How To Check Nut Slot Depth

1. How To Check Nut Slot Depth Tool
2. How To Check Nut Slot Depth Chart

Nut Slot Depth Discussion in 'Tech-Talk' started by tmac65, Sep 4, 2013. Tmac65 Strat-Talk Member. Joined: Aug 18, 2013 Location: Denver CO.

1. For nut slot repair, use the sharp tip to “prime” the bottom of the nut slot by pushing it into the slot at three or four points along it’s width. This helps the new material grip the bottom of the nut slot and resist breaking free prematurely. Put a tiny drop of Krazy Glue in the freshly cleaned slot, careful not to let it run.
2. Re: proper nut slot width/depth? My nut is one of those black graphite nuts, and its very thick and tall, and the strings are already below the surface of the top of the nut, and im only getting open string buzz fron the low E, il try your tips! Thanx john, ken and curly!
3. If backlash is more than.012', loosen right-side adjusting nut one slot and tighten the left-side adjusting nut one slot. If backlash is less than.003', loosen left-side adjusting nut one slot and tighten the right-side adjusting nut one slot. Re-check backlash with the dial indicator as above.

How To Check Nut Slot Depth Tool

The third and final step of setting up your guitar is to cut the slots in the string nut to a depth where you get the optimal first fret clearance for each string. Rather obviously, you want that clearance to be as low as possible, because the higher it is, the more your fingers will hurt when fretting the strings at the first few frets. Moreover, the intonation of your guitar will suffer (that is, your chords will be off even with perfect tuning) when the strings are too high above the first fret.

How To Check Nut Slot Depth Chart

So if we want the strings to be as low as possible on the nut, then what is the lower bound? One constraint is of course that the open, unfretted strings should never buzz on the first fret. However, there is another thing to be kept in mind: raising the strings at the nut will also prevent the behind-the-fret buzz that I mentioned earlier. Therefore, your ideal first fret clearance is usually a tad more than what you would absolutely need to prevent the open string from buzzing. That is true especially if you prefer less neck relief. My preferred values for the first fret action are .022' for the sixth string (that's the deep E, the wound string) and .018 for the first string (that's the high E, the thin unwound string), with the rest of them pretty much evenly spaced in between.

When you buy a new guitar, you can almost be guaranteed that the nut slots are not deep enough. I have seen expensive guitars that came with as much as .035' of first fret clearance, truly a finger killer. To cut the nut slots deeper, get yourself a good set of nut slot files, e.g. from Stewart-MacDonald. For each nut slot, select a file that is as wide or a tad wider than the diameter of the respective string. (Making the slot too narrow will cause the string to bind in the slot, with very unpleasant consequences.) To work on a particular slot, take off the respective string, but make sure that all the other strings are on and tuned up, so that the neck is pretty much in the same position as it is normally when you play. Then cut the nut slot deeper with your file, angling it downward a bit towards the headstock.

Written byGreigg Fraser Everything you need to know about your guitar nut The nut is one of the most important exponents in the overall performance ofany guitar ... electric or acoustic. A badly worn or poorly made nut can easilyruin the tone and playability of any instrument. Nuts are made from a variety of materials including; plastic, bone, brassand graphite. Bone is perhaps the first choice of many guitarists and guitartechs alike, mainly because of the tone ... many feel that bone nuts simplysound better. For electric guitars with a vibrato system my personal choice isgraphite, or some other low friction material. (Using the vibrato bardramatically increases the chance of the guitar strings 'snagging' atthe nut). The main reason for nut replacement is simply when the old nut is too badlyworn, with the string slots carved so deep that the strings tend to 'fretout' at the first fret. This can sometimes be corrected by placing a shim(a small piece of material about the thickness of a business card) under theold nut. But if the wear is too severe...a new nut is the answer. A great way to check nut slot depth (and possible wear) is to press anystring down at the 3rd fret. There should be enough clearance between thestring and the 1st fret to slide in a piece of paper. If the string is touchingthe fret then a new nut may be in your future! Making a nut from scratch is a tall order requiring an experienced guitartech and about an hour or so of their time. The job also calls for severalspecial tools such as precision nut files, razor saw, small wood chisels, etc.But for those of you who want to learn how to do it yourself there are avariety of 'how - to' books that can help you out. A great one is the'Guitar Player Repair Guide' by Dan Erlewine. As well as a detailedstep by step explanation, there's a list of the tools you'll need and how toget them. Another alternative is to see if your guitar is a candidate for a'pre-fab' nut. These are nuts that are manufactured with the widthand height predetermined and the individual nut slots 'roughed in'.They're usually made of plastic and as long as the width and slot spacingfit your guitar it should require minimal effort to install. But for my money, having a nut made from scratch by a trusted andexperienced guitar tech using quality material is well worth it! Greigg Fraser is aguitarist/songwriter from London, Ontario, Canada. Click below to visit his web site andlisten to audio samples from his two CD's! http://www.clevernet.net/curlymaple/ Cleverjoe's Home Page http://www.cleverjoe.com Guitar Strings - How to string a guitar. - Cleverjoe's Musician ResourceCentre Copyright © CleverNet. Allrights reserved.