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Re: Zero glide bone nut?

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:55 pm
by dave66
Its interesting that the post is moving onto nut intonation, which is a seperate issue and John Hall has some informative youtube videos about that, which involves adjusting the zero fret position, but Ive not tried it yet.
I usually tune the open b slightly flat, which helps, but James Taylor (yes that one) has an interesting youtube vid where he tunes all his strings to different amounts of flat and sharpness using a tuner, so his guitars sound in tune to his ears!

Re: Zero glide bone nut?

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:58 pm
by dave66
Hi Diane, referring back to your earlier post about seating the saddle in its slot....

Its the individual string slots Im having problems with, rather than seating the nut itself into its slot, but I know exactly what you mean about getting the nut to sit tight in its slot. Its always frustrating when 2 apparently perfectly flat surfaces mysteriously rock against each other! (Its the same issue with table tops, where you have to plane a slight hollow on each board edge, then clamp out the hollow)

I sanded the nut bottom face as flat as possible (but probably still slightly convex), then chiselled a very slight hollow on the slot bottom until the nut didnt rock, trusting that string pressure would flex the bone very slightly if there was any hollow.

Its getting the slot depths and top e ramping right that is driving me nuts! My ring finger is a bit damaged, so I like the nut action as low as possible - just above buzzing. Its that thing where you are nearly down to depth and very little is being removed each time, then suddenly about .008 comes off and the slot is too low!
This is where I thought the zeroglide could be the solution to my problem. We mostly fret notes, so a metal zero fret would have the same ring as all the other fretted notes, with the tone benefit of being set into a bone base. The sides of the strings would be guided by the bone slot, but they would ride over the metal zero fret, which would be easier to adjust for height and should reduce the likelihood of strings sticking while tuning?

Re: Zero glide bone nut?

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:21 pm
by Diane Kauffmds
dave66 wrote:"...on my fourth attempt to make an accurate bone nut, where all the open strings sound clear, the slot depth is just right and the g&d strings dont stick when tuning, so the option of a zero fret within a bone base sounds ideal."

Thanks for reading.
I thought you were having a problem with the strings sounding clear, as well as the sticky slots. I had a problem with what I would call "clarity", or note separation, which I solved by flattening the slot and bottom of the nut. I think I misunderstood your original post.

You said, "Its getting the slot depths and top e ramping right that is driving me nuts! My ring finger is a bit damaged, so I like the nut action as low as possible - just above buzzing. Its that thing where you are nearly down to depth and very little is being removed each time, then suddenly about .008 comes off and the slot is too low!"

I like my action extremely low too. I may have gotten too far in depth with how I shape a nut, but the half pencil method allows me to make it as low as possible; this method will solve your problem with the nut depth. The rest of the action can be adjusted at the saddle. The top of the pencil line is the top of the nut; the bottom of the pencil line is the bottom of the slot.

Re: Zero glide bone nut?

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:33 pm
by dave66
I do use the half pencil technique, but more as an approximation of depth - perhaps I need to persist!
I also set the nut action so that there is a few thou clear at the first fret, while pressing down on the third fret.

Re: Zero glide bone nut?

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 5:51 pm
by dave66
I’ve just reconnected with the forum after starting my second build, so just to sum up this thread - I fitted a Stewmac zeroglide nut and it worked well for me. Not that easy to fit, but it certainly reduced friction at the nut and brightened up the trebles, which is what I needed at the time.

A few years on, the guitar (a Blues Creek vintage D28 kit) has loads of bass but is also now perhaps a little too bright in the trebles, so I might go back to a fully bone nut one day.

I think the problem I was having with my bone nut was partly my own poor nut skills, but also partly my Stewmac calibrated nut files being too close to the string gauge I use - light-med .055 - .0125, in .056 - .013 slots. The other 2 sided files Stewmac sells create a V shape slot, so the string never really binds, whereas mine form a U shape slot, that easily binds unless the slot depth is exactly half the string thickness.

Re: Zero glide bone nut?

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 6:46 pm
by tippie53
that for the info
as you do more you get better. It took a while to master making them but I do them in a few minutes now . I only did a few thousand . the first 100 were the hardest LOL