#16
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Agreed. The factory doesn't know what strings I'll be using or how hard I intend to bang on them. My luthier does.
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#17
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If the nut is cut for lights and you put medium gage the strings will bind in the nut slots. In this case the slots will have to be filed for the heavier strings.
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"Vintage taste, reissue budget" |
#18
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I've been doing guitar repair for 27 years now and I can tell ya it would be next to impossible to get the action at the nut set up right by sanding the bottom. You could get close for sure but you would never get it perfect that way or if you did consider yourself lucky. THis is a top down job one string at a time. To get it just perfect you are one file stroke away from ruining it. That kind of accuracy is not possible from bottom up.
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#19
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Quote:
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#20
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There is a "correct" height for nut slots - since good intonation is considered correct the nut should behave like a fret. That's how high the slots should be - and I agree with Redir, it's just slow and careful one slot at a time. We're removing small fractions of millimetres until it's right.
If someone wants a higher but well intonated first position then a compensated nut is for them. I can see instantly if a guitar has been set up by a competent tech prior to me getting it, or not since leaving the factory .. and sometimes if the owner has had a go at it first. |
#21
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LOL. I finally bit the bullet and bought a set of nut files at about $78 for 6 from StewMac about 2 weeks ago, and adjusted two guitars. Much better than torch tip cleaner files. That's just me though.
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#22
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Set each strings height individually and then reshape the top of the nut so that about half the wound strings are exposed is what I do on my own guitars. Factory setups are, and should be, a little on the high side.
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#23
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Quote:
My first guitar, an Alvarez Regent I had been playing for several weeks, really picking it up quickly. I was playing more barre chords and learning scales and melody, and asked for the action to be lowered. I thought they'd shave the bottom of the saddle, but instead they cut the nut slots deeper. Dialed in more relief so it wouldn't buzz. Result was nice low action in the first frets but at the 12th fret literally could stack 3 quarters under the strings. All but unplayable except with extra light strings which sounded like crap for a couple days until they broke in. Too bright and jangly. Exactly what I didn't want. The fact that the guy who did it was not the guy who was giving me lessons (partners), he probably thought I needed lower action for the open chords. When I complained the guy said "Well, grab that Yari there and see how you like it. That's what a decent action feels like. Now, we'll give you $20 trade on your guitar. Of course you're going to want the hardcase which is an extra hundred bucks." Yeah sure, thousand dollar Yari don't come with a fitted hardcase. And my budget didn't include a grand on a guitar. |
#24
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Quote:
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#25
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Thanks to all for the feedback. A lot of food for thought!
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#26
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Quote:
- Glenn
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#27
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with the nut already installed the following things are present that aren't in a removed nut and trying to sand the bottom:
1: observation of actual fret height and how it will relate to slots 2: ability to slope slots as they relate to peghead angle 3: nut is already held in place removing the necessity of having a vise of the right caliber to hold the nut as far as answering the OP's query, that's already been done with alacrity |
#28
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Quote:
I do reiterate, however that for setting action, you're far better off sanding the bottom of the saddle (on a hard, flat surface) once everything else is dialed in...it's far easier & cheaper to do, or to do over if you pooch it.
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#29
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Quote:
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#30
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I file - or fill in with crazy glue and baking soda aand recut the individual groove to the way I want it. I don't want to change the angle or height globally - don't find it that easy to sand down straight accurately at all.
If I need to remove the nut and adjust globally - usually shim the nut since I play slide - I use tools from Stew Mac and follow youtube video instructions that I've seen. Iron on edge banding works well for me to shim nuts and then I use titebond and clamps to reset the nut
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