Acoustic action too high

[Gregted]

Finally decided to check out my 38 year old acoustic for a better setup. Can't rush these things...
While checking the action I noticed it was ridiculously high. Even with the plastic saddle removed, it is still over 4mm at the 14th fret.
So my question is do I just sand down the top of the bridge and then the saddle or is there a better way. It is a real cheapy so has no truss rod adjustment.
My other concern is that even with the bridge sanded down, the holes where the strings exit will still be too high but I guess this will still be a great improvement.

[andrewdosborne]

I had same issue on a Maton acoustic. Over 8 years the action got higher and higher. Ended up fixing the concave neck relief (truss rod) so not sure how you would fix similar issue. If issue was neck relief then I would expect some sort of clamp arrangement and time to correct concave bow.

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[kells80aus]

My son has a $150 cheapy guitar. I picked it up the other week and same thing very high action. The first thing I did was to put the slotted straight edge on it. If you don't have one it makes it a bit hard, but you should be able to see by eye if the neck is bending up.
In my case it took only a few turns on the truss rod to bring it down to about 3.5mm of action on the last fret on the E strings.
In my case I could lower it more by shaving a half a mm off the bottom edge of the bone saddle.

Have a look insde the body, or even have a feel the truss rod nut may be inside the body as opposed to at the headstock end.
I bought a little inspection mirror for a few $$ off ebay so I can have a quick look inside acoustics.

If it has no truss rod you could look at doing what Stan did on the Harmony he is restoring

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=2972

Hope this gives you some ideas

PK

[WeirdBits]

It could be the neck, nut, saddle, bridge or even the soundboard/bracing, or a combination, that's causing the high action. Best to post some pics of the guitar first so the possible cause(s) can be assessed before embarking on a course of action. Pictures of the action at the nut/1st fret, the 12th fret, side on of the bridge/saddle, and of anything that looks bowed or out of shape is probably the best place to start.

[Brendan]

Greg - it could be heaps of things - post a couple of pics - thinking closeup of the bridge (oblique shot from the side would be best), a side shot of the neck (looking for flex here), one down the neck from each end of the guitar. Between those, we should be able to see if there is anything dogs .... obvious. Seems funny that it doesn't have a truss rod - is / was it a classical?