Quote:
Originally Posted by ruby50
Rather than spend money on a nut rocker, you can get a set of feeler gauges that are very long - they turn up a lot at garage sales and fleas. Does the same thing. Use a gauge (or couple of them) that fits the slot you are working on and span fret 1 and 2and slide it towards the nut. Theoretically it should just slide into the nut, but I have found it best to have a tiny step up into the nut slot.
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Some people say that the nut slots should match the plane of the fret surface... (even some of our wizened members of this forum for whom I have great respect).
But, here's the thing...
An open string WILL vibrate more freely than a fretted note. The open string ringing sets the nut sort of as a fulcrum for a "see-saw", and there is nothing extra inhibiting the string vibrating on the headstock side of the nut.
A fretted note, on the other hand, has the string on the other side of the fulcrum (non-vibrating side of the fret) being pressed down by one's finger. This finger absorbs vibrational energy. So it slows the vibrating portion of the string ever so slightly just as the "other" side of a see saw will slow if you inhibit "this" side of the see-saw. Hence, open notes often tend to ring a bit brighter than fretted notes, no matter how good one's technique is.
So, with the string vibrating more freely, a bit more action (height) is often a good thing. A BIT more... not much...
Sure, we'll here some people arguing about this... But that's okay...