[Aunt Doty]

I've been going to some jams and I noticed some people seem to be lightly touching the strings. When I asked about it they said they had the strings lowered on their guitar. I play acoustic. I tried out the guitar and it did really seem much easier and the tone still sounded good. Is this a good idea? Could it create problems? ...and if it helps why isn't everybody doing it?

[jon_stggt]

I guess as long as you're not trying to achieve an extremely low action you shouldn't really experience problems. Very low actions I believe are best in the hands of experts, alterations to trus rod and fret alterations being part of the task for actions much below the norm.

[Europa]

I'd say its better playing it the normal way. Keeps the fingers in good shape

[karcey]

Here's my two cents worth.
The guitar is a tool for making music. It shouldn't be any harder to use than it absolutely needs to be.
The action should be as low as possible to make it easiest to play, but not so low that it causes string buzz.
Have your guitar modified to be the best for you, and you'll love it!

[allthumbs]

Fingerpickers tend to like their strings lower. Strummers like them middle or higher so the strings don't fret out with vigorous strumming. I have one setup for fingerpicking and another with a higher setup for strumming and finger picking.

[Aunt Doty]

Thanks for the info. Of course I would never try to make the adjustment myself, but would let someone experienced do so. I just wondered if anyone had heard any horror stories or knew of a reason why this wouldn't be a good move. I've been told that if you can get a loud buzz if you lower them too much.

[allthumbs]

I got your back Aunt Doty. Double post deleted.

[Aunt Doty]

Thanks A.T.

[fly135]

Buzz is the problem with lowering with lowering strings. The truss rod adjustment becomes more critical. But something that's just as important as not as easily adjusted is fret height. if the frets are uneven then it will aggravate the string buzz as you lower the strings. About the only thing you can easily do with most acoustics is file the saddle and adjust the truss rod. Saddles can be easily replaced so a mistake isn't too big a deal.