Does the nut need replaced ?

[brijas99]

Just recently purchased a used 2016 Gibson Firebird, the acoustic Firebird. It's a big squared shouldered box, but it didn't seem to deliver the power I thought it should. I had replaced the very light gauge strings with 12's thinking that would help. It really didn't help much.

The next thing was the action, the set up was super, super low.

So I replaced the saddle to get a little more height. That helped out quite a bit. The Gibson kinda woke up and started to sing, really nice, but it still seems like there might be more I should be getting out of this big box.

Next thing, looking at the nut, the strings sit really low in the nut. The string slots were filed down. The strings almost sit on the first fret. The clearance is so low, lower than a business card. But there is no fret buzz anywhere, open chord or bar chord.

So my question is, do you know if I will gain anything by replacing the nut to get the strings up off the fretboard, to a more standard string height at the nut ?

Any thoughts on this ?
Thanks,
Mark

[surveyor]

Low string height with no buzz at the nut is what I shoot for. You could file down the top of the nut, leaving the string height alone if the strings are seated too deep.

[brijas99]

Thanks Surveyor, the low action at the nut sure makes it easy to fret, but I'm just curious if I would gain anything tone wise if the string height at the nut was raised ?

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by brijas99

Thanks Surveyor, the low action at the nut sure makes it easy to fret, but I'm just curious if I would gain anything tone wise if the string height at the nut was raised ?

You will not gain anything in volume or tone by raising the action slightly at the nut.

[Larry Mal]

I haven't played the Firebird, but Gibsons aren't really super powerful guitars from my limited experience (I own a Dove). That's not their thing.

[brijas99]

OK thanks for the input on this.
I just didn't know if there would be any gains by having a new nut installed to bring the string up off the fretboard.
Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome sounding Gibson, beautiful voice with outstanding sustain with the new saddle and pins. In fact, it's amazing what the new saddle and pins did for the tone. Totally different guitar than when I first received it. I think the original owner wanted it to play like an electric.
I'm not wanting it to be a cannon, if its not. But, I am wanting to make sure that I'm getting all the tone it has to offer with it's current set up. Just didn't know if the strings sitting that low in the nut effected the tone.

[M Hayden]

Don't raise the action at the nut. It *won’t 8be louder and it *will* be harder to play.

Here’s Frank Ford on setting nut action:
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luth...ut/setnut.html

[brijas99]

Thanks for the Frank Ford article/link Hayden. That was very helpful and he spells it out so you can follow along easy enough, and with the photos to show what he's talking about. Very good reading.

Sounds like I just need to leave the nut alone, it's fine. The set up is just fine.

Thanks for all the good advice and info on the subject guys !