Action/neck problem with my Ibanez S Series
Hi guys
I've been having a bit of trouble with my first (and currently, only) guitar, my Ibanez S320. It started when I changed my strings last month. I've been using light top/heavy bottom (10-52) strings for a while now, but most of the time I had it tuned half step down. But since that often turned out to be a bit of a nuisance when playing along with a recording or even some other guys who are tuned normally, I tuned back up to normal with my last string change - same gauge
Anyway, the basic problem is that my action is too high. It was ridiculously too high at first - but I adjusted the tremolo tension (to maximum, it seems) and lowed the bridge itself a bit, and got it to within reasonable limits, but it's still much too high for my liking. I don't need super low action to play, but this just isn't working for me. Without a proper measuring gauge, I used a household ruler and saw that the gap between the top of the 12th fret and the bottom of the low E string is around 3mm (0.118")!!
The only thing I can think of is that the truss rod needs adjusting, and since I'm traveling now, I was waiting till Dec till I'm back home, so I can give it to my regular guitar guy for a set up. I'm not very confident adjusting the truss rod! However, yesterday I was reading about warped necks, and got quite worried - coz this guy was describing a warped neck as a bowed neck. I thought a warped neck usually means a twisted neck - and a bowed neck can be usually adjusted with the truss rod?!
I did notice a bit of fret wear on the lower frets (first to fifth or sixth) but I don't think that would cause the trouble I'm having right now
I'm attaching a few pictures of my guitar neck here - best I can do as I only have my mobile phone right now. Could any of you manage to identify the problem by looking at these pics? I realize it might not be easy as the pics are not great, but any advice would be appreciated!
Sorry for the long story - I'm sure this is a very common problem! Hope someone can help!