How to Lower the Action

[garydragon]

Hi, I own an Axis Music Man guitar. My strings are too high. How do I lower them? I see on the guitar two slots on the outer sides of the tremolo bar. Do I turn both screws to the right to lower the strings? Also when I eye the fret board what is the best way to eye it? Look down the side of fret board or straight over the top. Though over the top i can't really see if the board is straight or not....thanks in advance.
Gary

www.weareup.com

 

[hbucker]

You basically cannot lower the action on your Axis without shimming the neck. Due to the nonfloating trem, it is as low as it can go, therefore the strings are as low as they can go.

You can shim the neck slightly. The necks already come from the factory with a shim. Just double the thickness of it and that sould about do it. It only takes a tiny bit of a shim and if you shim it too much obviously you'll be left with your strings sitting on the fretboard. At that point, if you want to float your trem, you can do it by raising the bolts you referred to. I wouldn't recommend that though just because the guitar was designed to have a nonfloating trem.

I'll caution you. Due to the 10" radius you won't be able to get "great" action at the 12th fret without fretting out every time you bend a string. The action from the factory is about as good as you can get it. I've shimmed my EVH slightly and improved it but it still pretty much plays the same. Honestly, it plays much better than it looks like it would based on glancing at the action at the 12th fret. It's just the nature of these guitars.

Good luck

 

[shreder75]

fear not! you really don't have to shim anything...I had the same problem when I brought my axis home...and I thought the same thing "I gotta lower the bridge!!"

I tried and it didn't seem to go anywhere...that and I wanted to mess with the pickup heights but they wouldnt' go anywhere either

I asked the same question and I got the same advice..put a shim in the neck...well, I emailed Ernie Ball...and what I had suspected was true

YOU HAVE TO ADJUST THE TRUSS ROD!!

See that little wheel where the neck meets the body? it's got some holes in it...right by the 22nd fret..anywho, get a little screw driver or an alen key or something and turn that clockwise..do it a quarter turn at a time..

I had to turn mine about a revolution and a half or so and BAM, instant lowered action =)

this also got the pickups sounding better..now the action is great and has no buzzing!

lemme know how this works out for u

Hi, I own an Axis Music Man guitar. My strings are too high. How do I lower them? I see on the guitar two slots on the outer sides of the tremolo bar. Do I turn both screws to the right to lower the strings? Also when I eye the fret board what is the best way to eye it? Look down the side of fret board or straight over the top. Though over the top i can't really see if the board is straight or not....thanks in advance.
Gary

www.weareup.com

 

[hbucker]

Certainly, that is a fix if your truss rod needs to be adjusted. But you need relief on your neck. Adjusting the trussrod isn't what you automatically do if your action is not satisfactory. It is however one of the things you check.

If you have too much relief on your neck, definately adjust the rod first. If that doesn't solve your problem, you're left with shimming.

 

[shreder75]

Certainly, that is a fix if your truss rod needs to be adjusted. But you need relief on your neck. Adjusting the trussrod isn't what you automatically do if your action is not satisfactory. It is however one of the things you check.

If you have too much relief on your neck, definately adjust the rod first. If that doesn't solve your problem, you're left with shimming.

I'm just goin' by what the tech from EBMM told me...I told him that I tried to mess with the bridge and he said only do that as a last resort..and being that it's a stop bridge, not much you can do to lower it anyway...so that was his suggestion..

haven't had a problem since!

 

[jongitarz]

You don't need relief in the neck if there is no buzzing..You want the neck as flat as possible.
Try the truss rod.

Jon

 

[nobozos]

Adjusting the pivot bolts on the Floyd really does not do much, unless you are raising the trem off the body, but it does not lower the action enough to notice. Shimming the neck is the most effective way to lower your action.

Adjusting your truss rod is not as elementary as everyone is making it sound. There are methods and reasons to adjust your truss rod, and lowering the action is not one of those reasons.

Neck relief is primarily adjusted to prevent buzzing of the frets, and make your guitars action consistent all along the neck. Action is the string height above the frets.

