a time.

Answer 4

It's not that hard and I could tell you, but if you DO IT WRONG... then you can ruin the guitar... just take it to a Lutier and pay the $30 or so to get it done professionally and you will still have a guitar to play, too.

Answer 5

The best way to lower the action on your guitar is to take it to a music store and have a professional do it!  Sure, I could tell you how to do it yourself, but you would have to buy a whole new guitar if you ended up doing it wrong.  So take my advice: save the risky things for the professionals.