[petelanger]

Tuning pegs aren’t that hard to change out, a set of can be purchased for 15 – 40 bucks on Amazon. But maybe you could donate the guitar to the Guitars4vets or a similar organization. I’m sure somebody would appreciate it.

Truss rod adjustments are made exactly for the purpose of realigning the neck. You might want to get someone to help you if you are not too familiar with using hand tools. You will need either a hex key or a nut driver. The truss rod runs through the neck underneath the fretboard, therefore tightening it will make it bow backwards and loosening it will make it go forward along with the string tension. Based on how you described the situation, it sounds like you want take relief out of the neck by tightening the truss rod which means turning the nut clockwise. Don’t get too nervous about it, if you turn the wrong way you can just turn it back again.

Tony has a video on the subject: https://youtu.be/KFlIFN8oPDw

[BarbaraM]

Thanks, Pete. That is very interesting and easy to understand. My Zager came with a truss rod wrench but has never needed any adjustment. The Baby Taylor has a adjustment hole inside the body as Tony described. It looks like it would take a set screw wrench, but I can’t tell what size just now.

That said, according to Tony’s diagnostic description, this puppy needs more relief/bow, but that would give it a higher action, and it’s high enough that I have to press harder than on my Zager parlor. What it looks like to me is that the saddle/bridge was set too high so the strings go from a next to nothing point at the nut to 4-5mm at the 12th fret. What would happen if I filed down the lower fret bars (they stick up a fair amount) just enough to give more relief at the nut end? Or is that a no-no?

[petelanger]

In that case you may need to lower the bridge. I did this with my Donner. I replaced the nut and the bridge with new units made from bone. I’m not sure what they were originally. It was a fair amount of work, especially fabricating the nut with all the slots with the proper depth and width. The bridge was pretty straightforward. I just had to file it down on each side.

Filing frets is not that simple, it’s easy to do a lot of damage. I filed mine but I had to fabricate a bunch of tools to do it safely.

[petelanger]

But if your action is high, then the strings shouldn’t be anywhere near your frets so I’m a little confused.

[petelanger]

Regarding the tuning pegs: they aren’t that hard to change out, a set of can be purchased for 15 – 40 bucks on Amazon. But maybe you could donate the guitar to the Guitars4vets or a similar organization. I’m sure somebody would appreciate it.

[petelanger]

Don’t start filing on your Zager guitar frets! It’s most likely much to valuable to tinker with if you don’t know what your doing.

I don’t understand what you mean here:

this puppy needs more relief/bow, but that would give it a higher action, and it’s high enough that I have to press harder than on my Zager parlor. What it looks like to me is that the saddle/bridge was set too high so the strings go from a next to nothing point at the nut to 4-5mm at the 12th fret. What would happen if I filed down the lower fret bars (they stick up a fair amount) just enough to give more relief at the nut end? Or is that a no-no?

the action is high but you’re wanting to file frets, this doesn’t add up in my head.

Edit: Now that I’ve thought about it some more I think I understand. You have buzzing near the nut but at the same time there is high action at the 12th fret. Now it makes sense. Sorry, I was not seeing it clearly. This is fixable, probably adjust the nut to raise the strings just a tad there and lower the action by adjusting the truss rod. Could possibly need to lower a bit at the saddle. I actually did all these things to my Donner guitar and turned it from unplayable into something that really sits well with me. A bit of buzz has returned on the low E string, I probably goofed a bit when I filed the slot for that string and set it a little too low. Now with the summer humidity back things changed enough so that minimal clearance is not quite enough anymore.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 2 days ago by  petelanger.

[BarbaraM]

NO NO! Not touching my beautiful Zager. I was only talking about the Baby Taylor I got second hand. An independent Luthier raised the bridge as I said the action was too low (what did I know at the time). So now it doesn’t buzz hat the low frets but if you were to measure the string angle from the nut to the bridge, it’s too close at the nut and too high at the bridge.

[BarbaraM]

I don’t know how well it shows, but there is a huge difference in the string height from the nut to 12.

[petelanger]

Pictures are good, I see what you mean. That is way high! I already understood this when you said 4mm at the 12th fret. Sorry I got your Zager and Taylor confused when you mentioned the Zager.

Do you still have buzzing? Because I’m not seeing where you could. It looks to me like you could start by tightening the truss rod to take out some of that high action.

[BarbaraM]

Yeah that was confusing; I do tend to over-explain.

No I don’t have buzzing until I start to lift my finger off. Then, if it’s still ringing, it will buzz as the pressure loosens. I guess that’s a thing, because the Zager does it too, just noticed. Could it be the Martin strings? I was talking to a player at an event the other day and he said he didn’t like Martin strings. I also noticed the thinner strings are kind of rough feeling, up around the 5th-8th frets, where I never play with the Taylor. Lower and higher, the strings are perfectly smooth. Corrosion???

