Hi, I bought Christmas gift for myself, a Enya Nova GO SP1 carbon fiber travel guitar. It is very sweet guitar and great one for camping and general peace of mind (caused by humidity/temperature). However, even though it’s small I found it bit tough to play (maybe my fingers or .12 gauge strings it came or 2.7 mm action on low E string) so I got some spare saddle and placed it to lower action to about 2.2 mm on low E and 1.5 on high e string. It’s still bit of a battle, but it’s better. During general examination I found something odd. To me, although I wear glasses and can’t tell 4k from 1080p screen, the neck seems slanted towards low E string. A little \
slant, of course, much milder, but just to give an idea.
Now I can’t tell if this is normal or it’s defect and I should return it whilst I still can (30 days return period). Or are my eyes just shite? It plays good, although low E sometimes buzzes (I think it buzzes on zero fret strangely, especially when I’m tuning it). For me the action is still bit of a tough one, but maybe I should change to my usual .11 gauge strings or even get .10 ones? I heard confusing things on the net. Some say heavier strings can provide lower action, whilst others say lighter ones are better for low action. Also, some say neck should have some relief others say it should be straight. Above 12th fret it’s still kinda hard to play even with cutaway. Is that supposed to be so? I am playing guitar (although bigger, grand auditorium version) for almost 4 years. This is neck on Enya Nova GO SP1:
I don’t know if this is straight, but seems so to me.
Thanks for all the advice and help in advance. I thought about bringing it to luthier, but I don’t think they can improve it much more. For sure, I am not a professional, but once I brought guitar I tuned myself to techie to make it have lower action and it came basically the same just my wallet was lighter. If I can do it myself, I’d do it myself.
It kinda does look twisted - maybe? I think you have the right idea with the camera angle, but I’d try to line up the top of the nut with the far fret tops and then see how the strings to the bridge look.
There may be some way to untwist a neck made of wood, but carbon fiber I don’t know. I saw a video of someone who bought a guitar that had sat without strings for decades and the neck twisted. The repair was to add moisture to the neck over a few days and then dry it while being twisted back into proper shape.
I have one of those Enyas for the exact same reason. Beating on while camping. Took mine backpacking on a rainy weekend once and it worked great.
Mine looks exactly the same, btw. It’s the “nut” which isn’t a separate piece. it’s molded into the neck and it’s higher on the Low E side than it is on the high E side. Presumably it’s done that way for the action because of the differing string thicknesses.
So what you did by adjusting the action at the bridge is about all you can do with this guitar.
I just had a look at mine and I see a very similar view when looking down the neck.
I have replaced the saddle on mine to lower the action a touch and correct the intonation.
The only solution I see is to use a nut file to deepen the groove for the high strings. You may not be able to fix it like you can a bone nut if you go too deep though.
Thank you for replies! I was getting paranoid and thought I got a faulty one. So it seems that’s how they are made. Yeah I noticed nut is molded into the neck. It plays quite good, but I just wanna make sure that I wasn’t unlucky and got a faulty one.
@Richard_N How much you managed to lower the action? I dropped it from (2.7 mm low E & 2 mm high e) to (2.2 mm low E & 1.5 mm high e).
Also to you and if anyone else has same guitar can you tell me if you get low recording volume when you record it via USB or connected to audio interface? In DAW or Audacity I get really quiet sound (with the round button/knob turned all the way right to loudest). After exporting I do get relatively good volume:
Audacity recording Nova GO SP1 USB-OTG.wav
I wonder if it’s because I sanded down my saddle or it’s just how it is? Thanks for checking it out and reply!
The Enya Nova Go is a “zero fret” guitar. There is no nut. There are just string guides to hold the strings the correct distance apart. Filing the guide grooves won’t do anything (unless the strings are slipping out of the grooves.)
As long as the zero fret aligns to the rest of the frets you should be fine.
I’m in the same ballpark, just a touch over 2mm on the bass side and and between 1.5mm and 1.75mm on the treble side.
1 Like
