Taylor GS Mini nut height
 

Can I run this across all you luthiers and proficient guitarists...
Not long purchased a Taylor GS Mini. Beautiful and powerful sound for such a "small" guitar.
I felt the action at the lower frets, particularly at the first was a bit high, and uncomfortable pressure was required to hold barre chords there.
Now I fully understand that lowering the string heights by reducing the nut height risks string buzz on open strings, but If you capo at the first fret ( or any fret for that matter) but particularly at the first fret you effectively drop the nut height to almost level with the newly created first fret, with no string buzz, so why is there so much string to fret clearance on a new guitar?
Am I missing something here?
Surely the nut could effectively be dropped to the same effect as the capo has at the first fret?
By the way I reduced the nut height by 0.035" and the action is superb now at the lower half of the guitar.

Yes, it is possible to lower the nut in many factory made guitars. I think they just don't do the fine adjustment to save time and risks. But it is possible to bring down the nut to the same height as the frets (or a bit higher) and not have buzzes.

all true
 

I think a good test is to capo the first fret and see if there's much difference in feel between playing with a capo and without. If there isn't much, or any, difference, I think the nut height is about as low as it should go.

Thanks
 

Thanks guys. I was thinking the same but was concerned I was not considering something. I was told “ you need a higher action when playing the guitar hard”
But then I questioned “ would you not play a guitar hard with a capo?”
Like you explained it may be to give more tolerance to the manufacturing process. If they tried to get the nut low as possible it could lead to returns on guitars that are not set up correctly ( relief etc)