question for players/builders about action hight

**tommywho5150** · 12.24.06, 03:10 AM

i recently built my own guitar and have a small but slightly annoying problem.
the action is really low at the nut but really high over the 12th fret i have lowered it as much as i can without it fretting out and i have taken as much "bow" out of the neck via the trussrod as i can but its still a little high, so my question is this do i need to shim the neck or do i need to shim the nut??

kind thanks and merry christmas

tom

AT · 12.24.06, 03:21 AM

Originally Posted by tommywho5150

i recently built my own guitar and have a small but slightly annoying problem.
the action is really low at the nut but really high over the 12th fret i have lowered it as much as i can without it fretting out and i have taken as much "bow" out of the neck via the trussrod as i can but its still a little high, so my question is this do i need to shim the neck or do i need to shim the nut??

kind thanks and merry christmas

tom

What kind of bridge system do you have on the guitar?

**tommywho5150** · 12.24.06, 04:53 AM

i went with a standard fender item (6 saddle) from a strat

AT · 12.24.06, 05:07 AM

Originally Posted by tommywho5150

i went with a standard fender item (6 saddle) from a strat

I'm not sure how much flexibility you have with the Strat bridge, but if you can lower it at all and it still sits even with the body then you can probably shim the nut and balance things out. You can also lower the saddles of the bridge once the nut has been shimmed.

It's probably best to not count on the truss rod for action adjustment outside of very slight tweaking. Once the string gauge is set, you want the neck to bow up just slightly; work with your bridge from there.

**guitar08man** · 12.24.06, 08:15 AM

shim the neck.

Take a small piece of paper, something like a card or a thin guitar pick, and stick it in the neck pocket near the back of the pocket. Experiment with different sizes untill you get the action that you want.

**tommywho5150** · 12.24.06, 10:18 AM

i have used a 1.4mm guitar pick at the back of the neck pocket and it has totaly trans formed the guitar, the action is really low without any buzzes now plu it intonated much easier this time around

many thanks for everyones help

merry christmas and happy new year to you all

tom