Adjusting Action on Ibanez AJ307CENT

[EverDream]

Hi, this is a question about the Ibanez AJ307CENT 7-String Acoustic Guitar. I got it a couple a months ago, and haven't really played it much, and 1 big reason is because the action is pretty bad, and the intonation isn't good either (probably due to the bad action).

So my question... to adjust the action the only way is to adjust the truss-rod I assume? And if so do I turn the hexdriver clockwise or counterclockwise? (Keep in mind the trussrod adjustment is done in the sound hole and not on the headstock like solid body electrics).

And also is there any special way of doing it? Should I turn it until the action is good, or should I turn it a little and then come back in "x" amount of time (tell me how much if so please!) and do a little more? (to let the wood adjust maybe? or does that matter, yay or nay?).

Also, the strings that came with it are still on it, whoever I bought it from choose to have 11-64, might that have something to do with the bad intonation as well? The 7th string (the .064) is flat (if I remember correctly) at the 12th fret, I'm guessing the string is too thick for the guitar scale and a thinner string will intonate better? (Also I don't like the tension of the .064 at B, too tight for my tastes). Thanks ahead of time for your help!

 

[yevetz]

Dude. Took guitar to the luthier.

 

[ibznorange]

counterclockwise, its the same as an electric.
do it 1/4 of a turn at a time.
your strings could affect intonation.
you could always get the bridge saddle remade to intonate, but thats a wee bit pricey

 

[EverDream]

Dude. Took guitar to the luthier.

That's not needed, I know there is people here who could easily tell me at least which way to turn the truss rod! (I'm already pretty sure about the rest, I'm just kinda asking to confirm that I've got it right!)

counterclockwise, its the same as an electric.
do it 1/4 of a turn at a time.
your strings could affect intonation.
you could always get the bridge saddle remade to intonate, but thats a wee bit pricey

thanks!! see yevetz I didn't need a luthier.

ibznorange... turn it 1/4 at a time, and then wait how long before turning it again?

 

[Edroz]

what yevetz said, you should take it to a tech to check it out for you, since you don't seem too confident about doing the adjustments yourself.

sometimes there's a little more to it than adjusting the truss rod a 1/4 turn. just don't want to see you damage your guitar

 

[EverDream]

what yevetz said, you should take it to a tech to check it out for you, since you don't seem too confident about doing the adjustments yourself.

You see that's where you're wrong, I'm totally confident, I'm just not positive (which is totally different from confidence) I have it right, but I'm sure enough to be confident. I'd just like to know now how long between each 1/4 turn, so someone who knows (which someone here should) please let me know thanks!

 

[The Dark Wolf]

I think the original poster is smart enough to figure out if he needs to take it to a tech or not.

Please, only comments that answer his questions.

 

[EverDream]

I think the original poster is smart enough to figure out if he needs to take it to a tech or not.

Please, only comments that answer his questions.

Exactly, thanks Dark Wolf *not being sarcastic*

 

[ibznorange]

DWOLF STRIKES AGAIN!
turn it 1/4 of a turn, and check your action lol
then, if its good, you can figure out im sure, that you should not turn more.
if you do need to, then turn it another 1/4 turn, check again, rinse and repeat as needed.
after like 1/2 a turn double check that your action is goign down and not up, just in case im wrong

 

[EverDream]

DWOLF STRIKES AGAIN!
turn it 1/4 of a turn, and check your action lol
then, if its good, you can figure out im sure, that you should not turn more.
if you do need to, then turn it another 1/4 turn, check again, rinse and repeat as needed.
after like 1/2 a turn double check that your action is goign down and not up, just in case im wrong

I guess it wouldn't hurt to go do something for 5 minutes after a 1/4 turn if it still isn't better before turning it again... because I HAVE heard sometimes it takes a few minutes for the wood to settle before you notice a difference. So I might do that just to be safe. Thanks you've been the most helpful so far, and I will check it after 1/2 for sure, I'm very careful person anyway. (I think some of these people telling me to take it to luthier are telling me to do so because that's what they'd do if they were me, but they shouldn't even reply because I was asking for advice from people who can answer my questions, I wasn't asking "what would you do if you were me?" some people just don't think! ) Thanks ibznorange!

 

[ibznorange]

glad i could help
if you wanna let it set a moment, it wont hurt, but i've never had an issue with not waiting. but then again, i play techie so often that i can adjust shit, necks, bridges, do pupswaps, faster than any of the techs i've run into around town.
nail it all on the first try typically too. its good to be careful though.

