fenderbender06 Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Ok guys, Once again I am back with a few more questions. I have built a strat, it sounds Amazing with a set of Dimarzio virtual vintage pickups. The neck feels great aside from some minor, minor string buzz. I adjusted the neck and got like .012-.013 relief and it plays well. It seems that the neck does not want to get any straighter, but it seems to be ok. The one problem I am having is a replacement graph tech nut I replaced. Its way high, I messed up the installation, being that I am a novice. So I have been filing the nut with some files, slightly sloped back towards the headstock. Its taking forever though! I am using some torch tip cleaners someone recommended on this site. Its working, but slowly. SO just a few Q's: Does nut depth matter? I have not found any clear answer. But...I have realized that many guitars have half the string in the slot and half out. Second, if it does matter, can I just file the top?? basic I know, but like I said this is my first build and set up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Ok guys, Once again I am back with a few more questions. I have built a strat, it sounds Amazing with a set of Dimarzio virtual vintage pickups. The neck feels great aside from some minor, minor string buzz. I adjusted the neck and got like .012-.013 relief and it plays well. It seems that the neck does not want to get any straighter, but it seems to be ok. The one problem I am having is a replacement graph tech nut I replaced. Its way high, I messed up the installation, being that I am a novice. So I have been filing the nut with some files, slightly sloped back towards the headstock. Its taking forever though! I am using some torch tip cleaners someone recommended on this site. Its working, but slowly. SO just a few Q's: Does nut depth matter? I have not found any clear answer. But...I have realized that many guitars have half the string in the slot and half out. Second, if it does matter, can I just file the top?? basic I know, but like I said this is my first build and set up! I try to not have the depth too deep, and yes you can shape the top. It sounds like you may be makng it harder than it should be . When I start with a fresh bone nut.. I cut the nut to the proper width. Check the bottom and front of the nut to be sure it fits the slot well. I shape the top of the nut to the radius of the fretboard. Then I mark my string slots. I mark another line below the top that matches the fretboard radius(down about .03"-roughly half the largest string height). I file the slots to that depth(this generally goes pretty fast, but I take care to keep there depths correct to my radius line). Then I use a straight edge to transpose a line equal to the top of the frets with the nut seated. I use my calipers to check how much it needs to drop. I then check the height at each end of the nut. Then I sand the bottom of the nut until I am pretty close and then place the nut and check the string clearance. From there I continue sanding the bottom till I am where I want to be on the low and high E. That only leaves a little top shaping, and I adjust the slot angle to get a clean contact/ smooth transition to the tuners (never touching the bottom of the string slots within about the first 1/8th inch on the fretboard side of the nut). It sounds like you are probably trying to take the string height down from the top of a full height nut. That will amount to a lot of filing, and will be pretty hard to keep them proper to the radius and equal distant from the frets. I sure hope that helps. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted December 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Hey Thanks Rich, The graphtech nut I bought was preslotted. The height to begin with was like .018-.016. It was ok to play but when I started to do the set up I realized that Fender and most places say .005 is the standard. So I have been filing and got the low E and A strings to around .010, the definatley play better. I was going to sand the bottom but the glue that I used was not "dabbed, it was Slabbed!" So I didnt want to deal with taking it out. Well, thanks for the input..to filing I shall return... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Those pre-slotted nuts aren't supposed to be finished--they give you an accurate string spacing, but it's up to you to tweak the final depth to fit your preferences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Those pre-slotted nuts aren't supposed to be finished--they give you an accurate string spacing, but it's up to you to tweak the final depth to fit your preferences. Hey Mick, Do they offer those preslotted nuts for different radius, or is it just level slots? I am kinda in the dark because I have never used one. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Hey Mick, Do they offer those preslotted nuts for different radius, or is it just level slots? I am kinda in the dark because I have never used one. You mean for Fender type necks? StewMac sells a couple different types --on one of them, there's a little center tab that you remove for radiused. The other kind is radiused. But those GraphTech nuts are cut for a pretty wide neck --at least wider than the necks I have. Which means the slots are slightly wider than I would have liked too. So I'm just going to have to start with blanks from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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