Hoser Rob

I assume by "play loose strings" you mean tuning the guitar down. If it plays in tune like that but not in standard tuning, the problem is not in with the placement of the frets, it's the placement of the bridge saddle. I think by strips inside the body you mean the braces. Those are there not so much for resonance but for structure. They need reinforcement because an acoustic guitar body is basically a wooden box made of 1/8" (3 mm) wood that you then apply 150 lb. or more of string tension to. Any luthier can tell you a lot of the challenge in making acoustics is making them so that they don't fall apart under all that tension, but still vibrate freely. And the braces aren't really done that much in an individual style. The patterns used are fairly standard. By height from the arm I assume you mean string height from the neck. It's usually measured from the top of the 12th fret - this is the half way point, so if you wanted to lower it by 1/64" you'd lower the bridge by 1/32". By "silly noise" I assume you mean buzzing strings. There's not really a standard for this I know of. How low you can get it depends on how straight you can get the neck, how flat the fingerboard (the tops of the frets have to be parallel), and whether you have any high or low frets. As a generalization, 1/16" at the 1st (treble e) string or less would be low action, 3/32" or more would be high action. The 6th string should usually be 1/32" higher than the 1st or your tone won't be balanced from string to string. Your playing style affects this a lot too. A fingerstyle player can use much lower action than someone who plays hard with a heavy pick. OK that's enough of a rant - sorry for the non-metric units - Canada is supposed to be metric but I find inches a lot more useful here.

You can use a preslotted nut, but the slots would be much too high. The people who make them can't know what your preferences are or the condition (or size perhaps) of your frets so they err on the side of caution. To adjust them you'd need a set of nut files ($85US or more) and setting the proper height is tricky. Removing a nut is easy but it's the only really easy part of it. Take the thing to someone in a shop who actually knows what they're doing. It isn't THAT expensive.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with going to X-lights especially if, as mentioned, your fingers are still developing. I don't know too many guitar teachers who'd recommend that for no good reason. It is usually true that the heaviest strings recommended for the box will give the best sound, but not necessarily. My Seagull has a cedar top and cedar guitars don't usually prefer heavy strings. I recently put a set of d'Addario PB XLs on it and, lo and behold, it seems to respond better. It actually sounds better - it has a quick decay followed by a nice overtone sustain, like a classical almost. It really works for the medium tempo swing/R&B etc. rhythms I like. I usually play with the skin of my fingers and I have to tune mediums down a whole step to get the right response. That can happen with spruce guitars too, and I'm talking some expensive ones too. Most guitars that like heavier strings wouldn't work for me. Don't get caught up in this "no wussy little strings for me" macho BS. N.B. do NOT put mediums on your guitar unless they are designed for them. Damage may result. This used to be a function of the price of the guitar but, with modern pickups, not any more.

Explanations? You think using the truss rod is an appropriate way to lower 3/8" action? On what planet? I KNOW that if the neck is upbowed it'll affect the action. I assumed that would be obvious and self-explanatory. I was trying to be polite. Frankly, if someone thinks you can lower a high action by cranking the rod, they're an idiot and I wouldn't let them change my strings.

See http://www.lmii.com I think they have an epoxy with oils/resins a part of the glue itself. It's designed just for such woods.

That's a neck angle problem for sure IMO. Low humidity'll cause higher action by flattening the top too much, but that couldn't be it - the top would be obviously concave and cracked to hell. High humidity (esp. combined with strings too heavy for the git) is a more likely answer. It'll change the neck angle more. I think we're talking resets if the action is 3/8" - that's ridiculously high. That's a very skilled and expensive repair unless they have bolt on necks. What kind of guitars these are wasn't mentioned but unless they have serious monetary or sentimental value I'd suggest the owners take up slide. Oh, BTW, you never, never, NEVER use the truss rod to adjust action! I think you need to read some more books.

On the AG forum several pros who've been in the making/repair business for 3 decades or more said it's the biggest piece of junk they've ever seen. Get a used DECENT guitar.

Before you drill your headstock you should realize that the sound of your guitar will change if you put heavier tuners on - the resonance of the neck changes. You'll get more sustain if you increase the mass at the headstock but you'll also get less "wood" and warmth in the sound. This was my experience with a Strat where I went from stock Gotoh sealed tuners (heavier than yours, which sound like Kluson style) to Sperzels. They're great tuners, but the change in sound was not an improvement to my ears. You may reasonably disagree here - tone is subjective - and if you tried it and didn't like it you can get adapter bushings nowadays to put the old ones in the drilled holes. I've actually known a few players who replaced Klusons with sealed ones and ended up doweling the holes and redrilling to put the old ones back. P.S. If you're strictly into death metal, feel free to disregard this - it doesn't really apply to totally mondo distorto stuff.

Or Simon & Patrick, which are almost exactly like Seagulls (which is what I use) with a slightly narrower nut. All the others mentioned here with the exception of Yamaha remind me of plasticized wood.

Does anyone know whether Seagull bridge pins are 3 or 5 degrees? I want to slot my bridge and use non-grooved pins.

Sorry - I meant the 'you' I was using to refer to the person who originally started the thread. Sloppy of me. To return to the original topic, if you're looking at the $1K or less range, whether or not it is all solid wood wouldn't be my first concern. Are you familiar with Torres' experiment, where he built one with a papier mache body? It produced a very good sounding guitar. Guitars vibrate in 2 dimensions. The body wood contributes overtones but the effect is minor compared to the body size, top, and craftsmanship. At that price range, I'm going to be looking at the latter.

