What's happened to my Martin then

[welshywelsh]

So back end of September, I officially slipped into middle age and got myself a Martin 00-18.

Having never had a proper acoustic before I did a load of reading and research before buying and knew that I had to keep it away from extremes of temperature, humidity etc.

It's been stored upright in its case, away from radiators and windows here in the UK but unfortunately I have an issue. The action has risen to 3mm at the 12th feet and after taking it to a guitar tech have been advised the neck is straight, bridge is fine (but very low already) and there's no curving of the top.

Verdict: it needs a neck reset.

Now there's no way a 4 month old guitar should need this right? I don't doubt the tech, he's well respected around these parts, so is it a defect with the guitar?

Even if I kept it out of the case and near some moisture (which I absolutely haven't!), I wouldn't expect this after such a short period of time.

Time to get onto the guitar shop, or any other advice please?

[Fuzzbuzz]

I believe this would fall under Martin’s warranty. A 4 month old guitar should not need a neck reset. Time to call Martin’s customer service.

[zhivago]

That is certainly strange...are you 100% sure the top is straight and hasn't risen due to humidity in the air?

[zhivago]

Having said that...you say the bridge is low already, so this could mean that the angle wasn't great to begin with.

Do you have any pictures? I appreciate it is hard to photograph these things sometimes.

[JohnnyS]

This does sound odd. Do you have a straight edge or long ruler? You can rest it (gently) across the top behind the bridge and check for any convex/concave happenings. Pictures always help.

Have you spoken to the shop you bought it from? They should be able to help point you in the right direction.

[Jonesie]

I'm a fan of Martin guitars but I haven't heard a lot of great things about new ones recently. I keep hearing about the binding just falling off on a bunch of models, and then something like this happens.

[welshywelsh]

Thanks for all the replies already, appreciate it!

I'll get some pictures done tomorrow when the lighting is better. Just tried the straight edge behind bridge and completely flat. Slightest of curves as I get to edge of guitar at the back, but that's normal isn't it?

My plan of action is to contact shop first and go from there, I just wanted to get some advice on here first, as you're more knowledgeable than me, particularly on acoustics where I'm basically new to it.

[Larry Mal]

Well, you've got a problem.

So some time ago I bought a Martin 00-17, one of these.

I thought it was a great guitar, so I'm lowering the action a bit, and then I basically run out of saddle and the action is still not where I would like it to be. Granted, I like low action, and the action would have been acceptable to a lot of folks, but I could see I had a problem.

The neck was not glued in at a steep enough angle. It was going to need a neck reset very soon down the road.

Reading up on it, it seems like this was a not completely unheard of thing for Martin in that era.

You don't have good choices here. Do not be tempted to sand down the bridge, that'll just mean an invasive repair there. You really should try for a warranty repair, but my understanding is Martin started denying those (I could be wrong).

Personally, I would try and return it, exchange it, and raise hell all over the place until either a warranty repair happened, you got an exchange or a refund.

When you get an acoustic guitar, take a straight edge and make sure the neck ramps right to the top of the bridge or thereabouts. Then verify how much saddle you have, that's going to show you how far along you are from a neck reset.

All acoustics need a neck reset at some point, and care and humidity can delay that. But you want to see how much time you have.

And you should absolutely not be needing one now.

[Larry Mal]

Maybe this will help, I got this guitar a few years ago, you can see that there's not much room on the high E string to be lowered much more before it's resting on the bridge:





I got it that way, and caught it immediately. The action is fine, sort of, this is a little high but it does need a truss rod adjustment:



But once the action is not fine, which could be years, it'll be a neck reset.

Like I say, I noticed it, could have returned it, but honestly I got it at such a good price that it would be a good deal even if I sink $500 into a neck reset. It's a Gibson J-100 Xtra, really good sounding guitar:



Then again, this is from 2005, I got it in 2018 or so. It also looks like some moron glued the pick guard down to it, so it'll rip the finish off if I ever try to remove that. Don't do that.

But you should not be dealing with any of this with a brand new guitar. Make someone take responsibility for it.

