acoustic guitar problem

dazzer22

Some advise please ! I have setup the guitar and neck relief  it is good, I have been trying to get a lower string action on the guitar, I  have got it down from 4mm  to  3.25mm string hight from the 12 fret-  . This is not bad considering it was 4mm but would have liked it down to  at least 3mm;  the simple thing to do would be to keep sanding  the bottom of the nut saddle, but the saddle is already low out of the slot,  I think its about 1.5mm above the slot,  I am not sure if there is a limit on a maximum  hight  a saddle should be from the slot.  My friend said I should sand the top of the bridge down a little, It's not an expensive guitar so i wouldn't be sending it for a repair or neck reset.
Just wonder what other folk would do?

WezV

Check everything else first, especially relief and nut height.

Funkfingers

By how much do the open strings clear the first fret?

dazzer22

Funkfingers said:

By how much do the open strings clear the first fret?

less than 1mm,   around 0.75mm

ICBM

dazzer22 said:

Funkfingers said:

By how much do the open strings clear the first fret?

less than 1mm,   around 0.75mm

Sounds much too high - and it makes a surprising difference to the action. To check it accurately, fret each string at the 3rd fret, and look at the gap between the string and the 1st fret - it should be *tiny*, typically as little at 1/4 of the string diameter and as low as 1/10 of it.

Once the nut is right, get the neck as straight as you can without it rattling in the low positions - if you can get it dead straight before that happens, so much the better - while a little relief is usually a good thing, if you’re fighting a high action then none is OK.

After those two things are done, see where you are with the action - it may be better than you think.