Lowering action

The worst that could happen is you'd need to replace the saddle. Assuming the saddle isn't glued in place, I'm not sure if they are.

Probably better to buy a new one and use that, and least then if it does go wrong you can always put the old one back in.

Thanks guys, I'll try all those things. Well almost all, I'm afraid I can't have a professional do the job right now for previously stated reasons.

"R"

Thanks South Paw

I'll drop him a line. It really isn't that bad but I play a lot and the action could be a bit easier. I can live with it if I have to but If I can make it easier, so much the better.

http://www.theguitarfiles.com/modules.p … amp;sid=97
http://www.sheehans.com/acoustic-guitar … itar-setup
This was a nice forum post on how to set up an acoustic http://www.guitar4christ.com/modules.ph … p;p=341895

I do all my own guitar work.  A clockwise turn brings the neck down, too much torque and you could splinter the wood.  Be careful, don't force the allen key.  I have shaved saddle before, too.  I pull the saddle out, use 80 grit sandpaper on a flat sanding block and keep even pressure and use short strokes to remove material.  After you have down to where you want it, clean off the burrs with 220 grit or finer. 
I would advise to give at least a 1/4 clockwise turn to the truss rod adjustment before sanding the saddle.  And read these links, I read them all and they have good info.

Lots of good info here... I would add the advice to work slowly and remember that it's relative easy to take stuff off, but awful hard to put it back on! Sanding and shaving should be done slowly and absolutely without power tools! I know that it's tempting to whip out a dremel tool and grind away but that has (yep, I've done it!) always ended up with things in worse shape than what I started with. It's time consuming, but you can remove a saddle or nut...sand a bit off...then restring to tension and play for a while and see how it works... remember too that on neck adjustment a 1/4 turn is a lot...work slowly!  I hope all works well with the project.......

I purchased my second guitar a few months ago and the action was too high so I set about lowering it as I had done with my previous guitar (successfully).  The action on first guitar was 1.5 to 2mm at the 12th fret and played well and on my new one it was 3mm, it's only 1mm but it's a lot.

Firstly I tightened the truss rod, I did a fair bit of research beforehand it's important to only turn a 1/4 turn at a time before letting it settle for a day or two.  I read in several places that as a guide, put your capo on the first fret and hold your string tight to the last fret and you should be able to squeeze a business card between the middle fret and the string. If the gap is bigger than the thickness of a business card the rod needs to be tightened and slacken if the gap is too small.

Then I sanded the bridge, I wanted to come down 1mm at the 12th fret and as the 12th fret was midway between the bridge and nut, I figured I needed to take 2mm off the bridge!  I marked 2mm on the bridge and started to sand, I placed a large piece of sandpaper on the kitchen worktop and rubbed the bridge back and fore, checking all the time to make sure I'm taking the same of each end.

Now I have a 2mm action at the 12th and it's fine, I may take a fraction more off when I change the strings in a few weeks.

Be careful, take it slowely and expect it to take a few weeks.   If you don't think your capable, remember paying to get it set up is cheaper that a new guitar!

Good luck!

1. Bridges are not glued in.

2. Some manufacturers put layer of very thin shims under their bridges which can easily be removed.  Look and see.

3. As stated previously, a  clockwise (tightening) turn of the truss rod and lighter guage strings might solve your situation.

4. Like my old 12 string, it might need a neck reset.  Ask yourself if your guitar worth the expense?

5. Standard bridges are cheap.  Sand yours down. If that doesn't work for you, buy another or buy a bridge you can experiment with and leave your OEM bridge as is.

6. Tune it to Open D or Open G and learn to play slide guitar.

set up is often overlooked on an inexpensive giutar..you really can't make a 300$ guitar sound like a 3000$ guitar..but you can make it play just about as easy.  before you adjust the neck truss..put a capo on the 1st frett and then hold the E strings {one at a time} down at the 13th frett..there should be a gap of about .005 to .010.or about the thickness of 2 sheets of paper in the middle.. step 2...with the capo still on...measure the strings at the 12th frett..5/64 should be safe..you can go a bit lower..for a ballpark get 8 poker playing cards..that will be damn close to what your looking for..if your strings are higher than that keep adding cards untill they just fill the space..now the tricky part..see how many cards you added..double this amount..thats how much needs to be removed from the bottom of the saddle..let's say you had to add 3 cards..then you need to lower the saddle by 6 cards...leave the capo on and loosen the strings,remove the pins and the string from the bridge..the strings will be held in place by the capo..the saddle should lift out..take a sharp pencil and use the cards 6 in my example.lay the cards on a flat serface and hold the saddle up to the edge...make a line.a sheet of 220 grit wet dry paper works just fine..on a flat surface put the paper and use the side of a CD case or some other square edge as a giude to keep the saddle upright ..make sure that the saddle is dead flat and square when your done..this will make an amazing improvement in your guitar..now step 3 is going to mean a trip to the guitar store...take a look at how much the string needs to move from open to the first fret...when you hold the string down at the first fret..look at how far it needs to move to be down at the second fret..if we use the poker cards again...you will see that it is about 3 cards fron ths string to the open first fret...and less than 2 cards at the second fret once the string is held down at the first fret..it doesen't seem like much but that's 50% lower,,,if you do the rest  i bet you can get the shop to file the nut for a sixpack..or maybe just a good line of BS..ie sob story..lol...you will love your very much