Nut action

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Nut action

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JasonM

Posts: 2055
Joined: Dec. 8 2005
From: Baltimore

Nut action

Hola gents,

I just made another nut for my guitar with a wider spacing and I filed the slots down to have about .2mm of clearance at the 1st fret measured with a capo on 3. This worked out ok but I decided to take it a little further and use these numbers which I got over at the delcamp foro:

E - 0.2mm
A - 0.15mm
D - 0.1mm
G - 0.15mm
B - 0.1mm
E - 0.0mm

I only filed the A down to .15 from the initial 0.2mm and the D down to 0.15. Before going any further I retuned the guitar to check and got nasty buzzing on the A and D. Too low. Just curious what you guys think about those numbers.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 5 2020 17:19:43

kitarist

Posts: 1715
Joined: Dec. 4 2012

RE: Nut action (in reply to JasonM)

Sorry, I am not very helpful..

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Konstantin

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 5 2020 17:40:27

rombsix

Posts: 7808
Joined: Jan. 11 2006
From: Beirut, Lebanon

RE: Nut action (in reply to kitarist)

LOL :P

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http://www.youtube.com/rombsix

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 5 2020 22:05:52

JasonM

Posts: 2055
Joined: Dec. 8 2005
From: Baltimore

RE: Nut action (in reply to kitarist)

Nice!

Well, Today I got a copyright claim on a YouTube video I posted like 4 years ago of Antonio Rey doing a picado exercise. Filed by “Antonio Rey” LOL

Another thought, some say (Trevor Gore for example) that the nut slots should be set to the same plane plane as the frets. This makes sense theoretically but in reality I don’t think it’s enough for open strings - at least for flamenco. Maybe on electric guitar set up.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 5 2020 22:59:07

mango

Posts: 158
Joined: Apr. 2 2019

RE: Nut action (in reply to JasonM)

I always try to go as close as possible. Only the 5th and 6th string seem to need a little clearance to avoid Capo-zizzle.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 6 2020 23:52:40

ernandez R

Posts: 739
Joined: Mar. 25 2019
From: Alaska USA

RE: Nut action (in reply to JasonM)

Jason,
Back buzz, open string buzz, or buzz on fretted string?

Couple of ideas/options:

First, how long was she unstrung? You might let her sit under tension a day before changing anything as the neck bows ever so slightly under tension and the bridge lifts as well although some bridges on a soft top can will rock forward lowering the strings.

What tension strings? Higher tension have less amplitude so can get lower over all ( I think I have this right ;)

I leave my strings at tension for a few days to let everything settle out before making any adjustments but I'm building 1000gr lightweights, if your guitar is 2000g and built like the proverbial outhouse then this well be less of an issue.

I first set my nut up without strings with a .020 strip of metal about 3" inches long and use it like a fret rocker only backwards. I place one end of the strip in the nut slot and the other on the second fret and slide down toward the sound hole and notice how much it drops when it slides off the nut and onto the first fret. You could get a feeler gage in there and measure and go from there. I just feel it, the e string getting almost nothing and just enough for the wound strings. I know not super helpful: like free internet advise ;)

I work the saddle at the same time and bring them down together so one doesn't effect the other.

I string her up and play her for a week or so then adjust accordingly.

My issue with the low tension black label Augustine strings is with the D buzzing. A couple of times I've done the CA baking soda trick to bring the nut slot back up when too low. I've got a monster Pulgar and really rape the windings off that skinny little wound string in the first position.

At some point it's time to just start that number two guitar. You know, take the Pepsi challenge and try to make one better. My number two was not but I tried a bunch of crazy ideas which seem more like stupid ones in hindsight. Fun times for sure though!

But like you I suppose, every time I pick up one of my guitars I can't help but think about pulling the strings and fixing a fret that's not perfect, getting the action a little lower, sanding a little more here or there, or just a few more paddings of shellac...

HR

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 7 2020 0:49:51

Sr. Martins

Posts: 3077
Joined: Apr. 4 2011

RE: Nut action (in reply to JasonM)

What was the point in getting A & D even lower? This way you get the thickest string to be even higher.. are you sure the plan wasn’t something like E=0.1, A=0.15 and D=0.2?

Maybe the guys at delcamp get those slanted nut numbers because of their slanted (and high) saddles.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 7 2020 10:23:27

mark indigo

Posts: 3625
Joined: Dec. 5 2007

RE: Nut action (in reply to JasonM)

quote:

Nut action

yep, plenty of that on the foro

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 7 2020 20:41:07

Stephen Eden

Posts: 914
Joined: Apr. 12 2008
From: UK

RE: Nut action (in reply to JasonM)

Chuck the numbers out the window. Each guitar will behave differently and need to be set up accordingly.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 8 2020 8:42:13

rombsix

Posts: 7808
Joined: Jan. 11 2006
From: Beirut, Lebanon

RE: Nut action (in reply to mark indigo)

quote:

yep, plenty of that on the foro

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 8 2020 14:13:44

JasonM

Posts: 2055
Joined: Dec. 8 2005
From: Baltimore

RE: Nut action (in reply to Sr. Martins)

Well, I put the last nut that I made back on the guitar and took some carful measurements with feeler gauges as best I could. Pretty much every string but the low E is under .10mm! Now with this nut I did have a little buzzing on the D string. But now I’m really confused as to how this one is so much lower with almost no buzzing! This nut feels great. I gotta put the new one back on and renew sure I must have gone wrong somewhere.

Thanks for the replies. Yeah Ernandez, I did start another guitar but part of me also thinks it’s a waste not to keep tinkering with my first one. I’ve been playing it for a few months and basically left it alone for once! But in making this nut I gouged up the back of the neck that means sand and shellac on the todo list !!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 8 2020 19:42:03

JasonM

Posts: 2055
Joined: Dec. 8 2005
From: Baltimore

RE: Nut action (in reply to JasonM)

Well turns out JasonM made a stupid mistake and grabbed the wrong Size feeler gauge and measured wrong lol. Daddy said if your gonna be dumb your gonna have to work hard!

So in the end I was able to go lower than those numbers I posted above. But I still used the first fret tap test to test clearance as I was dialing the final height.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 14 2020 16:11:20