Gibson Nut Slot Height

A good rule of thumb here is to get the low E string height near to the width of your B string. Measure using a bit of an old B string (I always have strings kicking around, so keep the odd cutoffs for this job), between the top of the fret at the 8th fret and the bottom of the low E string. The nut serves to define and maintain the spacing of the strings, and to hold them at the proper height. If the nut is too low, the string will bump into the first fret when it is played and it will 'buzz,' even if the rest of the instrument is properly set up and working well. Remove the old nut. First, use a sharp blade to score a line on the finish around the nut. The ideal nut slot height, in terms of playability, is subjective — much like string action height at the bridge. Some players like the slots to be cut up a little higher (like slide players), and some players want them cut down as low as possible so the guitar plays very easy with no fight. A sharp knife or small hammer depending on if it’s a Gibson or Fender style nut. Superglue – To re-attach the nut. A spare guitar nut – In case you go too far, mess it up and need to start again. For GIbson-style nuts, work away at the glue with a sharp knife. Fender-Style nuts can be knocked out with a will placed.

  1. Gibson Nut Slot Height Dimensions
  2. Gibson Nut Slot Height Chart
  3. Gibson Nut Slot Height Bars

This is how I usually configure the saddles but there is no “right” way. Turning the G saddles is often necessary to get it far enough back to intonate properly.

I always appreciate readers suggestions for posts. There’s only so much to be written about any given subject and when your subject is as narrow as mine and you’ve been writing about it for seven years, you will run out of subject matter. You will note that I’m posting less frequently than I used to. It’s not simply laziness or being too busy with other things, it’s just that I’ve covered almost everything. Going forward, going into greater detail on subjects already covered is a logical next step, so instead of writing about a PAF, I could do a post about magnets. Or tuner bushings. But this week a writer made a suggestion for a post that somehow slipped through the cracks. It should have been done years ago. How do you set up a 335? Or, more to the point, how do I set up a 335?

I set up a lot of 335’s (345’s/355’s) and the good news is that they are pretty easy to get right and relatively consistent. I’m going to assume that you don’t need to recut or replace the nut or level the frets. These are really important elements for a good setup and it may be necessary to do one, the other, or both. But we will save that for later.

First, play the guitar and decide what you don’t like or what is wrong with the setup. Consider the action, the intonation and the sustain. The action pretty easy. Raise or lower the bridge until you like the action. Then the real work can begin. If any of the open strings are buzzing, then you have a problem which we will address later. It can be the nut, it can be a fret or frets or it can be the relief (truss adjustment). Or maybe you simply have the action too low. Factory spec. is 5/64″ for the low E at the 15th fret and 3/64″ at the high E. I like mine slightly higher at the high E.

Gibson Nut Slot Height Dimensions

After getting the action where I like it, I look at the relief (the amount of bow in the neck). Sight down the neck. If it’s dead flat and there is no buzz, you can leave it alone. I like a little bit off relief-a small amount of bowing away from the strings- so I would loosen the truss rod a quarter turn to a half turn until I see a slight bow. You may have to leave it for a while. Truss adjustments aren’t instantaneous. If there is buzzing and you see the neck is bowed toward the strings, do the same-loosen the truss a quarter to a half turn. Leave it for a bit and go back and look. If the neck has flattened out or bowed slightly away from the strings and the buzz is gone, then you’re done with the truss rod. If it is still back bowed or buzzing, loosen the truss some more. If you run out of adjustment-the truss nut is all the way loose-then you will have to see your luthier. Back bows are rare in 335’s with big necks but not uncommon in thin 60-63 necks.

Once I have the truss adjusted, I adjust the stop tail. This is more art than science. Raising or lowering the stop (skip this step if you have a Bigsby or trapeze) can make a small difference in sustain or no difference at all. Some 335’s have a sweet spot usually a few turns up from being screwed all the way down. It’s trial and error and the likelihood is that it won’t much, if any, difference. You’re changing the string break angle which affects the downward pressure on the bridge. Some argue that the break angle changes the ease of bending notes. I’ve never perceived it. The theory is that less break angle means easier bending. You decide.

