Re: Why is my action so high?
Originally Posted by
John Kelly
The truss rod does not directly affect the string height, but rather sets the neck relief ...
True, but looking at the side views of the neck, I suspect that there's more relief than necessary (especially as some consider that NO relief is okay on a mandolin). And that indirectly affects string height.
- From fret 1 to 5, the string clearance over frets rises quickly.
- From fret 8 to 12, clearance increases barely at all.
- Past fret 15, the fretboard appears to drop away, a not-uncommon trait of economy instruments (at least MY economy instruments!).
OP: You may gauge relief yourself by fretting at 1 & 12, and observe the clearance over frets 5-6. More than a business card thickness is way too much, piece of notepad paper is good, straight seems most unlikely.
Considering that a trussrod tightening costs little in time & effort, is totally reversible, and could have a major effect, that would be my first step.
Check Frets.com for how to tighten a truss rod (and to do most other maintanence tasks):
http://frets.com/FretsPages/Musician...Adj/tradj.html
A few personal hints:
- Mark the nut so you'll know where it was before you started.
- Loosen strings before tightening the trussrod nut; it isn't designed to do THAT much work!
- Loosen the nut before you tighten it; the nut MAY be bottomed out on the screw threads -or the threads may be gunked up with glue or finish- and you'll only know that if you have room to feel the difference.
- Only tighten 1/8 turn at a time - it may have a fairly large effect.
Good luck!
Last edited by EdHanrahan; Aug-17-2021 at 11:37am.
- Ed
"Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
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