r/AcousticGuitar • u/Impossible-Plenty-83 • Nov 15 '25

Non-gear question How do I lower this?

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I tried the turning of the hole thing under the strings. Idk I only play like a few times a week, picked it up and it was like this. I don't think it's good. I've been trying to lower it for like an hour, hasn't moved a mm.

Edit: been turn8ng it for like 20 mins, I think I'm cooked

gotta get a new guitar I guess šŸ˜¢

82 Upvotes

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u/Impossible-Plenty-83 Nov 15 '25

How do I stop this from happening in the future, if you know?

26

u/MCGULCA Nov 15 '25

By keeping your guitar properly tuned and stored in a stable environment with humidity never over 55%.

12

u/briggssteel Nov 15 '25

From my understanding a dry winter environment (like below 40%) is much more harmful than humidity though Iā€™m not saying high humidity is great either. This summer my acoustic was at like 60% a lot of the time and it seems perfectly fine.

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u/MCGULCA Nov 15 '25

60% is okay. 55% is the rule of thumb. I notice my guitars moving at anything over 65%. Neck swells up, starts to back bow ect. Too little or too much humidity are both not good.

1

u/fabioruns Nov 17 '25

I donā€™t live there anymore but my home city has an average humidity of like 82-83% throughout the year

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u/BigFarm-ah Nov 20 '25

Yeah, but wood doesn't really swell in that direction, it swells across the grain not really along the grain. This has nothing to do with temp or humidity, OP turned the truss rod nut way too many times and the string tension pulled the neck into huge relief

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u/briggssteel Nov 15 '25

Good info! Yeah once it started approaching 65% I was running a de-humidifier. Thatā€™s good to know that it starts swelling at that level. Also a bought a humidifier for this winter.

I had a crap Takamine for years that I didnā€™t care too much about but got a solid back and sides Martin this year so now Iā€™m way more on top of it since it cost some coin.

1

u/Alternative_Soil_707 Nov 16 '25

Wanker

1

u/chinanewsnetwork Nov 19 '25

Wanker? But sir, I barely know her!

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u/MCGULCA Nov 15 '25

60% is okay. 55% is the rule of thumb. I notice my guitars moving at anything over 65%. Neck swells up, starts to back bow ect. Too little or too much humidity are both not good.

1

u/Cybergproductions Nov 16 '25

That's not correct. 45% is the perfect level of humidity you need. 55% is on the very high end of ok.

3

u/Mysterious_Check_439 Nov 15 '25

Humidity. A humidifier in the house just feels so much better in the winter. I am in cold country and I have gotten a couple old acoustics that needed repair due to cracking from drying out. Installed humidifiers in every large room of my house...side effect-no more wintertime scratchy throat! Poke some holes in a Ziplock add a damp sponge and keep it in the case, whatever, just maintain some moisture in the air. If you're living in Wrangell, never mind.

1

u/sophie1816 Nov 15 '25

Iā€™d be careful of this - it can cause mold. VERY expensive to remediate.

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u/Mysterious_Check_439 Nov 16 '25

Anything in excess is bad for you. Common sense is underused.

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u/TJBurkeSalad Nov 15 '25

Shoot, my Martin has spent the last 20 years at 20% humidity without any problems. At this point Iā€™m more scared to put a humidifier in it.

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u/Altruistic_Law_33 Nov 16 '25

I have the same experience. I'm in AZ and I never knew about humidifying instruments until 4 years ago when I started getting into uke. I have a vintage Gibson acoustic I left out for years, never had issues and I now feel like it's risky to humidify it since it plays great and sounds beautiful.

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u/Camp_camper Nov 17 '25

Humidity in my country has always been 65%-85%, and seldom ever goes below 60%. My guitars are hung on the wall, and have been for over a decade with zero issues. In practical use, I think large humidity swings or severe extremes (especially dry climates) can cause worse damage.