And try not to take it too personally if people tell you to take it to the luthier. People get intimidated by acoustics for some reason, i suspect its the fact that they are a bit more fragile in their construction. I understand getting frustrated with it, i feel the same way you do sometimes, but its easier just to brush it off and ignore it

 

[B Lopez]

There's probably shims underneath the plastic/bone bridgepiece you could remove.

 

[ibznorange]

good point.
thats a bit trickier, you might NEED to take it to a luth if you mess that up lol, but you can always give it a shot

 

[B Lopez]

Not particularly. They're normally just thin strips of paper, plastic, or metal sitting loose in the groove.

 

[ibznorange]

nah pulling the bridge. i've seen em snap.
lol pulling out a shim too many is an easy fix, you put it back. you just have to be careful getting to em

 

[B Lopez]

nah pulling the bridge. i've seen em snap.
lol pulling out a shim too many is an easy fix, you put it back. you just have to be careful getting to em

I don't think we're talking about the same thing. I don't know how anything would snap.

 

[EverDream]

Well.... I turned the truss rod just 1/8 of a turn before the whole guitar snapped into a billion pieces in my face and cut my neck open, I went to the ER and they said that a splinter had penetrated my juggler vein and has spread an infection through-out my whole body, they said it's a rare infection to which they have no medicine for and that I have about 3 hours to live so... any last words? .......

.....................................

.............................................

...........NOT!!! LOL LOL, everything was a total success, except the intonation is still bad, but at least now the action is playable... I'm optimistic that putting on thinner strings will fix the intonation, but not positive. I'll find out when I put the new strings on it I have waiting for it. Oh and another thing... I was wrong about the 12th fret being flat, it was actually sharp, which might have had something to do with another funny thing.... which is...

...I had to turn it clockwise to fix it!! Turning it counterclockwise made the action even higher. Oh and that's another thing I forgot to mention, my action was too high, not too low. Man that was a key thing I left out how dumb of me!!. But anyway I figured it out and now the action is great, I just have to fix the intonation now (it's really only the 7th string, (which is a .064) that's still off (going sharp)).

Assuming I have my string physics correct, a thinner string should intonate better, because thicker strings need longer scale lengths to intonate, and thinner strings need less scale length to intonate. I'll find out if I'm right when I put the new strings on (which I'm not ready to just yet since the strings that are on it still have some life and I'd hate to waste them).

What is all this talk about shims, what are shims? The bridge on mine just has these pins that go in, they are pushed in as hard as I could push them in, I didn't see anything paper-like, you'd have to show me an example picture of one for me to have a clue what you're talking about.

But now the thing is actually playable (minus everything above the 5th fret (pretty much) on only the 7th string due to unintonation) and I played it for about half an hour (before my fingers would've been tired from too much effort to fret due to too high action and I wouldn't have even felt like playing more than 10 minutes) so I've already tackled the biggest problem!

So all in all, a big yay, and thanks to all your advice ibznorange.

 

[B Lopez]

Im talking about the long white piece. Under that there's shims (most likely). But if you've got it good now, I wouldn't mess with it anymore

 

[EverDream]

Im talking about the long white piece. Under that there's shims (most likely). But if you've got it good now, I wouldn't mess with it anymore

Well yes it's good, except the intonation on the 7th string is still off. Anyway, when I change my strings I'll have a look under the white piece (which mine does have), and I'll see if there's anything under there. Only I don't think that's the problem for the bad intonation so I think I can just leave that alone. Oh and another thing I should mention, not only is that 7th string unintonated, but it's also very inharmonic, it sounds more percussive than melodic, it seems like the overtones are weird.

I think that string is just too thick. See if I tune it to B then it's intonated better but then it's too tight for me too play, plus it's still having weird overtones and percusive and not melodic enough... so I think a thinner strings will eliminate both of those problems, thus enabling me to tune to B without it being too tight and also reducing the inharmonicity being thinner (thinner = more harmonic, less inharmonic).

Anyway thanks for the tip!

 

[ibznorange]

yeah, ive seen people pull that out, and only pull half of it out lol.

if the string is too tight tuned right, and the intonation is off, then yeah, thinner strings will help.
if it still doesnt, take it to a luthier and they can make you a saddle piece (the white bar) thats slightly shifted at the top to intonate it correctly.

keep us posted