If it's a cheapo guitar and you're willing to attempt the work yourself you can try this....
But keep in mind that if you mess it up or go too far, you will have to buy a new nut and bridge insert and reshape them to the specs you need. (Also not hard)
1. Take a measurement with a ruler at the first fret of how far the distance between the top of the fret and the bottom of your strings is.
2. Once you have this distance, cut it in half and write it down. (This is the distance you will be lowering your nut the first time)
Now comes the fun part....lol.
3. Take that measurement and mark that distance on your guitar nut from the bottom.
You should wind up with a line close to the bottom of your nut.
4. Now remove the strings from your guitar and remove your nut.
Do this by scribing (Cutting away) the laquer where the nut and wood meet up with a razor blade.
If you dont do this, you will crack the wood in the next step and have a ruined guitar.
5. After you've scribed completely around the nut in all the places where you can see the finish bonding the nut to the guitar, get yourself a wooden dowel or short pencil shaft. Brace the neck against something soft and put the dowel/pencil-shaft against the nut and tap the dowel/pencil-shaft lightly until the nut pops out. You may have to tap it from both sides to get it loose.
6. Now once you have the nut out of the neck you can lower it. You do this by finding a perfectly flat surface, laying down some sandpaper and then sanding the bottom of the nut until you sand it down to that mark you made on the nut in Step 3. SAND EVENLY ON A FLAT SURFACE!!!! If you mess this up, you will have to try and even it out later...not easy. My preferred method is to slide the nut on top of the lain sandpaper, not the other way around. That way you can put pressure on the nut from above while holding the sandpaper in-place on the table/floor/flat surface.
7. Once you have sanded the nut down evenly to the mark you made on it, clean it off with a piece of paper and also CAREFULLY clean out any chunks of glue in the slot for the nut on the neck. Do not gouge the neck slot or your nut won't fit right.
8. Now place the nut in the slot and string up your old Low E-String and your High E-string that you took off earlier. Tune them to pitch and see if you like the new distance of your strings at the nut. If you do not like the distance and want it closer, repeat steps 1-7 (minus cleaning the nut slot...lol...once is good enough)
9. If you are happy with the distance, you're finished lowering the nut for now. Now you can work on seating the nut back in the slot permanently and movin on to the bridge.
10. Okay, remove your Low and high E-Strings again and put them aside.
Make sure there aren't any shavings or pieces of anything in the nut slot or on the nut. Take a small dab of elmers glue and lightly coat the bottom of the nut. You want enough elmers glue in there to hold the nut in place but without it gushing out all over the place. If it does spill don't worry...it's elmers glue. lol.
11. Slide the nut into the slot and make sure it is placed evenly in the slot and not hanging over to either side.
12. Restring the guitar and make sure that the nut is adjusted properly according to the way the strings are comfortable at tension. Once you have restrung the guitar and the nut is adjusted/seated properly, give it a good 30 minutes for the glue to dry. Once it has dried, tune the guitar to pitch and try playing chords at the first 5 frets. See if you like the action better.
THE BRIDGE
13. After the nut is done and dried, try playing higher up on the neck closer to the body. If your playing action is good there after lowering the nut, leave the guitar alone. However, if you would also like to lower your action at the 9th fret and up...you can do the following...
14. Take a measurement with a ruler at the 12th fret of how far the distance between the top of the fret and the bottom of your strings is.
15. Once you have this distance, cut it in half and write it down. (This is the distance you will be lowering your bridge)
16. Remove the strings from your guitar and set them aside again. Once you have removed the strings, take a pair of calipers/pliers and remove the bridge insert from the bridge of your guitar. It's that cream colored thingie that stis in the slot at the spot where your strings go into the body of the guitar.
17. Once you've removed the bridge insert, take that measurement from at the 12th fret and mark that distance on your bridge insert from the bottom. You should wind up with a line close to the bottom of your bridge insert, make sure to mark it all the way across evenly so you can sand it evenly.
18. Now once you have the bridge insert out of the guitar you can lower it. You do this by finding a perfectly flat surface, laying down some sandpaper and then sanding the bottom of the bridge insert until you sand it down to that mark you made on it in Step 17. SAND EVENLY ON A FLAT SURFACE!!!! If you mess this up, you will have to try and even it out later...or replace it. My preferred method is to slide the bridge insert on top of the lain sandpaper, not the other way around. That way you can put even pressure on the insert from above while holding the sandpaper in-place on the table/floor/flat surface.
19. Once you have sanded the bridge insert down evenly to the mark you made on it, clean it off with a piece of towel paper.
20. Now place the bridge insert in the bridge slot and string up your guitar with the strings that you took off earlier. Tune them to pitch and see if you like the new distance of your strings at the bridge. If you do not like the distance and want it closer, repeat steps 13-20.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me or ask here.
=]
Dm
