Lowering the action

I want to lower the action of my guitar but i cant do it myself. Or can i? Will it cost much to take it to a Guitar Center and get it lowered?

It depends why it's high, and how confident you are. You should be able to lower your bridge height to take the action down. You could also file the slots in the nut deeper if you need to. The bridge adjust can be reversed, but the nut slots are more dangerous.

Not sure what it would cost to have it done by a pro - you'd have to ask...

unless you have been trained how to adjust your guitar I think that I would take it to someone tht knows what they are doing. The last time I had my guitar adjusted the guy didn't charge me anything. but I think it generally costs between $5 and $15.

I'd say do it yourself if its an electric because its easy and near impossible to screw up,if you have a fender type guitar use the tiny allan wrenches to lower each string separately. if you have a guitar with a tune-o-matic bridge (les pauls have them most commonly) adjust the action by lowering each of the two big bolts on each side of the bridge, it depends on the modal but it should either be two screws or thumb adjusters in which you would simply turn with you hands,however these kind will require you to first loosen you strings because the pressure the strings have on the bridge will make it very difficult to adjust.

I always say a guitarist should do as much maintenance as he/she can with thier guitars and not just to save money but you will even get satisfaction out of making you guitar play better. It's good to get to know your instrument, and hey theres tons of people on this site to help you along the way.

Originally Posted by: force_of_shredI always say a guitarist should do as much maintenance as he/she can with thier guitars and not just to save money but you will even get satisfaction out of making you guitar play better. It's good to get to know your instrument, and hey theres tons of people on this site to help you along the way.

I think that too... only that I'm too chicken to do it... I'm afraid of messing my babies up...

Adjusting the action is definitely a diy job that's not too hard. This site might be useful for not only the action, but other factors in the set-up that might effect the action as well.

Yeah for example truss rods take a little more care. But even then anybody can be taught how to adjust them without running a risk of over doing it. and as far as i know thats the only truly breakable part of a guitar. within reason of course.

after that you'd have to be some nightmare of a clutz to permanently mess up your guitar. ;)

as for me I'm so cheap that the thought of getting anything done to my guitar professionally never came up until I bought EMG pickups for my Axe and even now. I know that next time I get new pickups for a new guitar I'm doing it myself because I can simply look at one of my guitars and use it as a reference. (one has passives and one has EMG's)
It's just a better feeling knowing your not gonna get ripped off.

I learned my lesson by paying a sick total of $350 Canadian plus my old beginner electric trade in and my passive emg's that were being replaced. All this just for 2 active EMG's, never again will I be raped like that.
another thing never trade in just sell your stuff yourself you will get at least double what the store will offer.

Originally Posted by: force_of_shredYeah for example truss rods take a little more care. But even then anybody can be taught how to adjust them without running a risk of over doing it. and as far as i know thats the only truly breakable part of a guitar. within reason of course.

after that you'd have to be some nightmare of a clutz to permanently mess up your guitar. ;)

as for me I'm so cheap that the thought of getting anything done to my guitar professionally never came up until I bought EMG pickups for my Axe and even now. I know that next time I get new pickups for a new guitar I'm doing it myself because I can simply look at one of my guitars and use it as a reference. (one has passives and one has EMG's)
It's just a better feeling knowing your not gonna get ripped off.

I learned my lesson by paying a sick total of $350 Canadian plus my old beginner electric trade in and my passive emg's that were being replaced. All this just for 2 active EMG's, never again will I be raped like that.
another thing never trade in just sell your stuff yourself you will get at least double what the store will offer.

what ? no kiss when ya got screwed?

chances are that when you adjust the action , you will need to adjust the intonation as well