Today, a Martin Custom X Series 12 String Dreadnought acoustic guitar came into the shop for a setup. This guitar’s action was wildy high, measured in at 10/64ths of an inch off the 12th fret, it was super difficult to play! Luckily, the client brought the guitar to the right tech, and I was able to get the guitar playing beautifly again.
First thing I adjusted was the truss rod. This guitar came in with a crazy amount of forward bow, or relief in the neck. The truss rod was most likely never touched and it showed. Once I tightened the truss rod up quite a bit, I got the neck straight, with a slight relief.
At this point, the guitar was still not perfect. Now, there was buzzing by the nut. 8 out of the 12 strings were either buzzing on the first fret or even fretting out on the first fret completely. This meant that the nut was cut way too low. This can be remedied a few ways. The nut can come off, and then shimmed to the right height, the nut can be replaced, or the nut slots can be filled in with material and cut down to the right height. The later is the approach I opted for.
I proceeded to fill in the slows that were cut too low with material and a binding agent. Once hardened, it was almost like a new nut completely! I then proceeded to make new nut slots where the previous ones had been filled in. Being careful not to cut too far, I slotted the nut to the correct depth.
Once I had finished with the string height by the nut, I adjusted the string height by the saddle to finally finish the setup. The guitar plays with an even 5/64ths of an inch action on the treble and bass sides. Perfect! I replaced the strings, polished the frets, and now this guitar is ready for a new life.
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