An easy way to "eyeball" your neck is to use the strings themselves as a straight-edge. Capot the first fret, then hold down the high E at the last fret. There should be just enough room at the eighth fret to slide a piece of paper between the eighth fret and E string without touching the string. If you have buzzing, start adding more "bow" in the neck until the buzzing stops. Don't turn the wheel more than a quarter turn at a time.
If your neck still buzzes after you have turned the wheel one complete revolution, take it to a tech and have the frets checked to see if they are level(that you don't have a couple frets sticking up too high)

 

[hbucker]

Adjusting your truss rod is not as elementary as everyone is making it sound. There are methods and reasons to adjust your truss rod, and lowering the action is not one of those reasons.

Agreed. My original post was written under the assumption that the truss rod didn't need adjusting. If it does need some relief removed, adjusting it can improve action.

As far as wanting your neck as flat as possible... to an extent you're right. If your action is set correctly to begin with though, you need some relief on the neck to accomodate the circular string vibration. I'd say that if your neck is adjusted perfectly flat or even with a slight back bow just to get your action where you want it, you should shim your neck and reset your neck with a slight front relief. By the way this opinion on slight relief in the neck isn't just my personal experience, it is also the rule I've read in every guide on setting up a guitar I've ever read.

Absolutely, make sure your neck is properly adjusted as nobozos recommends. But a neck adjustment is not technically the way you adjust your action. And you certainly shouldn't be adjusting your neck willy-nilly just to see what happens. That mechanism wasn't designed for that kind of constant or radical tweaking.

Hope this doesn't sound like a lecture. I'm just adding info as I think of it.

good luck

 

[Warg Master]

Ya,

Standard stuff.... (at least for me) to check all the maintenance (spelling,, hhahaha) stuff..... I say if it plays well enough, leave it alone... but, just my opinion.

 

[bing4sons]

Adjusting your truss rod is not as elementary as everyone is making it sound. There are methods and reasons to adjust your truss rod, and lowering the action is not one of those reasons.

Neck relief is primarily adjusted to prevent buzzing of the frets, and make your guitars action consistent all along the neck. Action is the string height above the frets.

An easy way to "eyeball" your neck is to use the strings themselves as a straight-edge. Capot the first fret, then hold down the high E at the last fret. There should be just enough room at the eighth fret to slide a piece of paper between the eighth fret and E string without touching the string. If you have buzzing, start adding more "bow" in the neck until the buzzing stops. Don't turn the wheel more than a quarter turn at a time.
If your neck still buzzes after you have turned the wheel one complete revolution, take it to a tech and have the frets checked to see if they are level(that you don't have a couple frets sticking up too high)

Jongitarz is the (repair) MAN for EB. So I would think he knows what he's talking about. If there is TOO much relief in the neck, then the action can be adversely affected.

Actually EB recommends putting a capo at the 2nd fret and holding down at the 12th fret. There are great instructions on setting up a Music Man guitar in the FAQs:
http://www.ernieball.com/faq_mmguitar.php

You really have to go through all of the steps to properly set up the guitar.

The factory setup seems fairly low to me, at 1/16" on both bass and treble sides, at the 12th fret. With the unfinished necks, that's the thing that is going to need adjusting more often than not. I personnally wouldn't mess with neck shims, unless something is wrong with the guitar (and then I would have someone else do that).

 

[shreder75]

not to be a pain in the butt or anything, but while I suspected that maybe adjusting the truss rod would help out the action a bit, a tech from EBMM told me NOT to mess with the bridge and never mentioned anything about putting a shim in the neck..

as per his suggestion, he told me to adjust the truss rod..he never mentioned a shim, or neck releif (I don't even know what that is..lol)..

you guys are making it out like I'm giving the original poster bad advice, no offense to you of course..

but this came straight from the horse's mouth, guys...I would think that the tech from EBMM knew what he was talking about when he told me to adjust the truss rod to lower my action a bit

 

[zabba]

As the strings vibrate there is more travel (amplitude) in the middle of the string, and less at the ends
Middle 2.0mm
Ends 0.5 mm

So the strings must be set higher off the frets at fret 12, and closer at the ends to prevent buzzing, and maintain good action
This means the neck must have a slight convex curve.
This is called "relief",
The truss rod bends the neck to produce the relief.
. It also raises and lowers the strings ,from the neck.
The other adjustments for string height are the nut and bridge.
.
If you use the truss rod to lower the action, just make sure you still have the proper relief in the neck.
The bass strings have a greater amplitude than the treble strings

A completely flat neck would create string buzz unless the bridge was adjusted, but then the bridge would be too high, and the guitar would be difficult to play past the 12 th fret .

