How To Check Nut Slot Depth
Nut Slot Depth Discussion in 'Tech-Talk' started by tmac65, Sep 4, 2013. Tmac65 Strat-Talk Member. Joined: Aug 18, 2013 Location: Denver CO. Generally, the bottoms of the nut slots should be a few thousandths of an inch higher than the tops of the frets when the neck is straight. To check nut-slot height, hold the string down at the third fret, and see how much it moves over the first fret. This is similar to checking neck relief, but the string should move much less. The walls of this slot may be parallel or they may diverge in a wide 'V.' Either way, if the bottom of the slot is the same as the bottom of 'A' then the nut will work just fine. ' C ' is a slot which is too wide, or has a flat bottom.
How To Check Nut Slot Depth Machine
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Written byGreigg Fraser Everything you need to know about your guitar nutThe 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! Cleverjoe's Home Page
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