Hi all,

Settling in after a couple of months of playing, my nearly new D-2HA started to develop some buzzing pretty much across the fretboard, but not with open strings. Checked the neck relief and found that there was almost none. So I got the 5/32 ball-end wrench and loosened the truss rod about a quarter turn, or maybe less.

Buzzing is gone (great) but now my action has risen. So I understand the next step would be to adjust it to my liking by sanding down the bottom of the saddle a hair.

My question is this: won't this risk bringing back at least some of the buzzing that I just eliminated? Is it just a matter of finding the right balance of relief and saddle height?

I think I know the answer to this question, but I'd like to hear the experts (or anyone else) weigh in.

Thanks, Doc.

The answer is in a balance. The right amount of relief and the right saddle height. If nothing else has changed, the action should have lowered when the neck straightened out a bit. Adding back some relief will raise it back up some. Chances are other things have changed a bit as well, so just matching the relief to what it was probably won't put the action exactly where it was.

Now that you've lossened it a quarter turn or less, you might try tightening your truss rod an eighth turn or less before sanding. You may be able to reduce some of the relief without a return of the buzzing (but maybe not).

Try to avoid altering the saddle. Action is a fairly static thing depending on strings, humidity, etc. While truss rod changes are reversable, saddle hight is not. Still with 1/8 turns and see if you can get something to your liking.

My standard answer is go to http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/OwnerManual/manssguitar.html and look at the troubleshooting and repair section. You cannot go wrong w/ Frank Ford!

Brett

I'm quite familiar with Ford's site, and appreciate immeasurably the fact that it is there.

Unless I've missed something, however, he doesn't actually have an answer to my specific question on his site. There's a section addressing neck relief and truss rod adjustment, and another page dealing with how to lower the saddle height, but no real discussion of how the two procedures relate to one another.

MaRio: I undertand your reluctance to alter saddles, but they are far from irreplaceable. In fact, I've got two already. I am certainly not afraid to sand down the saddle height--gradually and patiently--if it might result in the setup that I really want. If I screw it up, I can order another one for $25-85, depending on the material.

Drop-in saddles are most definitely replaceable (going FWI or ivory would be a pain otherwise), just not money I would want to spend. I think Collings sets a very appropiate height to get the best tone.

doc:
remember to allow for the raising or sinking of the belly in all your calculations. A slight humidity change could cause the buzz, and if you make saddle and / or relief alterations then, you might over-compensate. If you do end up sanding the bridge, take a lot of measurements and do it incrementally to help you get a feel for just how much "cause" produces what "effect". I constantly tweak my guitars, and my action is kept very consistent. But I make very small adjustments.
Good luck. Fun, ain't it?

Doc, I recently decided to lower the saddle on my OM-1A after a number of trussrod adjustments/string gauge changes etc. Instead of doing what I usually do, which is to charge in on the operation with all guns blazing (and generally far too late at night), I decided to keep the original saddle intact and went out and bought three good bone blanks (UK£3 each) and started on those. Frets.com has good advice on getting the right thickness, and I just copied the Collings compensation as well as I could. The first one splintered while sawing the end off, so for the second one I used a bench-mounted chisel grinder to take of most of the height/length excess, and that worked well (except for the smell of burning bone), and then finished it with Swiss files and wet and dry paper... less than an hour's work. Now I've got a great saddle, almost 1mm lower than the original all over, and when I find the time I think that no. 3 will turn out even better. It's a low cost/high fun operation, not difficult, and it has hugely improved the action (for my style) and the guitar remains buzz-free. Even if you buy a Collings/Colossi/some other saddle for $25+ you'll still have to do some sanding, so why not go the whole hog? Good luck!