Service manual

Sinclair Community College | ETD 110 Guitar Service Manual

Action Adjustment cont:

Most of the time adjusting the action can be as simple as adjusting

the truss rod. For more serious action problems you may have to

adjust the nut or bridge of your guitar. Just know that the three main

areas to go for adjusting the action is the truss rod, nut and bridge.

Adjusting the truss rod will straighten and

flatten out the neck which will bring your action back to its normal

level. Remember that straightening the neck too far may cause

string buzzing so leave a slight amount of action on your strings (for

details see truss rod adjustment). If this does not fix the problem

then you are going to want to look at the nut and bridge.

To check if the nut is causing the issue,

use a feeler gauge to measure the distance between the bottom of

the strings and the first fret. The standard distance is .06”, if the

string is higher than this then you are going to want to file down the

nut until it reaches this length.

Over the years there

have been many different styles of Fender guitars. Through all these

different styles, the basic design of the bridge has mostly stayed the

same. Each string is mounted on top of a saddle piece and is strung

through the body or bridge. Each saddle piece can be individually

adjusted at the body or fret board. To adjust the action you will have

to adjust the height of the saddles at the bridge. Here are the steps

for doing that.

1. Tune your guitar to pitch

2. Check the back-bow and relief of the neck

3. Adjust the truss rod to straighten the neck

4. Retune your guitar and check the back-bow and relief again

5. Check and adjust the action at the nut

6. Measure the high and low E string at the 12

fret by placing a

precision ruler on the 12

fret