2012 Standard Traditional Les Paul

[NickC]

Lower the pickup height.

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I suppose that also reduces magnetic pull on the strings and should help improve sustain.

[Reeltarded]

Another win for the inverse square.

[vibratoking]

Yup, lower the pickup height. Works wonders. The top of the pickup often ends up below the top of the pickup ring for me.

[Reeltarded]

In the worst cases you can take the ring down a bit more so the pickup does drop out which has happened to me enough to take the rings down a little.

[Structo]

Yeah, I knew that trick to balance the pickups better, lowering the neck pickup to take out the mud.

Miles or anybody else, since you seem to know LP's pretty well.
Do you recall how much clearance to give the nut height between the first fret and strings?
I still haven't got around to filing on the nut much, although I did lower the slots a bit awhile back.

[telentubes]

I fret the string at the second fret and file the nut slot till the string is almost touching the first fret. Leave about 1 or 2 thousandths of space (does that make sense?). You can kind of tap on the string over the first fret, while holding down the string at the second fret, and hear it click when it's about right. Leaving some space will insure that the string won't buzz between your fretting finger and the nut (behind your hand). Sneak up on the depth. One swipe of the file too many, and you've gone too deep. It's a pain to fix.
You can leave more space on the fatter strings, or if you play heavy handed.

[telentubes]

Did you play a lot of guitars before picking out the one you bought? How was the consistency?

[Reeltarded]

I fret the string at the second fret and file the nut slot till the string is almost touching the first fret. Leave about 1 or 2 thousandths of space (does that make sense?). You can kind of tap on the string over the first fret, while holding down the string at the second fret, and hear it click when it's about right. Leaving some space will insure that the string won't buzz between your fretting finger and the nut (behind your hand). Sneak up on the depth. One swipe of the file too many, and you've gone too deep. It's a pain to fix.
You can leave more space on the fatter strings, or if you play heavy handed.

I pretend there is a zero fret. I fret the first fret and look at the clearance on the second then cut the nut slot just proud of that exact height by eye though, no measure. This is with the bridge placed at proper setup height first.

Also if you are slotting your own nut.. the file is not a saw. It bites in one direction unless you have those japanese files that you don't have. Forward stokes only, and towards peghead. Finish slot with one firm clean stroke.

The spacing is what kills newbs. Hehe

To find depth on a new nut I sand a pencil in half and it rides on the fret surface leaving a fine stop line on the nut.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I fret the string at the second fret and file the nut slot till the string is almost touching the first fret. Leave about 1 or 2 thousandths of space (does that make sense?). You can kind of tap on the string over the first fret, while holding down the string at the second fret, and hear it click when it's about right. Leaving some space will insure that the string won't buzz between your fretting finger and the nut (behind your hand). Sneak up on the depth. One swipe of the file too many, and you've gone too deep. It's a pain to fix.
You can leave more space on the fatter strings, or if you play heavy handed.

I pretend there is a zero fret. I fret the first fret and look at the clearance on the second then cut the nut slot just proud of that exact height by eye though, no measure. This is with the bridge placed at proper setup height first.

Also if you are slotting your own nut.. the file is not a saw. It bites in one direction unless you have those japanese files that you don't have. Forward stokes only, and towards peghead. Finish slot with one firm clean stroke.

The spacing is what kills newbs. Hehe

To find depth on a new nut I sand a pencil in half and it rides on the fret surface leaving a fine stop line on the nut.

Miles, telentubes, excellent advice and thank you! I've been cutting nut slot depth mostly by eye, viewing the gap between fret 1 & string bottom, and with a fair amount of success. Rarely overcut - yes what a pain. However I'm going to try your techniques next time I need to. FWIW I polish the slots with 600 or finer grit, also guide the slot floors gently "downhill" towards the headstock.

Will have to try your half-pencil idea too Miles, that is slick as could be!

[johnnyreece]

On filing a nut, I use the half pencil technique first, then use the appropriate feeler gague to get to that line. After that, I add on another feeler gague leaf (or whatever the hell you call them) that is set to the height I want the nut to be (I tend to be pretty heavy-handed, so I leave it a bit taller than most). I use that to draw another line above the first one. That's what I cut (reasonably) close to.

If I ever do "blow the nut" (pause for the laughing to subside...we all done now? Okay), I pack some of the bone dust in the slot and apply thin CA glue. Once it dries, you're free to fine tune again.

[Reeltarded]

Feeler is a safety measure.

If I go deep.. (waits) I pul the nut and shim the bottom with paper thin bone.

[johnnyreece]

Feeler is a safety measure.

If I go deep.. (waits) I pul the nut and shim the bottom with paper thin bone.

[Structo]

@telentubes,
Yes they had a wall of high end guitars (out of kids reach) and I probably played six or so LP's.
There was one I kind of liked but and it was the current year.
But it was $3,400!
When I played the one I bought (2012 model) it seemed to fit my hand and sound good too.
At less than half the price.


Yeah I have a set of Japanese nut files I bought from Warmoth a few years ago.

Typically what I have done in the past was use a caliper to measure the first fret height, then add .002-.003" to that with feeler gauges and use them for the depth stop.

I don't do enough of these to do it very fast or by eye.

When I have made a new bone nut, I have also used the half pencil trick as well.

[surfsup]

I also do what telentubes does. I can't play a guitar that is not set up well. Feels like the strings are hovering. Definitely a nailbiting deal, go to a luthier if you are not confident, and patient.

I use feeler gauges as well. Greasy sons of b's...

All this talk of JP, FYI I have a Jimmy Page wiring harness. They cost $20. Easy swap. Flexibility over tone is great.

[NickC]

Some may find this new Stew-Mac tool interesting:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... Guard.html