First fret action

[tjcurtin1]

Speaking of nuts... what is the preferred/required/ideal action measurement at the first fret? My three guitars vary quite a bit, from about .75mm to .6mm on the low E string.

 

[Mark]

Its late I can look it up for you in the am but the best investment for working on your guitars is this book. Everything you wanna and need to know....nighty night..

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player...4552166?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184481321&sr=1-1

 

[chordshredder]

TJ

Checkout this maybe its what your after.

http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator/

 

[Bloozcat]

This is one method; there are others as well.

After your nut is shaped & trimmed to the proper width, slotted and filed cloose to finished, it should still be left a little higher than needed for final installation. Place the nut in the neck slot without glue and string the guitar up. Check and note the gap under each string as you fret the strings at the third fret. With the low E and A strings fretted at the third fret, the gap at the first fret should be .005" - .010". If this measurement is high (as it should be initially), you will lower it by sanding the bottom of the nut down...but not until you've checked the other strings first. The higher strings, due to their smaller diameter and lesser tendency to vibrate enough to buzz on the adjacent frets, can be set a little lower than the low E and A strings. You should see just a little daylight (gap) between the high E and the first fret when the string is fretted at the third fret. The high E through D should be set the same, although I personally allow for a little more gap on the wound strings. Take your time and check the gap often and you should be be okay.

ETA: I'd highly recommend the book Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine. It's a great guide to most of the guitar repairs and assembly operations you're likely to encounter. This book shows a slightly different method for the nut installation.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Its late I can look it up for you in the am but the best investment for working on your guitars is this book. Everything you wanna and need to know....nighty night..

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player...4552166?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184481321&sr=1-1

Thanks for letting me know about that book. Looks like a good one to pick up!

 

[Bloozcat]

A question I should have asked first is what kind of guitar are you doing the nut work on, tjcurtin1?

A Fender requires a different method than the one I described. Fender nuts are curved on the bottom to the same radius as the fretboard. To install a nut on a Fender, you'd need to work it from top to bottom. In other words, you'd have to shape the nut by taking it down from the top to achieve the proper height, radius, and string relief. This method would require that you place the nut into the slot in the neck, and then place a straight edge accross the frets and butt it up against the nut. A flexible staight edge can aid in this, as it will follow the radius of the frets. Where the straight edge butts up against the nut, you'll trace a line along the edge of the straight edge. From that line, you would then use feeler gauges to determine the depth of the string slots, taking the top of the nut down as you go to achieve the proper seating depth of each string in it's respective slot. This method can be used to install any nut, but with Fender nuts that have a curved base, it's pretty much this way only.

It sounds more complicated than it actually is when you see it done. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words".

 

[tjcurtin1]

Thanks, everyone - lots of helpful info. Chordshredder, right next door to the link you gave me was the place with all the answers - and those pictures that Bloozcat mentioned - http://www.stewmac.com/nuts - step by step nut replacement from the bare bone to completion.

BTW, the nut I was working on was on the Fullerton strat, which thankfully has a flat bottom. I bought two black 'composite material' nuts cheap from GFS, precut for fender, so I just had to sand the bottom edge to fit. Ended up a bit lower than I was shooting for (dang, that last little fine tuning that went too far!) but it seems fine - which is what prompted my question, since my three electrics now have different heights at the first fret. It would seem that lower is better to avoid string streching and sharpening of notes when fretting at the lower frets (ie the ones closer to the nut), but there must be potential problems with too low (other than potential fret buzz at the first fret)...

Another useful book, while we're at it - The Guitar handbook, by Ralph Denyer - everything from basic electronics schematics, guitar adjustment and repair to chords, guitar types, players... but nothing about the first fret action!