Official Luthiers Forum!

I just put a new nut on my old Gurian guitar and have a question. How far down do you take the nut on a SS? I have only built classicals so have never setup a steelstring. The grooves, spacing, and angle on top are great and I get a really good sound, however I'm not sure how high above the first fret the strings should be. Is there a general rule of thumb for how high the nut should be?

Thanks!

John

John, the way I've been taught by several people, and what has worked well for me, is that if you fret the strings at the 3rd fret, then the distance between the strings and the 1st fret should be about the size of a high E string, or about .010. I never actually measure, but I'm sure that some people get very anal about it. Anyway, just a tiny amount of space there will give you good action if your bridge is well done (or medium rare). Hope that helps.

Mike

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

John,
     The way I do it; get a pencil about 4" in length sand it down along its length ending up with 1/2 a pencil. Lay the pencil flat on the 1st 2 frets and mark the fingerboard radius on nut. Then take fret slots down to this line.
I refretted a Gurian many moons ago, nice guitar not many over here though.

   Rick

I do it like Rick. Half pencil above the first frets and let the tension of the string and the relief in the neck do the rest.

_________________
I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Same here John, I think a lot of us use the half pencil trick.

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755