Correcting High Action on Martin Road Series Acoustic Guitar 

The Zeppelin wasn't too shabby, either.

No such thing, you have to pay extra 4 a setup..every store in mich. That are big enough to have a selection to choose.. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Martin sucks!

I just paid 60 dollars for a setup on this guitar and it came at 7/64th action and is brutal to play. Frets don't feel that good either and the body and neck has sharp edges. My 21 y ear old American DX1 plays and feels way better. The sapele wood does sound nicer in person though. definitely has that martin bass and nice smell. The Frets and neck are very level on the guitar though, but thats because all martin guitars are now plekked at the factory. I don't think the luthier even touched the frets.

I agree that the sapele sounds good in person@@cooloutac

@migueldemaria3830 guitar came with mediums once i switched to light strings I really like it.

I’m pretty sure the reason the neck looked more bowed than it actually was in the ‘after’ shots is because of the wide angle lens used, it tends to ‘bend’ the image via its optics.

Worked didn't it 🤷

@@stringsattached67 Nope,..it didn't work. Action still looked too high. hardly any difference at all. There's no way I'd let my guitar anywhere this guy for repair. he seems a bit too slap-dash.

and me

and me too.. and I've been playing guitar most of my life, 33 years. There's always something new to learn.

I heard they 'sell 'em high' so that the buyer can set the action the way they like it.

I bought a new Martin several years ago took it to authorized Martin repairman adjust it for nothing and did a great job at that

@@leonarddaneman810 that is true..

Maybe he bought it online and didn't realise the high action until it was delivered.

That guitar has humidity damage . There’s a crack on the top forming behind the saddle at 03:30 you can see it

Saddle should come out easily. Most of the damage we see to piezo pickups is due to trying to remove or install the saddle from the side with the bridge pins still in place. Saddle can be removed or installed straight up or down with the pins removed. Having said that continuous piezo transducers that are not individual crystals will only get dead strings if either the saddle or saddle slot are not dead flat where they touch the transducer.

@@MusicVillageUSA Thank you! Found the correct wrench and filed down the saddle a little. Still kinda “stiff” but a great guitar. Thanks again.

I'd wager that is an effect of the recording rather than it being actually that slack

The saddle is Micarta, not the Bridge which is the wooden part that holds the saddle! You don’t shave the bridge unless the saddle can’t be lowered enough without the string hitting the bridge.

Ian do you mean Micarta to Bone, both are easy to do but anyway the bridge is the wooden piece that is fixed to the top of the guitar's body and holds the strings in place. In most acoustic guitars, the bridge is its own individual piece of wood while saddle and string pegs are separate pieces. The saddle that sits on top of the bridge in the slot cut to make a firm fit can be made of lots of different types of material but Micarta and bone are great. They used to use Ivory but we stopped that, we found that the Elephants needed it more than our guitars, Hope this has helped you to understand the parts that you talk about, cheers Terry,

5mm

Rhiannon Fleetwood Mac

@@vocalsg13 thank you 🙏

Mine was also like this as well and it'd heard it was due to a measurement issue in the MExican factory.. Not sure I buy that though as a few other Martins I know of that were made in the USA also have had this issue

I noticed that the string spacing on my d10 is much wider than on my old Martin dx1even though they are both the same nut size I actually like the wider spacing on d10 cause it makes it easier for me for my finger-picking.

My 000-15m (American) is exactly the same! Sounds great but Its annoying to play, lol. The guitar people near me tula me i was being too picky and it was normal... but none of my other guitars ever had that issue, and you can sure feel it so close to the edge. I was going to try to cut my own nut and replace it myself but hadn't got around to yet...

We are located in Utah!

@@user-otzlixr I just assumed that they'd be extremely playable 'out of the box' and I think many others would come to the same conclusion, obviously apart from the 'experts' which I'm guessing you consider yourself to be...

@@user-otzlixr check the mirror 🤣😅🤣

I have a 2016 Road Series and the action is not high at all.

Necks move. How and where was the guitar ordered and where was it delivered to would be better questions.

Haha! Mine definitely needs a few lessons too.

Hello! We use whatever the customer requests on repairs, but if you are looking for a recommendation for strings we love D'Addario strings - especially their XS coated strings! They have become the favorite of our technicians!

Do you like it still?

@@gregsanders7064 yes I do

I'm with you it looks still too high, I could add more but most of you have covered what you don't like,

It could be "Run to You" by Bryan Adams.

I adjusted my truss rod and still had to take some off the saddle. Good thing is bridge is super thick so if I’m future needed more could take some off there. Mines a D10e

Truss rod is not meant for action adjustments.

@@barbarafogle3541 truss rod adjustment definitely brings the action down around the middle of the board but not right at the end obviously

@@paulbateman81 yeah but unless you are warping the shit out of your neck its not enough to even care about. Less than a millimeter. Its still not the purpose or the right way to do it. Its the equivalence of letting air out of your tires to lower your car. Learn how to lower your bridge and nut slots or buy a decent guitar where you can.

@@barbarafogle3541 D10 is a decent guitar. The relief was massive on mine so had to adjust the truss rod and the action improved massively. From memory almost a whole turn of truss rod to get 8 thou relief. Saddle got sanded and now it’s great. Nut was cut fine from factory. The action got worse in the first six months on its own which I assume was the wood settling down in uk climate. Now it’s nice and playable.

And Days of the New, and Pink Floyd 😎

And Fleetwood Mac..

I need a CD of your guitar playing. Loved it!!! Where’s this store? I have a guitar I need this work done on.

No, you must always adjust the rod with the strings in tune.

@@mind2adaptor can you explain why because I always heard the opposite?

@@plasma3211 I think it's that saying about skinning a cat. It's not going to hurt unless it's a cheaply made guitar. The main thing to focus on is to do very minor adjustments to the truss rod.

