Low Nut Revelation

[Mr. Jelly]

I recently acquired a used guitar that has a nut that would be considered too low. The thing is it has better action, feel and sound than most of the guitars that I have had that had nuts with more correct heights. I'm not changing a thing.

So, what negative issues are to be experienced with nuts that are too low?

[jmjohnson]

If it aint buzzing, enjoy!

[Rudy4]

For any instrument you can capo the first fret and play to see what an ideal nut setup should feel like. If the nut is cut correctly you should expect little difference when you play uncapoed.

[KevinH]

It's nice when that happens. I recently bought a Huss and Dalton that had the nut slots cut lower than on any of my other guitars (between 0.001" and 0.002" gap at fret 1 when fretted between 2 and 3). I've kept my others at around 0.004". It makes a difference.

[jmjohnson]

Great point to discuss!...

What type of measurements you getting, Mr Jelly?

[Boozehound]

I don't think there are any downsides, and I also don't think a nut can be 'too low' unless it's buzzing when you hit open strings. The only potential downside is that you may need to replace the nut sooner, as the strings can wear down the nut slots over time making the nut action even lower. I wouldn't worry about that though, I'd just play it and deal with it when the time comes.

And you are correct that the action at the nut plays a huge role in playability. I keep mine as low as I can w/o buzzing.

[Glennwillow]

I like my nut slot cut low. To me, it makes a huge difference in playability.

- Glenn

[TennesseeWalker]

A nut with slots cut a little too low, but doesn't buzz is a wonderful thing

unless,

it is being compensated for by having the action a little higher in the middle of the fretboard by having higher relief.

if you play mostly in the first few frets, not an issue but if you get up the neck regularly, your action may be higher than you'd like there -
could cause some notes to go sharp.
might be good to check your relief and if you're good to go, you're good to go.

[tadol]

If you get no buzzing at all on the open strings, how can you say its cut too low? Seems to me, it’s not too low until you start to get problems -

[Sadie-f]

Originally Posted by KevinH

It's nice when that happens. I recently bought a Huss and Dalton that had the nut slots cut lower than on any of my other guitars (between 0.001" and 0.002" gap at fret 1 when fretted between 2 and 3). I've kept my others at around 0.004". It makes a difference.

That's quite slim, I have been getting better at nut slot tuning, and I have a temporary nut mounted in my strat to trial optimal before cutting a new TUSQ.I'm surprised you have a workable setup at or under 0.002", as a prior attempt that low, led to bad buzzing, however neck bow factors in also of course.

I haven't found support on the web for closer than 0.007 (which is how my OM-28 was setup) and have wondered how low I can safely go, so soon I'll aim for 0.004".

The Fender Strat I own was shipped with a measure more like 0.015" and poorly cut slots
(down-sloped if you can believe that :-( ). I needed to be re-file to avoid buzz on the #2 string.

[Rudy4]

Do not set slot depth by simply measuring first fret to string bottom gap. Here's a better option:

[jmjohnson]

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musi...nutaction.html

"Well, it varies with need, but generally, I like to see just enough space to tell there is any at all. I'm talking the thickness of a hair! "

I lowered mine this weekend just a bit on my Taylor and 000...definitely below .006 (my thinnest gauge) - as measured above, but not much cause I get chicken. {Interesting side note, cause we hear so much about Taylor playability out of the box, but the 000 was actually set up better.}

[mcmars]

I am betting that the relief is set very minimal, the frets are very level and the saddle is low as it can go for your playing style. Consider yourself lucky with your new purchase!

I just love it when I take my nicer guitars to my awesome luthier and he takes his time to lightly dress all my frets when he does a set up. He knows I have bad arthritis and does everything he can to lower the nut slots for easy first position chording. I live in a dry climate and it is hard to keep the guitars humidified, even with everything I do to compensate with various forms of humidity. So it is a constant "cat and mouse" game to keep my guitars optimally set up through time.

So the downside I have experienced, is over time the neck can pull back a smidge and then I experience minor buzzing or sitar like tones from one of the 1st 3 strings. My luthier tells me he sets the relief very minimal and to just bring it back to him if I have issues and he just loosens the relief a tiny tad enough to raise the action. I can this pretty easily and do tweak them later as needed. But some have the hidden truss adjuster behind the front brace which makes it a bit more challenging and I just ordered the stew mac tool to be able to get to that hidden adjuster.

If you later experience buzzing, check to see if you might have a high fret or 2 like is common around where the neck meets the body or if the neck pulled back like I have described. Or if one of the nut slots might have gotten a tad deeper. Just a change to a different set of strings or maybe a lower altered tuning might be enough to have some issues and is why it is a bit of an art to get the nut slots "just right".

My luthier uses dental enamel repair resins to fill just one or 2 low nut slots to avoid the time and expense of building a new nut. On one of my guitars, he was expecting to have to build a new nut as the slots were too low, but once he leveled the frets a tiny bit, he then had enough nut slots left to be able to use the existing nut, that was a nice surprise that saved me some money. Till then enjoy!

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

I recently acquired a used guitar that has a nut that would be considered too low. The thing is it has better action, feel and sound than most of the guitars that I have had that had nuts with more correct heights. I'm not changing a thing.

So, what negative issues are to be experienced with nuts that are too low?

[Bill Kraus]

Nut slots cut too low can cause buzzing when the guitar is tuned to drop tunings or open tunings. Lowering the tuning can cause the neck to relax a bit because of less string tension and cause a buzz on open strings.

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by Sadie-f

That's quite slim, I have been getting better at nut slot tuning, and I have a temporary nut mounted in my strat to trial optimal before cutting a new TUSQ.I'm surprised you have a workable setup at or under 0.002", as a prior attempt that low, led to bad buzzing, however neck bow factors in also of course.

I haven't found support on the web for closer than 0.007 (which is how my OM-28 was setup) and have wondered how low I can safely go, so soon I'll aim for 0.004"....

And it depends on how level the frets are. I haven't checked my H&D, but I'm guessing they did a good job of it. The relief is between 0.005" and 0.006" and I set the action at the 12th to 4/64" on the bass E and 3/64" on the treble e. Plays really well.