I do not have digital measuring clippers to measure my action for my 00-15m. As shown in the picture at the 12th fret, the reading is 2.75mm as measured from the bottom of the string.
So the top E needs to be 2.5mm, as measured from the bottom of the string, to be considered average action height?
That's a somewhat high action. I aim for 2.2-2.3 mm for the low E (bass) and 1.6-1.7 mm for the high E (treble).
Classical Guitar And Flamenco Guitar Action
For a quick check I'll just use my regular 6 ruler -- I've used it enough times over the years that I can get a pretty accurate read with just that. When I'm doing a final setup I'll use my regular calipers (I don't actually have digital calipers!). Using the depth gauge I'll measure from the top of the string to the top of the fret and then subtract the thickness of the string. It takes a little bit of a delicate touch to measure without pressing down on the string. Recently I got the nut depth gauge from StewMac and that also can work quite well for checking action. The gauge does press slightly on the string but the effect seems pretty minimal and can be taken into account in the final measurement. Hope that helps!
I have one of those gauges, and also the StuMac version, and a number of engineering steel rules. The gauge you have tends to read just a fraction lower than the actual reading should be, but it is good enough.
You should be measuring the gap between the top of the 12th fret to the underside of the string. A gap of 2.5mm for the bass (6th) string is fairly standard on an acoustic guitar.
How Do I Know What A Good Action Or String Height Is For My Guitar?
BUT you need to have set the relief correctly first and then set the height of the nut slots correctly before measuring the height of the action at the 12th fret - or the measurement is somewhat meaningless.
Your slightly high action may be because your nut is too high or you have too much relief in the neck - or it could be that your saddle is too high. Sanding a little off the saddle to drop the action would be the wrong solution if you have not checked the nut and the relief first.
The relief is easy to set because the truss rod does that job. But the nut slots are more complicated as you need specialist nut files (and they are generally more expensive to buy than taking your guitar to a guitar tech for a basic set-up).
How To Set The String Height On Your Acoustic Guitar
Given that you have a quality guitar it would certainly be worth getting it set-up as playing it will become far more pleasurable.
It also depends on playing style and personal preference. .100 is way to high for my preference. I set mine at .075 to .080 for the 6th and about .070 for the 1st string.
Remember for example, if the action is .010 higher than you want, you'll have to take off twice that or .020 off the bottom of the saddle. So, check your saddle to see if you can actually take off that much with out making the break angle to the bridge pins too shallow.
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If you have never done this before I also suggest besides taking it to a pro to get set up, watch a ton of adjusting string action videos on Ytube to get a good idea of what you will actually need to do and everything involved in doing it.
P.s. Does the Martin 00-15M only have a single dot side marker at the 12th fret? All my guitars have double dots.
I’m learning to do my own setup if it’s not too difficult. I ordered StewMac’s nut files (a year ago) and have worked on 4 guitar’s nut slot depth. 3 success and 1 failure. I’m quite familiar with adjusting the truss rod. But I have not tried filling the saddle yet as I don’t have a clamp to hold the saddle.
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Btw, this 00-15m (bought new 11 months ago) came with very low nut slot depth, which is to my liking. Maybe the saddle needs to be lowered. It measures about 3.5mm on the base side (the part of the saddle that can be seen sticking out from the bridge).
You certainly can sand a little off the underside of the saddle by hand to lower it - you don't need a clamp. BTW – it is the underside that is nearly always sanded to lower a saddle, not the top. Many saddles have complex radius and string intonation off-sets along their tops that are best left alone. Find some emery paper of grits 80 to 120 depending on how much needs to come off and place them on a flat surface. Mark a pencil line on the saddle to guide how much you need to sand off. Usually this is twice as much as the action needs to be lowered at the 12th fret. Take your time when sanding; it is all too easy to drift from vertical when holding the saddle between your fingers. So keep checking down the length of the underside to make sure you are sanding squarely.
I usually buy a spare saddle when doing this job and work on the new saddle leaving the original as it is. That way I can keep comparing the two against each other on a flat surface to make sure all is going OK. And if lowering the saddle causes other issues, then I can always drop the original saddle back in.
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The only thing to watch out for is not going too low and then losing the string break angle behind the saddle – on the 1st string particularly. You need more than 10 deg. On some bridges the pin holes are slotted to help increase the break angle with a low saddle. You’ll know if you have gone too low on the break angle because your lovely guitar will start to sound like a banjo!!!!!!
On a good guitar brand like your Martin you should be able to get an action of 2.5mm bass and 2mm treble at the 12th fret with no issues at all.
I’ll take a couple days to decide if I want to lower the saddle. Earlier I straightened the neck some more and it now measures 2.6mm bass at the 12th fret. My Yamaha FS5, set up by a guitar technician measures 2.25mm bass at 12th fret.
The Setup Of Your Guitar (pt 3): Action Based On The Kind Of Bridge
I just checked my guitar gearbox and I have 2 spare saddles, meant for Martin guitars. One made of bone and the other I cannot remember as it was close to 2 years ago. I bought them when I had my Martin Dread Junior 2.Usually?Not much. When it comes to set up, the only thing you can usually do is to adjust the truss rod, without major modifications to the saddle and nut. Let's talk about that and go through it.
This is always the first step, no matter what. Get your guitar in tune, and stretch those strings out as much as possible. If you've never done that, check out our blog post here: How to stretch your strings
Firstly, you need to measure your action height. Action height is the measurement in mm between the top of the 12th fret and the bottom of the string.A good measurement for an acoustic guitar is between 2.5-2.75 mm. looking below, you can see two different measurement types. First, we are using a standard ruler. You should use a metal ruler, that starts at 0 with no gap so that you can get an accurate measurement.
Psa: Your Action Should Be Around The Thickness Of A Nickel At The 12th Fret On The Low E String.
You can see that this string height is slightly more than 2.5mm. Alternatively, you can also pick up an action height measurement tool, which tells you exactly the height required. You can see in this image, that the line just slightly shows below the 2.5mm. this gives a measurement of slightly more than 2.5mm
To adjust your truss rod, you firstly need to look down the neck. If you look from the nut down, you can see which way the neck bends. If it is bending towards the blue line, the guitar neck has too muchrelief. if the neck is bent towards the red, it has too much tension.Once you have an idea of which way the neck is having an issue, there is another step to check it.
Next, you need to place one finger on the 1st fret, and one finger on the last fret. You can use a capo for the 1st fret if you want. If you now look at the 8th fret, you can tell which way the neck is bending. If there is a large gap at the 8th fret, with the string held down, that means the neck definitely has too muchrelief. If the string is touching the fret, or even being bent by the fret, the neck has too muchtension. On a truss rod, when adjusting the neck, you turn the Allen key anti-clockwise to addreliefand clockwise to add tension.
Acoustic Guitar Action: Geometry Class — Haze Guitars
Please note, you
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