Sudden Action Change

[jakeisjake]

my Gibson has been in the case for a few weeks...then i recently put new strings on it (elixers...love them).

all of a sudden, it feels like the action has gotten super high. fine for the cowboy chords, but not as you go up the neck.

any thoughts?

[Squirrel]

Have you switched to a heavier gauge, and were the previous strings also Elixirs? Maybe the coating adds extra tension or something.

[oid]

It is fall, you live in the temperate world, good chance you need a truss rod adjustment.

[jakeisjake]

Have you switched to a heavier gauge, and were the previous strings also Elixirs? Maybe the coating adds extra tension or something.

same type/guage of strings...

[jakeisjake]

It is fall, you live in the temperate world, good chance you need a truss rod adjustment.

not using much heat yet. i didn't think it would effect it yet. i'll hook up the humidifier.

thanks.

[Embenny]

Do you know how to measure relief of a neck? And do you know what it was at before? I'd check the relief for any change, as that's the only reason to be touching a truss rod.

Since it's a Gibson, I'd check that the TOM is sitting flush against the posts properly...I've seen weird things happen to TOMs when you remove string pressure. Is the action higher on one side than the other? Sometimes those thumbwheels on the posts are a little loose and get knocked during string changes, raising the action on one side of the fretboard (i.e. bass strings or treble strings).

Otherwise, yeah, could 100% be humidity related. Check that the relief is good, and otherwise just lower the bridge a bit to compensate.

[Larry Mal]

Well, he's talking about his J-100, right, Jake? So it's an acoustic. Or at least so I'm assuming at this point.

Jake, before you look into a humidifier you might want to hold off.

https://www.taylorguitars.com/support/m ... wet-guitar

If you don't know where your humidity is actually at, you could end up making things worse by adding more of it. I don't know how to advise you at the moment other than to tell you to get a good hygrometer, maybe a couple.

One for the room, one for the guitar case. After a couple of days you'll have an idea in which direction you need to go, and then you'll devise a strategy for keeping it in the 45-55% range.

Right now, for instance, my apartment is very humid. It'll get dry later and I'll need to run humidifiers.

[Embenny]

Well, he's talking about his J-100, right, Jake? So it's an acoustic. Or at least so I'm assuming at this point.

Oh jeez, ignore everything I said then.

After checking that humidity is ok and relief is ok, next up would be neck angle and "bellying" (lifting) of the bridge. Not unheard of for an acoustic's neck angle to shift over time, but humidity and relief are the first things to check and easiest things to correct.

[Larry Mal]

I could be wrong but I'm virtually certain he's talking about his J-100.

[oid]

If it is an acoustic it is often worthwhile to have a second saddle made, one for the dry season and on for the humid season. The top moves up and down with changes in humidity and the truss rod can only do so much. This is more useful for people who play out and about and can not keep their instruments in a nice climate controlled environment.

After some time in a case an acoustic can also go out of whack for a few days. The case drastically slows the effects of the ambient humidity, the inside of the case can still be at the humidity it was when then guitar was put away and things can change quickly when removed a month or two later, this is especially true of the plastic and fiberglass cases. The top moves quicker than the neck and after a few days the neck catches up, things can even out.

[jakeisjake]

Well, he's talking about his J-100, right, Jake? So it's an acoustic. Or at least so I'm assuming at this point.

Jake, before you look into a humidifier you might want to hold off.

https://www.taylorguitars.com/support/m ... wet-guitar

If you don't know where your humidity is actually at, you could end up making things worse by adding more of it. I don't know how to advise you at the moment other than to tell you to get a good hygrometer, maybe a couple.

One for the room, one for the guitar case. After a couple of days you'll have an idea in which direction you need to go, and then you'll devise a strategy for keeping it in the 45-55% range.

Right now, for instance, my apartment is very humid. It'll get dry later and I'll need to run humidifiers.

i already have one. and a hygrometer (why isn't it "hydrometer"?) . humidity is in the low 40s.

[Larry Mal]

I looked it up! A "hydrometer" measures the specific gravity of liquids, so that name was already in use and the hygrometer industry had to settle.

Is your hygrometer in the case, or in your room?

[jakeisjake]

it is the J-100.

it's a room hygrometer (thanks for looking that up!)

i just noticed it, but it could have been developing over time. i play my other acoustic much more...so, it's been in the case for a while. i thought it might be my imagination...but my son was playing some jazz piece with lots of crazy chords up the neck and said he was having trouble.

sometime ago, the luthier said it looked like the bridge was pulling away. but, it seemed...like he was digging for more work. so, i wasn't sure.

[sookwinder]

One of my vintage Gibsons (the 66 COUNTRY WESTERN) that was almost mint had perfect action and then a couple of weeks back I noticed a slight perceivable change... did the old "sheet of paper slide under the bridge" and realized after 50 years the bridge had started to lift from the body ... the glue was giving way a little.
It's now in to have the bridge re-glued. Have you checked to see if there is any gaps between the bridge and the bodyu surface?

These things are part of owning acoustics ...Just like rotating the tyres on a car.

[Larry Mal]

That's a good point, I went to play my old Martin D-1 not too long ago and the action was high and I was looking at the saddle and such, and later realized that the neck has come un-glued to a degree and is pulling off the body of the guitar.

So I slackened the strings and put that back in the case. No idea what to do about that, not sure if I'll need a full neck reset or what. I haven't found time to do anything with it.