Whats standard nut slot height?

I used to believe nut slots needed to be above fret height. Then I played guitars setup by those who knew better, which was quite a revelation. Once it was explained to me as John has done here and I had some time for it to sink in, I understood and have adopted it for my own setups.

[tysam]

Everyone here seems to view the nut height as a definitive " this is the height " to set it to....bullS@i!.....a setup, including nut height should be set up for the player the guitar is going to, not to any factory standard. No one can tell me that the way you play and the way i play are the same and require the identical set. I play light fingerstyle , fret height works for me....my customer beats the living crap out of a guitar....fret height buzzes non stop. No formula folks. build what works for you.

Originally Posted by tysam

Everyone here seems to view the nut height as a definitive " this is the height " to set it to....bullS@i!.....a setup, including nut height should be set up for the player the guitar is going to, not to any factory standard. No one can tell me that the way you play and the way i play are the same and require the identical set. I play light fingerstyle , fret height works for me....my customer beats the living crap out of a guitar....fret height buzzes non stop. No formula folks. build what works for you.

Obviously not everyone agrees.

Seriously though, if a player ever plays with a capo, they're playing the equivalent of a fret height nut. I suppose there may somewhere be a player who never plays with a capo and regularly hits open strings much harder than any fretted string. That person might need a higher nut slot, but I doubt it in most cases.

There is the matter of practicality too. If someone has a method that gets them within 0.002"-0.003" of fret height and minimizes the chance of going too far, the player will likely not notice the difference. However, I've found that most factories and many repairmen set the nut slots 0.010" or more higher than fret height. That's immediately noticeable and uncomfortable for most players. It's especially noticeable after they play a guitar with lower nut slots.

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

, I've found that most factories and many repairmen set the nut slots 0.010" or more higher than fret height. That's immediately noticeable and uncomfortable for most players. It's especially noticeable after they play a guitar with lower nut slots.

I think it's understandable and acceptable that factories should set their action higher than ideal ... IMO it's the responsibility of the customer to ensure that the vendor sets up the action to his/her requirements.

[clinchriver]

This is not that hard. Way back in the day before the "net" I learned to make nuts and saddles the old fashioned way. Learning when to stop cutting was the trick.

Originally Posted by murrmac123

I think it's understandable and acceptable that factories should set their action higher than ideal ... IMO it's the responsibility of the customer to ensure that the vendor sets up the action to his/her requirements.

That's a dreamworld. I've met a lot of guitar techs at various shops over the years. I wouldn't want most of them anywhere near my guitar with a file. Right or wrong, that's what I've seen.

And I understand that factory setups need to run average to high in order to give people some room for final adjustments, but most nut slots are far too high. This is one place the PLEK has really helped. Factories using those are getting much better out of the box setups.

[John Arnold]

We have danced around what should be the final determinant in setup. That is that the likelihood of buzzing should be the same on every note. If the nut is higher than the fret plane, it will be less likely to buzz open versus fretted. And it will be unnecessarily harder to play in the first position.

How many times did you experience nut slots cut down to the same level as the frets and when test-playing the instrument notice undue buzzing on open strings??

To tell the truth, it is extremely rare. If I find that the open string buzzes more than a fretted note on the same string, it is almost always the result of the nut being below fret height.
Soon after I started doing setups for Norman Blake, I saw him doing something that I have used ever since. After tightening the string up to pitch and getting it settled, bend the string down against the fingerboard between the nut and first fret. That allows it to be down to the height of the nut slot, instead of curving upwards.

No one can tell me that the way you play and the way i play are the same and require the identical set. I play light fingerstyle , fret height works for me....my customer beats the living crap out of a guitar....fret height buzzes non stop.

I think you missed my point. If the nut is truly at fret height and you have buzzing when played open, it is almost a certainty that you will also have buzzing when fretted on the first or second fret. In that case, adding relief or raising the saddle is the cure, not raising the nut. When the nut is the same height as the frets, the geometry of fretted and open strings is essentially identical. The fact that a longer string vibrates in a bigger envelope is compensated for by adding relief to the neck. That gives you more next fret clearance near the nut end of the neck.

[Ned Milburn]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

After tightening the string up to pitch and getting it settled, bend the string down against the fingerboard between the nut and first fret. That allows it to be down to the height of the nut slot, instead of curving upwards.

100% agreed. I mentioned the same thing in one of my earlier comments in this thread.