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When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:36 am
by MaineGeezer
Answer: when it is for a Martin guitar, apparently. I just had quite a go-round with StewMac customer service. I ordered one of StewMac's #6023-VS shaped bone nuts,
http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_Su ... e_Nut.html

It's listed as a 1-3/4" nut. When I received it, it was quite clearly -- to my way of thinking -- a 1-13-16" nut. It matched up perfectly with the nut on the first guitar I built, which has a 1-13/16" wide neck.

After several interchanges, the conclusion was that yes, by any sane measure it's a 1-13/16" nut, but it's called a 1-3/4" nut because it's for a Martin guitar and Martin calls it that.

Sort of like a "one by four" board actually being 3/4" x 3-1/2", I guess.

Does anybody have any comments on this? Have I got this correct now, or am I still confused?

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 9:14 am
by tippie53
they are feeding you a line
A 1 3/4 nut at martin is 1 3/4 wide at the fretboard and the string spacing is actually less then 1 3/4
so nut width is different from string spacing

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 9:37 am
by MaineGeezer
By my reckoning, the string spacing for a 1-3/4" nut ought to be 1-1/'2" between 1st and 6th.

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 6:40 pm
by tippie53
a tad more but you are in the ball park I do about .100 so you can say within .050 is not that much more than the 1.5

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:33 pm
by MaineGeezer
I allow 1/8" on the ends, but the main thing is, the total length of a 1-3/4" nut is 1-3/4"! It's not 1-13/16", as StewMac would have me believe.

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:55 pm
by tippie53
you are correct Steve

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:30 pm
by Danl8
MaineGeezer wrote:I allow 1/8" on the ends, but the main thing is, the total length of a 1-3/4" nut is 1-3/4"! It's not 1-13/16", as StewMac would have me believe.
1-3/4" is same as 1-12/16" or is my math wrong? Stewmac is selling this size 0.0325" bigger at 1-13/16"? Should be easy enough to bring that in to 1.75" I agree with John, Martin's 1.75" nut is exactly that when on a 1.75" neck/fingerboard.

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 5:21 am
by MaineGeezer
1/16 is .0625. If one takes 1/32 off each end of the 1-13/16 nut (alleged to be for a 1-3/4 fretboard), string slots 1 and 6 endup too close to the edges of a 1-3/4" fretboard to be reasonable. The string spacing is too wide for a 1-3/4 fretboard. It is, however, just right on a 1-13/16 fretboard.

I will note that StewMac's 1-11/16 Martin nut IS an 1-11/16 nut. It fits a fretboard 1-11/16 wide.I used one one my 3rd guitar build, the cutaway OM, and it was just right.

The photos show the nut I got from StewMac lined up on a true 1-3/4" nut and on a 1-13/16" nut.

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:09 am
by Danl8
Got it. I didn't check the website and see that that the nut was slotted. You are right to complain to Stewmac. That is not a 1.75" nut. Have they conceded that yet?

Re: When is a 1-3/4" nut not a 1-3/4" nut?

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:32 am
by MaineGeezer
Not yet -- I just sent them another message about it. I told them to check with Dan Erwine. We'll see.

Yeah, if it wasn't slotted it wouldn't be that big a deal --- but I bought that one, for a higher price, so I wouldn't have to figure out the string spacing and shape the profile. It should be pretty much a drop-in proposition.