@@plasma3211 watch this video, he explains why. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KFlIFN8oPDw.html

@@mind2adaptor Ah ha! That’s how the neck is gonna live! Thanks for the reeducation sir!

Ur insane. Martins are plekked from factory and have bass.

@@cooloutac Many other brands equal Martin. Today, Martin is just an historic brand name and nothing else. We've moved on over the decades with many boutique labels producing excellent all-solid wood guitars at affordable prices.

@Stringbean421 first of all Boutique guitars are way more expensive than Martins. Secondly something being all solid wood doesn't mean it's a quality or good sounding or Good Feeling guitar. I returned the fender Paramount and Alvarez Masterworks and I ended up with a Martin d10 for the plek'd Frets and good bass sound. They still have no competition for my preferences.

@@cooloutac 'For your preferences',..exactly,..what's good for one in terms of standards may not be good enough for another.

@Stringbean421 yes exactly I like even Frets and smooth edges, something that doesn't smell like toxic chemicals and has a great bass sound. Someone like you would trade that all in for all solid wood. Lol

All Martins can be adjusted, the methods may be slightly different depending on what exactly needs to be adjusted on your guitar. But take it to a local luthier and they will be able to help you out!

They come with 7/64 action out the factory which to me is okay with 12 gauge strings but I play very heavy. Very easy to just stand down the saddle yourself to 6/64 which is what most people prefer. The biggest difference between the Martin and your Alvarez is that Martin Frets are pleked from factory ans your Alvarez's most likely uneven. The Martin also has a nicer Bass sound and smells like Christmas instead of toxic chemicals.

@@cooloutac well I settled on a Taylor. Now I have two guitars lol I’m satisfied though as that Taylor sounds pretty amazing and the action is good too. But odd thing is I’m starting to really like playing the Martin too. 🤷‍♂️😬

@jayman1338 Taylor is a good guitar they just don't have enough bass sound for my preference. I think they are the better option though if you plan to use an amp or like to play lead .

@@cooloutac yeah I lead praise & worship at my Christian church, so I bought me a Taylor 114ce-sb. You’re right on the fact it’s great for lead. But you’re also correct in saying it lacks a little bit of that lower Martin tone that my Martin has. That’s kinda why I’m now gravitating towards my Martin now as well. I had the action lowered a bit on it and it’s pretty good, not bad. But it doesn’t have that nice bright tone like the Taylor Spruce top has, as the Martin D15m has more of midrange tone like for playing folk style music I’d think. But that lower tone is so obviously there. It’s like twice that of my Taylor. But I still gotta take my hat off to the Taylor I bought as it really does sound amazing as well. Got it for $1100.00 and my Martin for $1200.00 but that was while back when I bought my Martin. Now days it’s like 14 to $1800.00 . My dream guitar is a Martin D18 and then the D45 🔥

Without seeing the actual guitar it is hard to say for sure but every 00-15M we have ever seen has a dual action truss rod. It is possible but unusual to have a stripped truss rod or the adjustment may be just in the 'float' range of the dual action adjustment. Definitely hard to say without it in front of us but should the adjustment nut should not just unscrew. If it is not stripped turning it further should force the rod to counteract the current neck relief. Music Village USA

@@MusicVillageUSA, thank you for the feedback. I thought about a float on the thread but since I’ve never experienced that I was afraid to keep turning. I think I’ll try it. What would it hurt really. If the truss Rod is bad it needs professional repair anyway. If it is bad, shame on the Reverb seller. Also, Reverb is no help.

Wrong

Doesn't really matter what order you do. But me personally I would have avoid moving the truss rod as long as relief is within specs and no major buzz in middle of neck.

That guitar has epoxy in the neck joint and thus cannot be reset. (You would destroy the guitar trying to get the neck off.) And the 460 has a truss rod and can be adjusted. Hell, my 230 has a truss rod, and it's from 1969. First generation FG. 12 string.

The finish is not getting scratched just by touching the strings on it, it's not made out of sugar, relax.

@@mind2adaptor It will get scratched by the string ends that are flailing around.

@@teashea1 we agree that he should be more careful and let the strings to the side and not on the top of the guitar. But the way he did it, the strings were not flailing around, the guitar was standing still. He left them there on the top, sanded the saddle and then he put them back into the slots. Maybe the sound that you heard made you believe that the finish was scratched but nothing happened, it's not so easy.

@@teashea1 Then it would be a very poor finish on the guitar if that happened..really!

The truss rod is often adjusted under full string tension. I think it is correct, at least to a lot of people.

@@borojammin6509 Actually, I always adjusted the truss rod with full string tension, until I saw a luthier say that you should never do that,....so I now loosen the strings a bit first. So if it works either way, I guess it is not important. So you are right. Probably.

@@simmosimmo100 this, I do as well. Loosen, adjust, tighten

Always adjust the truss rod with the strings in tune.

Why? Not necessary

Everybody has their own preference with how action feels. Martin tends to have their action higher on higher end models because of a few reasons like how they are made for bluegrass playing and it tends to be easier to adjust action down than up. Depends on model like I said. Keep that in mind. Some love high action. Greater sustain and louder sound.

@@gamersinger5118 Come on man, the action on this guitar was atrocious. Should never have left the factory under that terrible condition.

If the string gauge is staying the same, adjust everything you possibly can and need to before the string change. The new strings will only make it sound even better.

Agreed!!!

Me too !

No, you always adjust the truss rod with the strings in tune.

Nope

That's exactly what I was thinking. Give the thing a chance to adjust. Loosen off the strings so the truss rod doesn't have to work as hard.

@@shawndesjardins3841 supposed to have it in tune for proper tension

no u aren’t haha