Once I have the truss adjusted, I set the intonation. Using a good clip on tuner is the easiest way to do it, although I use harmonics as well. I assume you know how to intonate a guitar with an ABR-1. Be aware that 335’s were made to be played with a wrapped G string, so intonating a plain G can be tricky. Usually, you have to turn the saddle around so the flat side faces back rather than forward. That allows more adjustment back toward the tailpiece. Most vintage 335s with 10’s require the G saddle to be as far back as it will go. Otherwise it will be sharp at the upper frets. 9’s generally won’t intonate well. I usually turn the top three strings flat side back but it’s usually only necessary to do the G that way. Once you’ve done the intonation and there is no buzzing and you are happy with the action, it’s time to plug it in.

Next post will cover pickup height adjustments and what to do if you have buzzing or bad sustain.

Adjusting the stop tail height changes the break angle of the strings. It may make a difference, it may not. There is no correct break angle, so try a few settings until you like it. If you don’t perceive a difference, a couple turns up from all the way down looks good to me.

Lowering an acoustic guitar’s action may or may not require some work on the guitar’s nut.

Before starting with adjusting the nut on a guitar it’s important that you are sure that it is necessary. Once you know that this is needed then you are going to need some basic tools and learn some new skills to get the job done (if you are doing it yourself).

This post will first help you decide whether or not your nut needs adjusting and then how to make any necessary adjustments.

How to Tell If the Nut needs Adjusting?

Of course first of all you need to know that your action needs adjusting full stop. If it does then you need to determine just where it needs adjusting.

If you aren’t sure whether or not your action needs adjusting or not, check out the article at the link below.

But there are also a couple of simple ways that might give away that the high action is a problem because of the nut.

  • By doing the quick ‘preliminary check‘ measurement as per below
  • If your guitar is in tune but when you play chords or notes near the nut they sound out of tune (a high action at the nut affects intonation as well as playability)
  • If it feels really difficult to play a bar chord in the first fret or first couple of frets

Check the Neck

Once you know that you want your action lowered, then the first step is to make sure that the neck is set properly. You may need to do a truss rod adjustment before anything else to get the neck set right.

This isn’t as daunting as it sounds – but if you don’t set the neck right first and try to do it after adjusting the nut, then things could go bad. So making sure the neck is set right is an important first step. If the neck is right then the next step is to measure the action at the nut end.

Preliminary Check Measuring the action at the Nut End

When you are actually lowering the nut you will want more precise measurements – but if you are still unsure whether or not your nut needs adjusting then you can do this quick preliminary check.

  1. Make sure the strings are tuned to pitch
  2. Press down on the Low E string between the second and third frets
  3. Look very closely (I find closing one eye helps) at the gap between the string and the 1st fret
  4. If you are long-sighted you may need reading glasses or the likes to see properly
  5. If you are still having trouble identifying the gap try pressing the string down onto the first fret (whilst still pressing on the string between the 2nd and 3rd fret) to get a feel for the gap

When you are looking (or feeling) at the gap, you want to see (or feel) a very slight gap. The string should not be touching the 1st fret – if it is touching then your action is most likely too low. But the gap should be minimal – there should only be a barely discernible gap.

If the gap is large then you probably need to adjust the nut to lower that gap.

If you’re not sure what kind of gap you are looking for check out the post at the link below for a discussion on some standard gaps at both the nut and the saddle end (also check the “take accurate measurements” section below for how to measure the gap more accurately).

If the gaps at the nut end seem fine to you but you still suspect that your guitar’s action needs lowering then you may need to adjust the action at the saddle. Always adjust the action at the nut first though, if it needs it (after making sure the neck is set right of course).

If you do need to lower the action at the nut read on.

Two Methods for Adjusting the Nut

O.k. so you’ve discovered that the nut does need adjusting to fix your action, and you’ve made sure that the neck is where it should be first. Now you need to go about adjusting the nut – you now have a couple of decisions to make. Firstly:

  1. Do I pay someone to adjust the nut for me?; or
  2. Do I learn how to do it myself

Paying someone to do it will cost more but will be faster and less risky.

