RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut

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Sr. Martins

Posts: 3077
Joined: Apr. 4 2011

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to jshelton5040)

quote:

That's one advantage of using 45mm overall it makes the string spacing exactly 9mm.

Ah... that explains a lot

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 21 2013 18:55:32

Sr. Martins

Posts: 3077
Joined: Apr. 4 2011

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Sr. Martins)

Amazing... switched from 42,5mm to 44mm and it feels like another guitar

I used a capo in order to make everything else equal.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 21 2013 19:10:55

Sr. Martins

Posts: 3077
Joined: Apr. 4 2011

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Sr. Martins)

Man, this is awesome!

Iam not really saying it is better or worse, its just SOOO different that it really feels that Iam playing another guitar. The fingerboard feels wider and the neck feels flatter, its hard to explain.

Just try it.

Edit: Just measured with calipers.. in fact the nut is 52,5mm and the center to center measurement is 44,5 with the new nut.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 21 2013 21:46:04

Ricardo

Posts: 14797
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Sr. Martins)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rui Martins

Man, this is awesome!

Iam not really saying it is better or worse, its just SOOO different that it really feels that Iam playing another guitar. The fingerboard feels wider and the neck feels flatter, its hard to explain.

Just try it.

Edit: Just measured with calipers.. in fact the nut is 52,5mm and the center to center measurement is 44,5 with the new nut.

just admit it's better.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 23 2013 3:16:17

tijeretamiel

Posts: 441
Joined: Jan. 6 2012

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Ricardo)

Out of curiousity, what are preferred string spacing's at the bridge/saddle?

Personally, I think it's as important as the nut width.

I've tried some guitars which have had 57mm, 58mm and I think 59mm. I personally find 57mm a little on the cramped side due to my strange fat thumbs...

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 23 2013 7:36:28

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Sr. Martins)

factory standard is normally 58 - 59mm.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 23 2013 11:04:13

Sr. Martins

Posts: 3077
Joined: Apr. 4 2011

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Ricardo)

quote:

just admit it's better.

Wide nuts: Better than sex.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 23 2013 12:40:10

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1672
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Alonte)

I like to use a 52-mm nut and I leave 5 mm of space outside the high E and 4 mm outside the low E (centers) leaving 43 mm between the centers of the two Es, so I think your 41 mm is too cramped.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 24 2013 4:42:49

Arash

Posts: 4495
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Ricardo)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo

I admit on ALL my guitars I slide the nut slightly toward the basses as I tend to yank the first string off the fingerboard when doing fast runs up the first string. I almost never push the bass E off the neck.

Hey, sorry to bring up this old post up

But I have some similar issues with my sanchis and am looking for solutions and possibly replace the nut as well.
Also, do I understand this comment correctly that you actually have the nut basically pertrude a bit on the upper side and thus basically your strings aren't perfectly straight (from saddle to nut) ??

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 13 2022 10:27:10

Ricardo

Posts: 14797
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Arash)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Arash

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo

I admit on ALL my guitars I slide the nut slightly toward the basses as I tend to yank the first string off the fingerboard when doing fast runs up the first string. I almost never push the bass E off the neck.

Hey, sorry to bring up this old post up
But I have some similar issues with my sanchis and am looking for solutions and possibly replace the nut as well.
Also, do I understand this comment correctly that you actually have the nut basically pertrude a bit on the upper side and thus basically your strings aren't perfectly straight (from saddle to nut) ??

Yes. Although some People have the opposite problem and push the 6th string off. The idea of the skinny nut is that it gives both strings room, however it always feels too cramped in the first position. I like the wide nut but with a bit of space on the treble side that is all, so I push the nut toward bass side. If your Sanchis is too skinny you can get a nut blank and make your own slots. Be careful how you do it, you don’t want strings to stick in the slot nor the slot be too deep which lowers the action at first fret too much. Remember if you make an error all is not lost, you can raise the nut with a shim underneath. Keep a good millimeter height from string to fingerboard or else the open strings buzz against the first fret.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 13 2022 13:09:21

Arash

Posts: 4495
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Ricardo)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo

Yes. Although some People have the opposite problem and push the 6th string off. The idea of the skinny nut is that it gives both strings room, however it always feels too cramped in the first position. I like the wide nut but with a bit of space on the treble side that is all, so I push the nut toward bass side. If your Sanchis is too skinny you can get a nut blank and make your own slots. Be careful how you do it, you don’t want strings to stick in the slot nor the slot be too deep which lowers the action at first fret too much. Remember if you make an error all is not lost, you can raise the nut with a shim underneath. Keep a good millimeter height from string to fingerboard or else the open strings buzz against the first fret.