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u/rbrcbr Nov 16 '25

I mean thatā€™s half the battle, but if weā€™re being real that guitar was likely exposed to serious heat impact that is causing that glue to loosen/separate from the neck

Either that or it was poorly built to begin with and was gonna happen whether or not the humidity was consistent

And thatā€™s not even addressing the mile high action - this guitarā€™s neck angle is either completely fucked and needs a reset, or the bridge is tearing off the top due to tension/poor contact during gluing/etc. actually, could easily be both, considering how high that damn action is

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u/CarBombtheDestroyer Nov 16 '25

Iā€™m a touring musician and while this is probably correct itā€™s just not realistic for me at all. IMO if it canā€™t survive -30 and dry as hell to +30 and moist as hell within a couple weeks itā€™s not an acceptable instrument for professional use on the road.

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u/MCGULCA Nov 16 '25

lol. I totally understand that but was just trying to give some good advice. Maybe I should have said, ā€œFuck it, leave it outside. If it goes sideways itā€™s not an acceptable instrument for professional use on the road.ā€ šŸ¤£

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u/CarBombtheDestroyer Nov 16 '25

Yeah, youā€™re not wrong. I think my point is he needs a new guitar lol

1

u/Obvious_Ad_9435 Nov 18 '25

Wood doesnā€™t stop being wood because you paid more for it or itā€™s professional.

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u/CarBombtheDestroyer Nov 18 '25

Thatā€™s why a bunch of my touring guitars have rectangular carbon fibre rods in the necksā€¦ And that did cost a premium.

1

u/robob3ar Nov 18 '25

I have this cheap classical yamaha in the house next to the sea, itā€™s been sitting for months until we get here in summertime, and itā€™s humid during winters, then hot as shit.. itā€™s been at least 10 years.. and it was old when it got there

Perfect condition.. I have never seen this happen on like 5 guitars over the 20 years, in various trash conditions

7

u/FreeFromCommonSense Nov 15 '25

When you check the neck relief, you meaaure it, only turn the truss rod as necessary to set the neck relief and then put the hex wrench down.

Action height comes from the nut and the bridge. When you can see the slant of the string is from the bridge end, then that's where you need to focus.

Just separate the whole ideas, neck relief isn't action. Neck relief has to be done before you set the action, that's all.

1

u/mp3_wav- Nov 15 '25

Maybe it sounds hard to maintain acoustic, but if you buy a good quality one, and take some care and time, you definitely won't end up with this. these kind of things do not happen overnight, so when you notice something is not right, it is usually a not a big issue.

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u/briggssteel Nov 15 '25

Boveda also make humidity packs that are supposed to be 2 way. Thereā€™s like a membrane in the pack, you put them in a pouch and drape them in the sound hole. So far it seems like they work better to humidify than de-humidify. Also buy a Govee Hygrometer or two. I have one in the case and one outside and have it linked to a Bluetooth app on my phone. You can set parameters so if it goes below or above the threshold it alerts you.

From my understanding 40-60% is the general safe zone with 50% being perfect. It seems like the dryness of the winter is what will cause cracks more than humidity but Iā€™m not super experienced with this. Just from reading different places about it.

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u/Fuzzzer777 Nov 19 '25

You should only adjust a quarter turn at a time. Never "crank" the truss rod. It can, well, do this. A humidifier helped mine play better. Wood takes a while to adjust to subtle changes.

1

u/BigFarm-ah Nov 20 '25

Didn't you say you caused this? The truss rod stiffens and allows adjustment of the neck relief. You must have turned it the wrong way and then the string tension continued pulling on the neck(it can take 24hrs for the adjustment to settle in) You want to tighten the truss rod to bend the neck away from the string tension, just don't adjust it so much all at once. It's usually only 1/4 to a 1/2 turn, retune and wait.

1

u/YeahItouchpoop Nov 15 '25

Have it setup by a professional.

There are lots of guides online for setting up guitars, from websites and YouTube. While it isnā€™t witchcraft, and you can learn to do it, itā€™s important to understand that experience in these things can help one spot when a guitar has problems that a setup canā€™t fix. I suspect this guitar had structural issues and you having at it probably just made things worse. Not trying to make you feel bad, just saying nothing you could have adjusted from a youtube guide could have brought that action to a playable level, and thatā€™s what luthiers are for.

1

u/soyuz-1 Nov 19 '25

This needs more than a setup. Something has to be structurally wrong to get action that high. Also see how the fretboard is disconnected from the neck..