That's true about the size. Have you ever seen those mariachi bands, like in movies (the only way you're going to see them up here)? The basses they play are so big they look like you've strapped on a cello. Unfortunately, that's the only way you're going to get a 40Hz fundamental on an instrument that you can hear in an ensemble setting. I think that's why those basses largely disappeared - you still have to plug them in. They still sound good though.

I love Seagulls (that's what I play), but I believe you said all solid wood. Their Artist series have solid backs & laminated sides, which is probably good enough. The others have laminated backs & sides. They're pretty much the kings of bang for buck, though. If you must have all solid woods, I'd look at Garrison.

I guess "action gap" sounds like neck relief. I'm not positive it is, and if not you shouldn't be looking at straightening the neck to lower the action. If in doubt, see www.frets.com (Frank Ford's site). It's the best info source you can get, and explains all this very well.

I don't know what price range you're looking at, but at the more moderate end of the range I'd be looking at a Seagull or Art & Lutherie if you want a smaller bodied guitar. They both sell boxes about classical size and one even smaller for about $400 or less and they're the best deal in acoustic guitars. You may have to search a bit more for them since they don't advertise as much and a lot of dealers don't want to sell anything with a limited lifetime warranty. If I'd known you were female I would have suggested a smaller guitar before. I don't know your height but most flattops are dreadnought size, and are sized for men. My S6 is a small dread size and it works for me (I need a 35"-36" sleeve) but I've seen too many 5'1" women playing a guitar they can barely wrap their arms around. I grew up in a musical family and was always told that cheap instruments were a waste of money, and that is SO true (though cheap guitars are a lot better than they used to be). If you don't feel comfortable holding it and pressing the strings down (though that may be somewhat difficult anyway for a beginner), and if it doesn't sound reasonably good to you, than one of two things will happen. Either you'll get a better one soon or you won't play it. Either way, it'll end up gathering dust, and crappy guitars are pretty hard to sell.

Maybe you should look up www.frets.com to get some idea of what you're looking at. I would suggest you try to match the neck to your hand. My Seagull has a pretty wide neck, but the palms of my hands are big, so I don't like too small necks. Seagull (or Art & Lutherie or Simon & Patrick, made by the same company and with narrower necks) are the best deals in acoustics I've ever seen. Try to get one with the truest fingerboard as possible. Put your nose by the bottom strap pin and sight down the neck, under a good light source, and move the neck up and down so the reflection on the frets changes. This is a good way to see if there's any twist in the neck. If so, move on - this isn't feasible to fix unless it's a REALLY expensive ax. The guitar will never feel right or sound clean with a neck twist because it'll be out of tune and you won't get clean chords. Having frets that aren't totally ground flat helps a lot too. You can't get good intonation without crowns on the frets. My S6 does all this for $400 CDN w/case. Expect no less for the price (probably less in the US). You might want to take a good 6" ruler along when shopping, to measure the action at the 12th fret if you don't quite know what you want. I don't think the 1st string should be higher than 3/32" (mine is 1/16"), or the 6th higher than 1/8" (mine is 3/32"). Also, hold the 6th string down at both the 1st fret and the body fret to check relief, ie. the neck gap at the 8th fret or so. It probably shouldn't be any more than the diameter of the 1st or 2nd string. This is somewhat individual to the instrument, though. Some stores (one near here, but not where I bought mine) include setup in the price, though they won't discount as much. This may be your best choice.

I think the reason lowering the slot may necessitate a reset is because it'd give you less room to lower the action later. This, I think, is why necks usually need a reset - there's less than 1/8" or so exposed above the bridge. You'd have to measure the action to be sure you'd need to lower it anyway. I have a Seagull and the action measures at 1/16" at the 12th fret. I think any lower on mine would be too low. I've heard stories about Seagulls having high action, but when I bought my S6 I tried 3 of them and they were all similar. One I thought was too low. It didn't buzz but it seemed dead - like the strings were being damped at the low frets.

The reason I suggested a luthier was because sanding down the saddle is the normal way to solve this problem. Neck resetting is probably the last thing needed. Routing the saddle slot is not only unnecessary, it will make the pickup sound worse if not done exactly right, and may necessitate a neck reset in the future. If you don't know what you're doing to a delicate instrument, find someone who does. And read www.frets.com (and Dan Erlewine's repair book) too.

If you don't know what you need, why don't you take along someone who knows more about guitars? I like small guitar shops, but it's good to go to a place that's big enough to have more than one of what you're looking for in stock (sample variability and all). If they don't let you try them all out (try not to go on their busiest day), leave and don't go back.

Please don't mess with the truss rod yourself if you don't know what you're doing. It's probably not broken or the neck'd resemble a ski jump. If you tap the back of the neck you should be able to tell if it's the tuning keys or not. The rod may be too loose and rattling, which may be solved by switching to higher tension strings. However, this sounds like a job for a repair shop. Truss rods can be fussy and overdoing it with the wrench is a good way to ruin them. If you want a good source of info, www.frets.com is the best I've seen. www.fretnotguitarrepair.com has a really good article on truss rods. Hope this gives you some idea of what you're dealing with.

I don't know if I'd mess around with it myself. A neck reset would be pretty drastic. I'd probably develop a relationship with the best guitar repair shop you can find. Lowering the saddle height is pretty straightforward, but an undersaddle pickup requires a very accurate fit to the saddle, making it precision work. And please, please check out FRETS.COM. It's the best information source out there.