There’s more risk involved doing it yourself, it will take a bit of time to learn the first time around (but you’ll get faster if you need to do it for more than 1 guitar) but it will be cheaper.

Secondly, if you decide you need to do it yourself then you need to choose the method you want to use. If you decide to pay someone to do it you need to find someone who can do it (it’s usually not that expensive).

There are two methods for lowering the action at the nut.

Method 1: Filing the nut slots

Method 2: Sanding the base of the nut (much the same as lowering the action at the saddle)

In theory perhaps method 1 is the best way to do this – but in practice this is a much more complicated process with much more room for error.

Method 2 is easier for amateurs to do and should do the job fine. However, you still need to take a lot of care and if you aren’t confident doing this yourself then take your guitar to a professional to have it done.

This post will be only looking at method 2. Method 1 really requires that you have tuition and is something that I can’t say I’ve ever done before or would ever try myself without hands on training. If you would prefer to have method 1 done then my advice is that you take your guitar to a professional.

But for the sake of completeness I will briefly cover what’s required for method 1.

Method 1:

Method 1 requires that you purchase 3 very specific guitar files. Each file is a different size on each side so that there are 6 different sized files – one for each string slot.

You will also need feeler gauges but you will want to get these for either method (but they are pretty cheap – only a few dollars).

You then need to file each nut slot individually enough so that the strings sit at the height you need them. These need to be filed at a particular angle.

In order to maintain proper string resonance it’s not a good idea to lower the slots too much which would submerge the strings too far into the nut and effect the sound and resonance of the instrument. If you went too far then you would need to file off some material from the top of the nut – which is a delicate process I imagine.

The plus side of this method is that you don’t need to remove the nut from the guitar but otherwise this is much more complicated and something I would personally get a professional to do.

I’ve never had it done so I don’t how much they would charge but I can’t imagine it would take very long for a pro who has all the proper tools and expertise.

By the time you take off the cost of buying the files and tools then I don’t imagine getting it done professionally would cost too much more than doing it yourself. And then you don’t have the stress, the high chance of getting it wrong – and the extra cost again if you had to get a new nut because of critical errors.

Method 2:

If you don’t want to pay a pro to do it, then method 2 will be easier.

The trickiest part of method 2 is removing and replacing the nut – but hopefully it will come off easily. Usually this is the case.

Assuming your slots are seated correctly (which should usually be the case) the easiest way to change the height of the nut is by taking material off of the base of the nut.

What Tools You Will Need

  • Feeler Gauges
  • Craft knife or scalpel
  • Block of wood
  • Hammer
  • Sand Paper

Take Accurate measurements

Some people do this by feel but I like to be more accurate. So I measure the action before and after making any adjustments.

To measure the action at the nut you are dealing with a very small gap so it’s important that you get this accurate. Whilst you may get away with a ruler when measuring the action at the other end of the guitar, a ruler just isn’t going to cut it at the nut.

So you will need feeler gauges. Feeler gauges are sets of thin metal blades with different thicknesses (which are written on each blade).

Basically you just:

  • Place one of the blades on the top of the 1st fret and if it moves the strings up then you need to choose a thinner blade.
  • If there is still a gap between the blade and the string then you should choose a thicker blade.
  • Keep trying different blades until you find the one that fits in by just touching the string but doesn’t move the string up.
  • Write down the number on that blade.
  • This is the measurement of the action at the nut

NB: You are not pressing on any strings when you do this as you did in the preliminary check above.

Gibson Nut Slot Height Chart

Now let’s say for example that your measurement is .040 inches on the low E string and you want your nut down to .030 inches.

Removing the nut from the Guitar

Do this carefully!

Even if you are replacing the nut that is currently on the guitar you still need to do this carefully because you don’t want to chip the wood around the nut. And if you are using the existing nut it’s important that you don’t damage it.

