Quote:
Originally Posted by murrmac123
I am quite sure that there is something I am missing and I eagerly await elucidation. Specifically about the zero fret question.
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It's all about the difference between nylon and steel. A zero fret on a nylon string guitar does not work, the action has to be exceptionally high to avoid buzzing on open strings. It's better to have the nut a bit higher, and then the action doesn't have to be quite as high. Nylon strings have larger excursions than steel strings, which requires more height above the frets, and they also change pitch less due to the stretch from fretting. It's a complex geometry problem, and I believe that fretting a string causes it to rise a bit as it crosses the fret, which explains why fretted notes don't buzz. I've only built one nylon string guitar, and I've always used a zero fret, but it did not work with nylon strings.
The significant point here is that with nylon strings, which are much more flexible (compliant?) than steel, high nut slots do not degrade playability on the first few frets.