Acoustic guitar problem!

K.Hammett

Hey, I recently bought a second-hand acoustic. The strings were old and worn so I got a new set and put them on. Heres the problem. The strings, from where the nut is, all the way up to the bridge are steadily moving further away from the fret board.

I thought this might be because the strings i put on were medium gauge and the originals were light so i got the lightest strings i could find and put them on. Still the same problem.

Anyone know what the problem could be?

Thanks

Demeyes

Your guitar needs a setup. You can check if there is some adjustment needed on the neck with the truss rod. Check up on it first though, there are some good youtube vids and tutorials online on how to do it properly.
You might also needs to have new bridge cut for your preferred string gauge, you'd need a tech to really do a good job on that. Both of those things should help, there's not much more you can d on an acoustic to lower the action.

DT100

Where did you buy K...was it in a shop or private..The truss rod is not something to mess about with if you are new to guitars...Probably the bridge bone needs reducing...and possibly some work on the nut to lower the strings there.It is one of the most important things when buying guitar,to sit with it and play a while,check that the action is right for you.Also look down the fretboard towards the nut to see if it is any way warped.let us know how you get on with it.

furerer

if the strings are "moving" further away from the fretboard, it's not the strings that are moving but the neck itself. Check the straightness of the neck with a true straight object, although some acoustics are not straight but slightly bowed, you will get an idea of how much it is bowing. Better still, put up a pic of you checking the neck (on the fret side) and let us see how much, if any, it is bowed by. You say you purchased s.h. so the previous owner might have known there was a prob. The only course of action you can take is the adjustment of the truss rod, which if you have not done before, might be worth taking to a knowledgeable person.

It is a good warning to anyone buying a s.h. guitar that if you know very little about guitars do not buy s.h. Even new guitars could need to be set-up correctly before buying. I remember trying out a guitar in a shop, new, and told the owner that there was a vibration (not normal) coming from one of the bass strings, to which the reply was, "it needs to be set-up first"
My thought...who's going to buy a guitar that does not play correctly.....the owner will sell to the first person that takes it with no question.

K.Hammett

I got a video up on youtube to see how the action is adjusted. I tried it but it didnt seem to work. The truss rod looks like its been tampered with previously cause the wood around it is kind of chipped. I bought it privately for cheap.

Im kind of lost as to what to try next. I think il have to bring it into a shop.

Thanks for the replies.

K.Hammett

Also, what I mean by the adjustment not working is that ive tried turning the rod both ways and it made no change to the position of the neck.

And what i mean by the strings "moving" is that they just get further away from the fret board as they go from the nut to the bridge. I dont mean that they are continously getting further and further away. The neck seems steady in the position it is in but it wont budge from that position.

North_West_Art

you wont notice an immediate change in the appearance of the neck after adjusting the truss rod.. the period of adjustment can take a week; its a gradual process.
When you adjust the truss rod, make sure that you loosen it first by turning it anti clockwise about a quarter of a rotation... the tighten it by a half turn clockwise, loosen it slightly again, then turn it slightly clockwise again.
Now look at the distance between the strings and the fretboard. Check it again in a week, and there should be less of a distance between the strings and the fretboard.

What can happen sometimes is the truss rod is turned clockwise (tightened) too tightly which will cause it to snap; if this happens, the neck of the guitar will be gradually pulled forward by the tension of the strings, and over time the action will get higher and higher. A way that you can test to see if your truss rod is intact is to try and loosen it by turning it anti clockwise a few turns, then try tightening it.... (dont over-tighten it), if it doesn't tighten, it may well have been snapped already...

Hopefully this has not happened in your case

K.Hammett

Il wait and see if it improves for the next week so and see if it improves.Hopefully it will. If by that time it has not than il just have to bring it into the shop i think. I dont want to tamper with it too much in case i end up doing more damage.

Im not new to guitars but i am new to the maintanance of them.

Jemmaa

K.Hammett wrote: »

Il wait and see if it improves for the next week so and see if it improves.Hopefully it will. If by that time it has not than il just have to bring it into the shop i think. I dont want to tamper with it too much in case i end up doing more damage.

Im not new to guitars but i am new to the maintanance of them.

Jesus Christ I love your Nickname

furerer

it's normal for the strings to increase in distance from the fretboard the further toward the bridge you go....if they were the same distance all the way down you wouldn't be abe to play it...exactly what are you trying to say?

K.Hammett

I undersatand that but there is a massive difference as it gos towards the bridge. I basically can not even play the guitar properly from fret 8-9 on because the strings are so far away from the fretboard.