evenkeel
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My Martin D12-1 has been in need of a bit of an adjustment. A while ago I lowered the action at the nut, but the guitar needed a bit more attention. Action at the 12th fret was a bit high and the neck was dead flat. All in all she has been a bit of a wrestling match. Yesterday I finally got around to taking some action.
Here is the action at the 12th fret pre set up.
I decided the first order of business was to remove the strings and take all the pressure of the truss rod.. Since the strings were in good shape I placed a capo on the 5th fret and captured the strings over the sound hole with a strip of velcro. This keeps the strings from becoming a tangle. see pics.
Then I adjusted the truss rod until the neck was flat, checking with a straight edge. Note how the straight edge hits the bridge. Ideally it should rest on top of the bridge, but this is not enough to warrant further action.
Next I removed the saddle. I wanted to lower the action about 1/32". I marked the saddle with a line 1/16" from the bottom, then coloured the bottom of the saddle with a sharpie. This helps me keep an even pressure as I sand it on a flat surface.
After removing the material with heavy grit paper, 220 grit, I then sanded the bottom and sides with 400 grit to get a smooth surface.
Back in she went.
Note she is a bit proud on the treble side. After stringing her up, I determined the saddle could go down a very small amount on the trebel side, but I had to keep the bass as is. Took the strings off again, and carefully removed a bit more material, again using the sharpie method to keep me from over sanding.
Here is the action at the 12th fret post set up.
Here is the bridge saddle. Note the break angle of the 11 and 12 strings. #11, the low "E" is pretty shallow. It's ok, pressure on the saddle is fine but that is as low as I can go.
After stringing her up to tension I then adjusted the truss rod to put just a bit of relief in the neck.
So between the nut job done several months ago and this work she plays a lot better.
Here is the action at the 12th fret pre set up.
I decided the first order of business was to remove the strings and take all the pressure of the truss rod.. Since the strings were in good shape I placed a capo on the 5th fret and captured the strings over the sound hole with a strip of velcro. This keeps the strings from becoming a tangle. see pics.
Then I adjusted the truss rod until the neck was flat, checking with a straight edge. Note how the straight edge hits the bridge. Ideally it should rest on top of the bridge, but this is not enough to warrant further action.
Next I removed the saddle. I wanted to lower the action about 1/32". I marked the saddle with a line 1/16" from the bottom, then coloured the bottom of the saddle with a sharpie. This helps me keep an even pressure as I sand it on a flat surface.
After removing the material with heavy grit paper, 220 grit, I then sanded the bottom and sides with 400 grit to get a smooth surface.
Back in she went.
Note she is a bit proud on the treble side. After stringing her up, I determined the saddle could go down a very small amount on the trebel side, but I had to keep the bass as is. Took the strings off again, and carefully removed a bit more material, again using the sharpie method to keep me from over sanding.
Here is the action at the 12th fret post set up.
Here is the bridge saddle. Note the break angle of the 11 and 12 strings. #11, the low "E" is pretty shallow. It's ok, pressure on the saddle is fine but that is as low as I can go.
After stringing her up to tension I then adjusted the truss rod to put just a bit of relief in the neck.
So between the nut job done several months ago and this work she plays a lot better.
