How to Adjust Your Mandolin Action

Stop fighting with high action on your mandolin! Learn the details on adjusting your action. Due to space limitation on YouTube this version of the lesson has been shortened... You can watch the entire lesson for free at http://www.freemandolinvideos.com

The remaining 6+ minutes of footage includes information on "neck relief" and the "truss rod".

Category:

Music

Tags:

• mandolin
• bluegrass
• lesson
• brad
• bradley
• laird
• action
• setup
• bridge
• truss
• rod

[ndirishfan74]

My mandolin action is great BUT my G string sounds wicked flat even when my tuner says its perfectly in tune. It ruins the sound of the rest of the strings when playing chords, the rest of the strings are totally fine. (BTW its both G strings) I might put a video up but can anyone help me?

[MrsFiddlePlayer]

Hey Brad, Thanks so much for this video. I'm a fiddle player and I am trying my luck with mandolin and I needed to change the height of the bridge. Thanks for posting this and your other GREAT videos. :)

[Militiagoat]

Brad I bought your lessons and they helped very nicely. What distance do you recommend for string height from top of the 12th fret to the underside of the string for beginners. I have heard .060 inches is good. Thanks

[toodance]

if the nut is too high, could i slowly, carefully and evenly sand the the bottom of it?

[narutosaenz]

@justpickin4u hope it helps but you need to loose it and remember righty tighting and lefty loosing

[justpickin4u]

Just got a Loar mando. I need to raise the action a tiny bit. Which way do I turn the screws?

[mberman1012]

dannyboy0928 - A mandolin bridge is not glued, it's supposed to be loose. The bridge is used to adjust the intonation. Test the G and E strings. When the open strings are in tune test the G and E strings at the 12th frets. If the G string is is sharp move the G string side of the bridge towards the tailpiece if it flat move it away from the tailpiece. Do the same for the E string. NOTE: The bridge can be on a slight angle.

[dannyboy0928]

help! I just bought a cheapo mando online..I thought being a total beginner that these kinds of mandos would be ok. thing is, when i took the strings off, i found that the bridge wasn't glued on the body at all! Is this normal? Or should I complain to the eBay guy..please help..I should've invested in a better mando :(

[wgtroutman34]

@olddominion394

buy better strings, then you can rule that out.

i had the same problem with my washburn i bought secondhand. i simply changed the strings, and raised the bridge.

[LeTuba]

Oh... I've just tried to lower the bridge. My E strings are broken now.

[olddominion394]

I bought a Morgan Monroe Bean blossom, and no matter what I do every thing in the 5th fret seems to buzz a little,is it cheap strings that came with the Mandolin, or just a cheap mandolin? Its only 3 weeks old ,any help appreciated!

[bradleylaird]

It shouldn't lean. Not very much anyway. My bridge has been leaning towards the fingerboard for 15 years and I've just left it alone since it doesn't seem to ever get worse. My problem was that I swapped the upper part of the bridge (with a Fishman pickup) and the holes were a bit larger in diameter. It still might be a good idea to have a couple of knowledgeable mando players/technicians look it over and give you an opinion. Hard to say without really looking at it closely. Brad

[kowgrl123]

I have a nice Eastman and have been palying a lot, I am not a pro, and noticed my bridge appears to be leaning towards the head, it is flush on the mando body, but appears to be "leaning", so I took strings off amd now restinging, is that odd to have leaned in like that, it is a 2 yr old mando.appreciate your answer

[capnwipe]

thanks for the help!