Once the truss rod has been adjusted, the distance from the nut to bridge also changes and the intonation may need adjustment

 

[hbucker]

Shreder,

No offense taken here. Hopefully you haven't read what I've written in a hostile light. I (and I think a few others here) were just pointing out that there's a bigger picture. Because there are so few adjustments built into the Axis (No neck tilt mechanism, non-floating trem, non height adjustible saddles) the tech no doubt told you the only thing he really could tell you which is "try adjusting the truss rod". That is literally the only adjustment built into the Axis that affects action at all.

Maybe he didn't mention shims but my EVH (and I believe all these guitars) came from the factory with a shim in the neck pocket. So clearly EBMM acknowledges the use of shims. It is a process that involves some trial and error though so I understand why they wouldn't just tell any Tom, Dick or Harry who calls to "shim the neck". And for the record, nobody told me to shim the neck on my EVH either. I just have experience with these things and decided to do it. And yes my truss rod is adjusted properly.

The bottom line: if anybody is unsure how to adjust anything on a guitar of this quality, they should take it to a qualified tech. Leave the "What happens if I turn this?" stuff to the cheap old guitars. It's a great way to learn and if you ruin something, you can still live with yourself.

 

[shreder75]

nope, wasn't takin' anything in a hostile light..just that it seemed people thought I was lying about what the tech told me..lol..

anyhow, I had an idea it was something to do with the truss, but like you said, it's a quiality guitar...so I didn't wanna mess with it till I got the go ahead from a tech

Shreder,

No offense taken here. Hopefully you haven't read what I've written in a hostile light. I (and I think a few others here) were just pointing out that there's a bigger picture. Because there are so few adjustments built into the Axis (No neck tilt mechanism, non-floating trem, non height adjustible saddles) the tech no doubt told you the only thing he really could tell you which is "try adjusting the truss rod". That is literally the only adjustment built into the Axis that affects action at all.

Maybe he didn't mention shims but my EVH (and I believe all these guitars) came from the factory with a shim in the neck pocket. So clearly EBMM acknowledges the use of shims. It is a process that involves some trial and error though so I understand why they wouldn't just tell any Tom, Dick or Harry who calls to "shim the neck". And for the record, nobody told me to shim the neck on my EVH either. I just have experience with these things and decided to do it. And yes my truss rod is adjusted properly.

The bottom line: if anybody is unsure how to adjust anything on a guitar of this quality, they should take it to a qualified tech. Leave the "What happens if I turn this?" stuff to the cheap old guitars. It's a great way to learn and if you ruin something, you can still live with yourself.

 

[nobozos]

No hostility here either. I totally believe what the EB tech told you. As far as the EB tech using a capot on the second fret and holding down on the twelfth, that will probably work just fine too. I'm sure there are many different methods that will get you the same result, but the principles are the same.

Zabba is absolutely right on in his post. Very accurate description.
I will give you a practical example of what using the truss rod to adjust the action will get you.

I bought a used '87 B.C. Rich Gunslinger. When it was in the music store, the action was extremely low from the nut to about the 13th fret. Past the 13th fret, the action got pretty high, and was difficult to play. The bridge was about a half inch above the body. When the first fret was capot'd, and the E string was held down on the last fret, there was string to fret contact on every fret. The music store let me take the guitar home to make adjustments before I decided if I was going to buy it. I followed the method that I described in my earlier post, and now the thing plays like a dream. No buzzing on any frets, and now the bridge is right down on the body where it needs to be. I blocked the trem so that it could only be pulled down for better tuning stability.

Neck relief, action and intonation must be adjusted in that order. Any adjustments to neck relief or action throws off intonation. Adjustments to action affects fret buzz, which necessitates neck adjustments, and neck adjustments change your action. All three work together, and there is a "sweet spot" on each individual guitar that will give you maximum sustain, no fret buzz, and comfortable action.