Raising the action - dangers?

[juliancs]

I'm totally green when it comes to stuff like this (did a search and found nothing). The luthier who put my warmoth together set it up with really low action. Nice to play, but the lower notes are buzzing a little to much for my liking. I've got the Gotoh 510 bridge - he is out of the country so I can't ask him, and I tried to google a manual for the bridge, but no luck. From what I can tell, I 'unlock' with the smaller allen key, and then adjust the bridge height with the larger allen key to raise the action?
I'm worried about: messing the nut up, bending the neck, not getting the bridge straight. I only want to raise it a fraction, just so it stops buzzing.

Should I wait for him to come back?  :icon_scratch:

 

[tfarny]

By the 'lower notes' do you mean the lower strings, all up the fretboard? Or, do you mean all the notes near the nut of the guitar? Crucial difference. Assuming the former, and not a nut problem:

If you want to just raise the action up a tad, it's not going to mess with anything else, don't worry about screwing up the neck. It's not rocket science and better if you learn to do it yourself. Don't move the bridge forward or backward, as that will change your intonation. And just raise it up a hair at a time, if you're already in the ballpark of a good action you'd be surprised at how small an adjustment can get rid of string buzz.

 

[blue313]

+1

It's important to know where its buzzing, which frets and which strings.  Might be something else like relief.  Also, If it doesn't buzz on open strings it isn't a nut problem.

For just the bridge height, "Unlock" the stud's set screw with the smaller wrench, and adjust with the larger one.  Once you've got the right height then "Relock" it.  Just like tfarny's saying start small, 1/4 turn counter-clockwise at a time to raise it. 

 

[riverbluff]

+1 to above. 

I usually loosen the strings before I make any adjustments to the bridge.

 

[juliancs]

Sorry. To clarify, it's the lower notes, close to the nut that have it worst, but not exclusive. The F/F# are most noticebale. If i dig pretty hard the low E and D string buzz open. I get buzzing all up the neck though, right up to the 15th fret and beyond...

 

[tfarny]

Usually if the only problem is too-low action, the buzz gets progressively worse as you go up the neck. Well anyhow, raise the action just a tad and see if that helps. If not, you may need to give the truss rod a little bit of adjustment, or your tech guy may have lowered your nut too far for your liking (worst case). Play with the action first though.

 

[juliancs]

And I can just loosen the strings? Don't have to take em off completely? Thanks for your responses so far.

 

[tfarny]

Never even seen on of those Gotoh 510 bridges, so I don't know for sure, but you shouldn't even have to loosen them. You can if you want to, I guess. BTW: If you do have to remove strings to adjust action, that is a BAD BAD bridge design. Just use your eyes and go slow. Don't force anything.

 

[GoDrex]

I don't know why you'd think the strings would have to come off just to move the bridge up a milimeter or two. And I agree that you don't even need to loosen them that much, just adjust the tuning a bit. It's not like you're going to be making any large change in height. You can't hurt any other part of your guitar by raising or lowering the bridge. It's meant to be adjusts.

 

[juliancs]

Alright, well as I stated I have no clue about any of this stuff, and the last thing I want to do is wrench something and crack the neck or something crazy like that. I'll have a go later. thanks for the responses!

 

[bpmorton777]

wouldnt rasing the hight of the bridge change the intonation?..the strings would have to be bent more down towards the fretboard to fret a note. :dontknow:

Brian

 

[GoDrex]

wouldnt rasing the hight of the bridge change the intonation?..the strings would have to be bent more down towards the fretboard to fret a note. :dontknow:

Brian

yeah it's possible but since the height change is likely minimal it probably wouldn't throw it off too much. Innonation is easily adjustable anyway and every guitarist should know how to do it. You know how to tune, you should also know how to intonate the guitar.

 

[bpmorton777]

I just assumed he dint know how to intonate a bridge since he had the thing put together by a tech insted of himself. :icon_smile:

Brian

 

[GoDrex]

Well maybe not, but he should learn if he doesn't. On that type of bridge it's pretty simple - especially if you have a tuner.

 

[kreig]

the danger is your finger tips bleeding . . .

why the hell anyone would want anything other than low action is mind blowing to me . I have played for 30+ years and being a technical player is also about
playing economically and ergonomically. the only reason to raise your action would be to eliminate fret buzz, if that's the reason , do a FRET JOB.

:icon_scratch:

peace

 

[Alfang]

you cant just try one thing to fix your problem, you need to know whats causing it. is it the action too low, is it the truss rod adjustment, or the nut?

My first thought is the nut is ok and the truss rod needs a 1/4 to 1/2 loosen along with lower the bridge ever so slightly, I know thats contraty to your problem, the neck will bow towards the strings fixing the close to nut buzz, but your mid (12th fret) will increase in action

There's a certain sequence of steps to follow to set things up,  Google search guitar setup