Acoustic Tough To Play?

A lot of guitar players, especially the newer ones get discouraged with their ongoing progress because the instrument is hard on their tender fingers. Sound familiar? Maybe the action (The distance between the strings and the fingerboard) is too high. Most cases of this symptom is an easy straight-forward fix. There are two places to look to check this. The first is the straightness of the neck. Hold the guitar, body away from you, and look down the fingerboard, from the headstock down. Close one eye and check each side of the fingerboard. The neck should be fairly straight, but not perfectly straight. There ought to be a slight amount of relief. Relief is a small distance between the strings and the fingerboard. If you see a big bow or a lot of distance at the mid-section of the neck, it needs an adjustment. That's where that little Alan wrench comes in. Most newer guitars adjust inside the soundhole at the base of the fingerboard. Loosen the strings, and stick the wrench in the hole. Make sure it seats in nice and square. Turn the wrench to the right (clockwise) 1/4 to 1/3 of a turn. Tighten the strings up and check it. You should see some change (less bowing at the mid-section of the fingerboard. Don't take all the bow out. If the neck is perfectly straight, or bowed backwards, you went too far. Loosen the strings again, insert the wrench and turn it to the left (counter clockwise) a bit. After you achieve this adjustment, and the strings still seem too high off the fingerboard, the saddle height could need lowering. The saddle is the white thing sticking up out of the bridge that the strings pass over. Again, loosen the strings enough to lift and slide the saddle out. You may need a small needle-nose pliers to grab it. Take some sandpaper on a hard flat surface such as a piece of glass or other surface you know is flat. Lay the paper down, and sand the bottom of the saddle down, keeping the saddle straight and perpendicular with the sandpaper. Just a little at a time, and re-install, tune and check the height of the strings. Most new guitars come with a fairly high saddle and need to be sanded down some. If the guitar has a pickup under the saddle, be careful not to disturb it, they are fragile. Make your adjustments in small increments. Its time consuming, but you will end up with an instrument that is much easier to play. don't try to get the action as low as you can. Remember these rules: The larger the gauge string, and the higher the action, the more tone and volume you will end up with. The lower you go with the action, and the thinner the string, the more tone and volume you loose. Its a give and take. Experiment with different strings. I use medium gauge strings on my acoustic, .013-.056. Many cheaper guitars are not built to withstand the extra tension of the heavier gauge strings, so keep that in mind. Break a leg !!