[welshywelsh]

The shop offers a 12 month warranty on everything they sell, plus there's Martin's one so hopefully between that something will happen positively.

We've had really cold, wet weather here (well for the UK), so that's the only thing I can think they'd try and use against me, to say it wasn't stored properly or something.

Bridge certainly isn't as low as in that pic, so that's something!

[Larry Mal]

Bridge certainly isn't as low as in that pic, so that's something!

Then I guess I'm starting to question this luthier's claim that you need a neck reset. If the flat edge is touching the top of the bridge- not the saddle- then the neck angle is fine.

And regarding saddle height, I don't need an immediate reset with that amount of saddle, if you have more than I do I have to question why this person feels you do.

It may be that your top has flexed, a concavity or convexity, like the others have suggested. I'd check that. Some convexity is normal.

But the remedy for that isn't a neck reset that I ever heard of. And anyway your tech says the top is good.

So, you are at 3mm, you'd prefer to be at 2mm or thereabouts. It's a 2:1 ratio, so you'll need 2mm at the saddle to get it down 1mm. Does it seem that you don't have that?

Use Imgur, get some pictures up.

[ludobag1]

how is humidity in your house ? acoustic can act like barometer
depend of the moisture of air ,dry of the wood
it is better to have some humidity than an air too much dry
as i live near the sea(30 km) the climate sometime become really wet or really dry when it have lot of wind
then sometime my electric moves sometimes not ,for example last days i have one who have the neck who moves a lot and i have to untight the truss rod for 1/2 turn back ,hopefully this time the others stays cool (humidity more or less to 40 %)but other year sometime it go under to 25%and then it is a full reajustement of all (all my guitar are not new and made buy dry wood from longtimes)
when it happen often my classical break is D string then it is a sign of climate change
3 mm for a folk is not a enormous action but it is under waranty then talk to the store about it can be a season move the wood contract or expand ,if your neck is straight ,it can be the top ,don't how much action you have before but 0.5 mm of move is possible du to climate

[welshywelsh]

Ok, have taken some photos. Hard to capture, but hopefully this gives a bit more context?

For reference action was around 2.25mm when I received guitar, so it's risen 0.75mm in 4 months.

Bridge saddle height



No curve at bridge


Slight daylight at edge


High action

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, there's not a lot to work with, is there?

Now guitars certainly do change with the seasons, I guess there's some reason to think it might go back to where it had been in another four months or so.

In which case you can consider getting another bone saddle, would cost you about $20, and then just sand it down until the action is where you want it to be using that saddle, and preserve your original one in case the guitar shifts back in summer.

However I have no reason to suspect it would go back to where it had been and no reason to say it wouldn't.

My non-expert opinion is that I would like to see you have more saddle protruding there than you do. You want to be able to lower the saddle by 1.5-2mm to get the action to where it had been, it's hard to see in your pictures, but it looks like you would barely have enough to do that and of course no room for any lowering in the future, which all guitars need in time.

Not to mention if the guitar shifted back you would have a completely unplayable guitar.

I think I've shifted back to agreeing with your luthier. The action isn't where you want it and it doesn't look like you can get it there except by making an extreme effort you should not have to make. Frankly this is exactly what I saw with the Martin I had and I moved it on.

The neck is just laid in at a shallower angle than it should. I guess it's also possible that the neck wasn't set quite correctly and the string tension already pulled it up. Both of these are fatal errors.

If I could exchange it for another 00-18, I would do that. If that's not possible, it's time to start contacting Martin and making noise about your warranty to anyone that will listen.

[ludobag1]

what is your gauge of string ?
folk devellop with time bump behind the saddle ,the center line on top behind the bridge to the attach of strap tend to risen du to string pull
my old sigma d18 have this ,but it is very old (30 years and i don't babyes it)i have to mount string on it 11 52 i stay light cause it is not in great shape
need a pics to judge the top curve behind the bridge ,and if you out a ruler on te top do you see a bump ?
sure for a brand new guitar is not encouraging for the futur but as you are underwarranty ask for ,more over if you have an advice that said it need a neck reset ,it is totally not normal and need an exchange ,wood are wood and sometimesit react in bad way