[petelanger]

Ah, I do think any string will buzz as you start to lift your finger off, especially if you’re not fretting right close to the wire. It could be Martins do it more than others. I don’t really have any Martin strings anymore. I have D’Addarios and Ernie Balls mainly. I really like the D’Addarios the best on my Acoustics.

[Skyman911]

@BarbaraM, hey Barbara, can you actually see the neck bowing? My first real guitar was a Big Baby Taylor, and I still have it and do play it still. The necks are a bit different on these in regards to how they attach to the body. They don’t use a dovetail joint like most guitars use. A lot of the action adjustments are actually different shim thicknesses between the neck and the body. Although it does have a truss rod, you won’t get the same adjustments as other guitars. Do you have a good sideways picture of the neck at the 12th fret? Maybe you could post this and see what we’re looking at.

[petelanger]

Did not know that about Taylors, thanks for informing us @Skyman911 !

[Skyman911]

@petelanger, this is only for the Baby Taylor and Big Baby Taylor. Most other models have a Taylor neck joint that is actually bolted on. Not a dovetail design like Martins and other guitars. The Baby and Big Baby literally have two wood screws that hold the neck to the body. Kind of bizarre but it seems to work.

[Skyman911]

@BarbaraM, I do see the photos, and didn’t realize that was the Baby Taylor action you were showing. It does look high. Correcting this is usually done through shimming. If you look down the neck, can you see obvious bowing? I can’t really tell by the photos.

[BarbaraM]

Not sure if you can see it, but most of the bow is from the 5th fret back to the nut. Higher up there is still a slight bow but it seems more even.

[Skyman911]

That does look a little bowed. It could be a simple truss rod adjustment. You would need to take the little triangle plastic piece off the neck to access the truss rod. Three very small screws hold this plate on. Make sure your strings are tuned, and there is string pressure on the neck before trying to adjust. Make very small 1/4 turns. Remember the direction and number of turns in case you need to go back the other way. I would try lefty loosey first as it looks like there is too much bow. This looks very intimidating, however if you take your time, it is actually quite simple. You have a lot of support here.

[BarbaraM]

There is no triangle piece on this Baby Taylor or either of my other
guitars (Zager and Johnson); what does it look like? Is it common?

[petelanger]

@BarbaraM

There isn’t always a “triangular shaped” cover over the hole to access the truss rod nut. Sometimes the nut is accessed through the sound hole, that’s how it is on my Takamine acoustic.

[petelanger]

My Donner Acoustic has a metallic cover and it’s not a triangle – it’s more shaped like a bougie board. Then the electric has no cover at all.

[petelanger]

Wow! I’m not sure how you would be able to decide which shim or shims to buy. I’m seeing a lot of YouTube videos on the subject though. Also saw one where a guy took a plane to neck to relieve high Action.

[BarbaraM]

Not sure if I would even bother at this point; I couldn’t do any of this myself. I seem to recall when I took it to the luthier that he said he added a shim under the saddle/bridge (I get the bone part and the wood part mixed up as far as names) or he did something to it. I can see a very thin shim under the neck where it screws onto the body, but can’t see anything under the bridge. Doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

Thank you guys for your help, I learned a lot more about guitars than I knew before!

But I’m still not sure about my original question, about tossing the guitar with the loose string/peg. I’m not sure the veterans can use it if it needs fixing, and it’s a youth size anyway–narrow neck (even for me), and anyway the top is warped too. Maybe I will use it for practice restringing, or offer it to a theater group as a stage prop…

[petelanger]

I gave a reply to that, I think it’s worth fixing. Tuning pegs are cheap, replacement is usually very easy – just a little screw underneath and a nut on top to undo. It could be a good confidence building experience just doing it. If the guitar is worth dirt, buy some dirt cheap replacements on Amazon. Just make sure you get some that are compatible with your guitar.

[BarbaraM]

Oh yes, I must have missed your comment on that. Well I didn’t examine it closely, but the string peg(s) at the saddle were what was loose, as well as one of the tuning pegs. I didn’t look to see if the tuning peg was damaged or just not tight. I will examine it later.

[petelanger]

Ah, the bridge pin. Is it popping up or loose in the hole? I should think it’s fixable either way. I would buy a set of bone pins and just replace them all, about 10 bucks.

I was recently reading about how you can improve the sound of your guitar by using unslotted pins rather than the typical slotted ones. Very interesting, the theory makes a lot of sense and I might try this some time. It does involve a fair amount of work and cutting into your bridge with a mini saw that StewMac makes, so not for the squeamish. https://youtube.com/shorts/1YQZaProch8?si=YNgnlmbuAZtLR-i1