Acoustic guitar action way too low - help needed

DubSpur81

Hi all,i bought an acoustic guitar on sat from adverts for a christmas present and it played fine. I took the strings off on tuesday night and cleaned it up and left it standing against the wall upstairs. i tried putting gauge ten strings on it tonight and they were literally sitting on the third fret all the way to the bridge so they numbed/rattled when i tried to play them, tried twelves as well with the same result.

Theres no way the neck could have warped that much in two nights but it looks like the neck is curving to the left when i look down the neck of the guitar. So does the truss rod need adjusting?

If so is it expensive to get done? Im playing over ten years but wouldnt trust myself to do it.

(its a yamaha fg-502 and is approx ten years old)

Thanks for the help.

coadyd

what gauge did you take off the guitar? its pretty easy to adjust the truss rod just do it in quarter turns.. 10's are pretty light for an acoustic

DubSpur81

coadyd wrote: »

what gauge did you take off the guitar? its pretty easy to adjust the truss rod just do it in quarter turns.. 10's are pretty light for an acoustic

He didnt say but they were either tens or elevens - its for the bro in law who doesnt play much hence the lighter gauge! Do you reckon its only the truss rod? Fecking thing cost 350 eur,not happy!

coadyd

what make is the guitar ? model number etc?

DubSpur81

coadyd wrote: »

what make is the guitar ? model number etc?

Its a yamaha fg-502

coadyd

adjusting the truss rod is not a difficult as you may think .. there are plenty of youtube vids explaining how to do it. . looks like a nice guitar.

_ciaran_

yamaha fg-502 is a dreadnought, I'd go for 12's at the lightest

CianRyan

Yeah, I have 13's on my acoustic ATM and that'd bee light enough.

Ravelleman

10s on an acoustic seems much too light. If the truss rod was never adjusted by the original owner when he made the change to 10s or 11s, as you said, this could be part of the problem.

It's not necessarily an inherent fault with the guitar, nor is the neck necessarily 'warped'. It's more than likely a setup issue.

If you're not sure how to approach truss rod adjustments then take it to a tech.

A lighter string gauge won't save a novice's fingers regardless so best go for a standard dread gauge, which would be 13+.

martinedwards

1/4 turns of the trussrod and leave it to settle. best done with strings on.

if the saddle is too low you could easily shim it. strings off, lift out the (its a yamaha.... ) plastic saddle from the bridge. cut a slither off an ond credit card and drop it in the slot. replace saddle and string up.

-=al=-

The neck or saddle could be shimmed.. 1/4 turns and let it rest for 10 mins or so

I'm on the 11's on acoustics

DubSpur81

Crisis averted,brought it to xmusic and the chap adjusted the truss for me for free,was in and out in ten mins,absolute rookie mistake, makes a mockery of the fact ive been playing and have valuable(ish) instruments in my posession for over ten years,advice greatly appreciated

doolox

I use Martin Phosphor Bronze 12's on my Takamine EN10. Is that heavy enough?

topcatcbr

doolox wrote: »

I use Martin Phosphor Bronze 12's on my Takamine EN10. Is that heavy enough?

I have the same on my Yamaha FG 730. They are fine.

I had 11s on it but they were a bit light. Had a little bit of buzzing from them even after adjusting truss rod. 12s are perfect.

Tazz T

Get it professionally set up. You should be able to get it done for less than €50. A good investment and a lot less hassle and worry than doing it yourself.