  1. Remove the strings – see this post for restringing a guitar to see how to remove the strings if you’re not sure
  2. If your acoustic has a truss rod cover on the headstock this will most likely need to be unscrewed as it is likely to be in the way of the nut
  3. Score around the edge of the nut anywhere it’s attached to the guitar with your craft knife/scalpel.
  4. Take your block of wood and lie it down on the fretboard so that the flat piece of the wood is pressed up against the nut
  5. Very lightly tap the other end of the wood with your hammer. This is a very light tap. Tap it a couple of times.
  6. If it does not come off with a couple of taps and the nut just bends back then move your block of wood to the other side of the nut and repeat the process knocking back the other way
  7. Repeat the process as many times as you need to until the nut comes off. Don’t hit harder to remove it or you are likely to damage the nut or the wood around the nut. Keep making light taps from both directions of the nut until it comes loose.

Mark the Nut

Gibson Nut Slot Height Bars

Now take a pencil and mark the nut roughly where you want to sand it down to. You should always do this so that you take off less than you need to begin with – we will be fine tuning later on. But it helps to have a target so that you don’t go too far and also don’t do too little.

The key here is to be patient. This is a multiple step process and won’t be perfect first time.

Sanding the Bottom of the Nut

The grit of sandpaper you use will depend on how much material you need to remove from the nut. Generally speaking anything from 150 – 250 grit is a safe bet and should remove the material fast enough but not too fast.

I wouldn’t go any coarser than 120 (the lower the number the coarser the sandpaper) and I wouldn’t go any finer than 600 as it will take forever to take anything off (and I would only use anything above 250 for very very minor adjustments).

Now it’s very important that you sand so that you sand evenly across the bottom of the nut so that you retain a completely flat surface.

  • To achieve this I like to use a block of wood or a thick ruler to press against as I sand so that there is no subtle rocking going on (you should make sure that anything you use is completely square of course!).
  • And also make sure that your sandpaper is on a completely flat surface.
  • Then I take the nut and hold each end between my thumb and middle finger and press on the middle of the nut with my index finger so that it is pressing the nut both down into the sandpaper and into the square block of wood (see images below).

Replace the nut

Now put the nut back in place (don’t glue it on yet though!).

  1. Place your new strings on the guitar and tune to pitch.
  2. Re-measure your action height at the first fret following the directions above
  3. Measure both the Low E and High E sides with your feeler gauges
  4. Re-measure using the preliminary method described earlier in this article (always pays to do two types of measurements)
  5. Play the guitar and see how it feels

If it’s how you want it, congratulations!

If it needs more lowering – which is often the case – then loosen off the strings.

You don’t need to remove them completely this time but make sure they are really loose so that you can easily lift them out of the nut slots without damaging the nut slots, and push them to the side of the neck so that you can get the nut back out.

Repeat

Repeat the sanding process, again making sure that you are sanding completely flat. Only do a very small amount this time.

Repeat the whole “replace the nut” process again as above.

Repeat until you have your nut at the desired height.

Remember that it’s much easier to remove more material than to add material to your nut – so do this in small steps until you are happy with it.

Re-glue the nut

Once you are happy with your nut height you should re-glue the nut in position.

To do this, use wood glue. Just a small amount is needed. Make sure it is evenly spread across the base of the nut. Some people even water down wood glue so that it’s easier to remove the nut if you ever need to again.

Gibson

Some people use superglue but I wouldn’t use this. It could make it very difficult to remove again if you ever want to make more adjustments or if you decide to replace your nut with a new one. I imagine removing a super-glued nut is far more likely to cause damage to the wood around the nut or to the nut itself.

Thanks for Reading

I hope this post has taught you how to successfully and safely lower the action on your acoustic guitar at the nut end.

To see the full process of adjusting your action including truss rod adjustments and saddle adjustments check out the link below.

Again, if you are at all unsure then get a professional to do it. They know what they’re doing and can do things like this pretty quickly so I can’t imagine it would cost too much.

If you have any comments or questions, or if you do have a way of doing it that’s different to the methods above, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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