Nut Height

[Devon8822]

How much space should there be inbetween the first fret and the string, when you fret inbetween the 3rd and 4th fret? If I make the string lower than normal will that allow me to make the overall action lower? or should I just put the nut to standard height and set my pefered action from the bridge? So yeah, what space should be inbetween the 1st fret and the string when I fret inbetween 3rd and 4th fret? thanks

[soapbarstrat]

Why bother with pressing the string down ? You'd need the thinnest gauges for those kind of gaps, which are more tricky to deal with. You can measure without pressing the strings down.

Scroll down : http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-5350.html

I favor the high E being .005" to .010" over the first fret. And low E being .010 to .015" over the first fret.

On the locking nut, you should find the string slots that are sitting the lowest and only measure off those.

[Devon8822]

Why bother with pressing the string down ? You'd need the thinnest gauges for those kind of gaps, which are more tricky to deal with. You can measure without pressing the strings down.

Scroll down : http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-5350.html

I favor the high E being .005" to .010" over the first fret. And low E being .010 to .015" over the first fret.

On the locking nut, you should find the string slots that are sitting the lowest and only measure off those.

The purpose of pressing down the string is to take out other thigns that could effect the measurment such as truee rod and bridge action. I just need the measurement for what im doing? Im interested in trying this though because I dont have a feeler gauge and am pretty much just using my eyes. Is there anything I can use, like a business card? I dont understand how you can make those measurements^^ like the low e being .010.... where do u measure from? and wouldn't it totally depend on the bridge action? Any help would be great? and again, can I use soimething other than a feeler gauge to measure?

[Rick500]

You can use cut-off guitar strings to measure. Hot glue them to popsicle sticks or scrap wood for handles.

[fryovanni]

Your fretting in the wrong place. Go to the tutorials on the main PG page. Nut adjustment Tutorial

This is a bit from the nut height tut.

Fret each string individually starting with the High E between the second and third fret and pull out your feeler gauge out to check the amount of space between the bottom of the string and the first fret. You should have approximately .005" of space between each one with the string barely touching the second fret. If this measurement is close or dead on then move on to the next string right up to the Low E string. You may want to jot down the gap on a scrap piece of paper as you move across the fret board to see the nut slot's height in relation to the fret board as you do so.

You fret the strings at the third fret so that the string rests on the second. You don't want to distort the string over the second fret you just want it to rest on it. As for the feeler gauge. It is tricky to accurately measure, but what is important is that it is darn close, but is not touching the first fret. You can give the string a light pluck and tell really quickly if it is touching the first fret or if it clears. The other clearance numbers(when you are not fretting) will vary with your relief, and bridge adjustments. When I set the string height at the nut, I use the same clearance across all the strings. You can think of it much as if you had a zero fret. You want the string height to be pretty much the same as the first fret(you can add a couple thousands to allow for nut wear).

Peace,Rich

Edited June 7, 2007 by fryovanni

[Devon8822]

Your fretting in the wrong place. Go to the tutorials on the main PG page. Nut adjustment Tutorial

This is a bit from the nut height tut.

Fret each string individually starting with the High E between the second and third fret and pull out your feeler gauge out to check the amount of space between the bottom of the string and the first fret. You should have approximately .005" of space between each one with the string barely touching the second fret. If this measurement is close or dead on then move on to the next string right up to the Low E string. You may want to jot down the gap on a scrap piece of paper as you move across the fret board to see the nut slot's height in relation to the fret board as you do so.

You fret the strings at the third fret so that the string rests on the second. You don't want to distort the string over the second fret you just want it to rest on it. As for the feeler gauge. It is tricky to accurately measure, but what is important is that it is darn close, but is not touching the first fret. You can give the string a light pluck and tell really quickly if it is touching the first fret or if it clears. The other clearance numbers(when you are not fretting) will vary with your relief, and bridge adjustments. When I set the string height at the nut, I use the same clearance across all the strings. You can think of it much as if you had a zero fret. You want the string height to be pretty much the same as the first fret(you can add a couple thousands to allow for nut wear).

Peace,Rich

awsome thanks man, I acctually was fretting in the correct spot, I accidentally put 3rd and 4th in my first post, sorry bout that.

Ok as for the space inbetween, I dont have a feeler gauge so you say best next thing would be to get it as close as I possibly can without touching? Would that work well or? thanks

[soapbarstrat]

For the 3rd string press method, I once read that the distance between the fret top and string bottom is "a hair's breath". And I guess it's exactly that kind of border-line voodoo technique that made me prefer a more "exact science". At least a method that allows me to do that easier.

As for my prefered method (not pressing string down). I make sure neck relief is at or near zero first, 12th fret action in the ball-park (yeah, I'll capo 1st fret first ). Like someone above wrote, "D'Addario feeler-gauges" work great.