Acoust Action

Ok so i have a fender acoustic not sure which model tho i got it second hand from a friend, and it had .12 strings [no wonder i couldnt do barre chords properly]

anyway i had the action taken down and put a fresh set of .10 fender strings. Now it rattles.

So do i take the action up a bit, and which way do i screw the truss rod which is at the end of the neck [where the neck pick would be on an electric]

?

help :confused:

The truss rod is not what you set the action with - at least not just the truss rod. The truss rod adjusts the amount of curvature (bow) in the neck due to string tension. Action is also affected by the string height at the nut and at the bridge. The nut and bridge of an acoustic are adjusted by cutting the notches and/or shaving the overall height of the nut and saddle. This gets tricky, which is why you should get it set up by a professional tech.

mm ok i get what ur saying about the bow, so my technicality sux.

Anyway i dont think i need to get my guitar shaved. with the .10 strings it rattles i twiddled slightly with the bow, and its sounding a bit better.........

but the strings have this bright sound it used to be so deep the sound of the guitar, just too hard to play after like an hr, or 30 mins doing barre chords.

If i tilt the bow so [does that affect strings tension?] - do i re -string with like .11's or .12's

i did have it done at a professional, but at home i could hear the rattle a lot more than in the shop, so i wanna know what i can do to get that deep sound but without having to kill my fingers......i just want the strings to be closer to the fret board, but with that deep sound.

:)

Originally posted by concrete chaos
Ok so i have a fender acoustic not sure which model tho i got it second hand from a friend, and it had .12 strings [no wonder i couldnt do barre chords properly]

anyway i had the action taken down and put a fresh set of .10 fender strings. Now it rattles.

So do i take the action up a bit, and which way do i screw the truss rod which is at the end of the neck [where the neck pick would be on an electric]

?

Ummm... not sure if you realize this, but some people put 12's on their electrics! I've got 10's on my electric right now, and 13's on my acoustic.

The lower string gauge will throw off your intonation, which is [u]much[/u] harder/impossible to adjust on an acoustic!

Originally posted by concrete chaos
... but the strings have this bright sound it used to be so deep the sound of the guitar, just too hard to play after like an hr, or 30 mins doing barre chords. ...

If you look at the package of a set of acoustic guitar strings that have a .012" high E string, I'm pretty sure that they will be called 'light', or even 'extra light'.

If you have trouble playing barre chords on a decent acoustic guitar that has a set of .012" strings on it, you need stronger fingers. The guitar doesn't need to change - you do. Get one of those spring-loaded grip exercisers, or spend some time each day mashing a wad of plasticene in your fretting hand.

plasticine i have....

and thanks for the help.

It's always fun playing a lot with a bass or acoustic and then going back to the little strings.