Setting your action on the classical guitar
In this video master luthier Gary Lee walks you through setting your action on the classical guitar. Action is the height of the strings above the frets, and it can have a dramatic impact on your playing experience. If your left hand gets overly sore when playing, or your strings are buzzing a lot, this lesson could be a game changer for you.
Gary Lee has filmed an entire course entitled “A Player’s Guide to Guitar Mechanics” and it is available to CGC Members.
If you would like to become a member you can find out more information here:
Learn about CGC Membership
In the rest of the course Gary talks about:
- Fingerboard relief
- Neck Angle
- Intonation
- Tuners
- String Spacing
- Setting action at the nut
- Humidification
- Scale Length
- Neck Shape
Along with this course comes hundreds of resources that are all organized into a comprehensive curriculum.
If you would like to hear more from Gary, you can listen to his podcast episode here at CGC:
Thank you for some very good information! I’m looking forward to the other topics.
Dear Garrett Lee,
I have just watched your lesion on adjusting the action on the classical guitar. This is something that my guitar has needed for some time. I found the video most useful and informative the diagrams helped to illustrate what to look for and fine-tune. The guitars you produce have an alluring quality and depth of tonal voicing that I like; your luthier skills are extemporary. Thank you from the technical information hopefully I can stop all the buzzing on my guitars now.
Regard,
Steven Ouwerkerk
I’d never thought of it as a right triangle before. The Pythagorean theorem, again. It must be tough for luthiers as the distances between really awesome and otherwise might be just a fraction of a millimeter. Add in humidity, temperature, tension, differences in materials used in string construction, and player style, and setting action looks in large part to be as much art as science.
Interesting. Explains a lot.