Guitar Problem. Help!

[Victorinox]

Hi threadstarter,

Its better if you use the steel strings instead of the nylon strings. Its really inappropriate to use nylon string on an acoustic guitar. It wasnt made to sound good with nylons. And I also cant imagine how you are going to secure the nylon strings on the bridge side. I believe the steel string are held down on the bridge side by bridge pins. There is not any way to hold it down when using nylon strings. If the guitar has a pickup, the piezo may not be able to pick up the vibration of the nylon string properly as there may not be enough tension and as a result, downward force on the piezo.

I suggest you try to file the saddle yourself. Its a pretty easy job. Do it slowly and you wont overdo it. Hope you can picture this: You can file it straight by running the length of the saddle along the length of the file. If done correctly, the saddle should be straight at the bottom. If you're afraid you'll screw it up, get another saddle as a backup.

If nothing done gives you what you want, you should consider selling it and getting one of those arch-top or semi-hollows like a ES335 or one of its clones (you know something like what BB King uses?) for jazz. Much easier to fret and bend.

Cheers and have fun.

 

[pooo]

Don't file the original. File a backup and see if you like the desired height first before moving on to file the original. It's hard work though.

 

[Ablue]

i don't think you shld do anything to the nut of the acoustic. I have an APX-5A, I think high action may not necessarily be a bad thing, especially when you're talking about playing jazz, when you need a lot of sustain.
Just my 2 cents

If the nut is too high, the notes fretted on the first 3 frets will sound sharp. Also barring chords like the F chord is a real pain with a high nut. Howerever, Nut action can only be lowered properly if you have the right files. As for the high action issue, sometimes it is not the saddle that is too high but rather the area around the bridge which has bloated causing the bridge to the raised and hence, much higher action. The way to fix this would be to heat up the area and clamp. I saw an APX-3 recently which had the exact same problem. I got it fixed and it has electric guitar-like action now.

High action means more sustain, but low action means greater playability which means less mistakes. Everything is a compromise, the middle ground is ususally where one should start from.

 

[ChanMin]

guitar 77 at peninsula
guitar connection at peninsular.
guitar doctor thingy opposite sinamex.

all these places repair guitars and have relatively good reputation.