Thanks Ricardo.

First of all, yes I think I have the same issue. I always feel like I might slip away on the treble E. I just don't feel 100% "secure" with the 2 trebble string, plus in addition, I feel like its just too loose and moves up and down was too easy.
Thats the best way I can describe both issues. No issues with the Bass string. But also another issue could be that the original slots are kinda too deep, as you said. I mean look at this, here is a pic from the nut

My sanchis (1f extra) was made extra by the bros (with very low action and kinda better selected woods and all). I picked it up directly from them when they were in Germany years ago. The saddle is low. Here is a pic from the saddle.

and I assume they cut the slots of the nut quite deep to have it low "everywhere" so to say, not sure. Im really bad with luthiery stuff and never cared that much, until I noticed I feel like some things need to be adjusted.

Other than that, its a dream guitar. I want to keep it forever. I just need to make this setup kinda work perfectly for me.

The fretboard is 52mm. E to E right now is around 42.5mm

Yeah I don't have an issue even if a nut should fail. I have 3 nuts (lol), 2 without any notches (just blank) and one pre notched like this:

52 mm with E<>E: 44 mm

But I guess I should maybe do one from a blank with 45 mm and 9mm spacing and then do what you did (i.e. slide the nut slightly upwards) ?

Also, I guess thats a good video to do the nut?

I time stamped
https://youtu.be/L3ra3HYc4Zg?t=1435

Also I found this interesting (related to the treble E string issue), again time stamped
https://youtu.be/U_l7pDYTZ-A?t=400

I bought this cheap 20 bucks set for doing the nut and all, I guess its enough for a non luthier like me who just wants to maybe use it once or twice

Would appreciate your overall thoughts on all of this.

Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 16 2022 11:48:13

Pgh_flamenco

Posts: 1506
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Arash)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Arash
I bought this cheap 20 bucks set for doing the nut and all, I guess its enough for a non luthier like me who just wants to maybe use it once or twice

Would appreciate your overall thoughts on all of this.

The only tools related to guitar in the pic you posted are for doing frets. The file with the orange handle is a fret file and the tools above it can be used for leveling and crowning frets. The file set (with the red handles) isn’t specifically for guitar. I bought a set of diamond files from Harbor Freight like the red ones and they were not useful for doing nut slots.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 16 2022 20:02:40

Pgh_flamenco

Posts: 1506
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Arash)

Here’s a set of nut files from Stew Mac. Of course, they’re overpriced like everything else from SM, but you’ll be able to do a good job with them.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-nuts-and-saddles/gauged-nut-slotting-files/

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 16 2022 20:08:09

Arash

Posts: 4495
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Pgh_flamenco)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Pgh_flamenco

Here’s a set of nut files from Stew Mac. Of course, they’re overpriced like everything else from SM, but you’ll be able to do a good job with them.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-nuts-and-saddles/gauged-nut-slotting-files/

yeah I realized the mistake, thanks. Im gonne return this set (unopened) so no issue.

but man I really dont want to spend that money just to do a nut.
I will probably only need this once to make my nut and then never use them again.

How about this thing? Its like 10 bucks on ebay lol

https://imgur.com/GQIonYM

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 17 2022 8:57:59

Pgh_flamenco

Posts: 1506
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: Nut width and Spacing at Nut (in reply to Arash)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Arash

How about this thing? Its like 10 bucks on ebay lol

https://imgur.com/GQIonYM

I mostly worked on electric guitars that had double locking trems so I rarely had to deal with nut slots.

For years people on the net have suggested using welding tip files as a cheap alternative when working on nut slots. You can probably modify existing slots with these tip files, but I wouldn’t want to create the slots from scratch using them.

Make sure the welding tip file set has the correct gauge for the strings on your guitar. Because nylon strings have such a large diameter you could try using wound electric guitar strings as a saw blade.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 17 2022 12:25:05