How to Shim Up a Nut on an Acoustic Guitar
By Fret MD | March 9th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Tutorials | No Comments »Remove the Nut
Now the first thing you’ll need to do before you shim up a nut is to remove the nut. In order to do this, you’ll need a soldering iron and a wet paper towel or rag (a…
How to Sand Down a Nut on an Acoustic Guitar
By Fret MD | March 9th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Tutorials | 1 Comment »Sanding Down the Top the Nut
As a general rule, the top of the nut should be sanded down so that half of each string’s diameter sits above the nut. When strings sit too deeply in the nut, they tend…
How to File Down Nut Slots on an Acoustic Guitar
By Fret MD | March 9th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Tutorials | No Comments »Filling Down Nut Slots
First of all, it should be said that this procedure works for any type of guitar with a wooden or plastic nut, including electric guitar, acoustic guitar and bass.
1. Take out your nut files and…
How to Sand Down a Nut Properly on a Bass
By Fret MD | March 9th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Tutorials | 1 Comment »As a general rule, the top of the nut should be sanded down so that no more than half a string’s diameter sits submerged in the nut slot. When strings sits too deeply in the nut, they tend to bind…
How to Shim Up a Low Saddle on an Acoustic Guitar
By Fret MD | March 8th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Tutorials | 1 Comment »Tools
Sanding Block
Ruler
Pencil
Pliers
Nippers
Shim Material
Razor Blade (for Cutting out Shim)
In general, raising a saddle is a fairly simple operation. You’ll want to do it when your action is too low at the 12th fret.…
Sanding Down an Acoustic Guitar Saddle
By Fret MD | March 8th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Tutorials | No Comments »A saddle that’s too high usually causes intonation problems and can make a guitar harder to play by making the action to high. In general, sanding down an acoustic guitar saddle is pretty easy. It’s something you’ll want to do…
How to Correct a Forward Bow on an Acoustic Guitar
By Fret MD | March 8th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Tutorials | No Comments »Fixing a forward bow is usually pretty straightforward. The problem here is that your truss rod is too loose and isn’t exerting enough pressure against the neck, and the strings are having their way and pulling the neck forward. In…
How to Correct a Back Bow on an Acoustic Guitar
By Fret MD | March 8th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Tutorials | No Comments »If your guitar neck has a back bow, then there will be a high spot in the middle of your neck will. A back bowed neck can cause all sorts of intonation and playing problems, including fret buzz, so if…
How to String an Acoustic Guitar
By Fret MD | February 19th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Maintenance, Tutorials, Video Clips | 3 commentsThere are a lot of variations and methods for stringing a steel stringed acoustic guitar. Al Markasky demonstrates a method below which has been delighting his customers in Santa Cruz, California for over thirty years.
This clip was taken from…
(3 of 3) Setting the Saddle Height on an Acoustic Guitar
By Fret MD | January 8th, 2009 | Category: Acoustic Guitar, Setup, Tutorials | 1 Comment »Tools
Ruler that measures 64ths of an inch (or millimeters)
Ebony Shims
Razor Blade
Self Adhesive Sandpaper
Sanding Block
Metal Nippers
Pliers
Radius Gauge
The third and final step in setting up an acoustic guitar is setting the action at…
