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Can anyone help me with my Nuts !!

Posted by Soulcatcher & His DooFa Diddley on May 9, 2011 at 4:55am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Hi all,

I guess this topic has been on here somewhere before but here goes ...

 

Managed to ge hold of 2 cheapo Strat copys and im going to rat rod them but i want to play slide

so what size nut do i need ? and where is the best place to get them?

cheers for any help .............oh and i live in the UK

Soul

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Replies

  • Soulcatcher & His DooFa Diddley May 10, 2011 at 7:10am

    CBJ what is the height of your strings from nut to bridge in relation  to the fretboard?

    cheers Soul

  • Soulcatcher & His DooFa Diddley May 10, 2011 at 6:37am

    Thanks again guys

    well ive got 2 to play with so i may keep one standard and one with a slight increase nut

     

  • ChickenboneJohn May 10, 2011 at 3:15am
    Using a nut raiser is fine for slide only and lap style. To do trad bottleneck style playing, if you study a lot of the old time players, you'll observe that the slide is perhaps only 10-20% of the sound you're hearing, the rest is fretted notes, barre chords and partial chords..it's much more subtle than just using the slide all the time. If your action is too high, particularly near the nut, you wont be able to fret these passages. The better you get at playing slide, and the more sensitive you get with your touch, the lower the action you'll be able to cope with.
  • Crow May 9, 2011 at 3:58pm

    i find that for true slide playing, the action needs to be high enough to get a clean slide sound without touching the frets below, the "nut extender" is a simple way, though i've never tried it.

    i HAVE, however, converted many acoustic guitars to slide-only by putting a machine screw right in front of the nut. i'll place a picture later. the new nut will rest slightly forward of the original, but the added pressure of slide playing would require a nut placement adjust anyhow. so.. it actually evens itself out nicely. quick and easy. remind me this evening, i'll post a picture of mine. have fun!

  • Soulcatcher & His DooFa Diddley May 9, 2011 at 2:24pm

    Thanks for that Guys,

    CBJ i must admit the nuts on both guitars are really low ,but i will try them out like you said 1st

    cheers

  • ChickenboneJohn May 9, 2011 at 1:48pm
    If you want to play slide, regular bottleneck style, you don't need to raise the nut unless it is super super low action, just put some heavy strings on it and raise the action at the bridge. A nut raiser or extender is only good for lap-style playing, it will put the action WAY too high for proper bottleneck playing.
  • Wichita Sam May 9, 2011 at 10:58am

    Soulcatcher,

     

    Go into any guitar store and get a "nut extender".  It's a metal piece, grooved for 6 strings and sits over the top of the existing nut.  It raises the strings enough for slide play.... if you have adjustable bridge, then just raise that and your are off and running....  Here in the states its a $ 3-5 instant cure.

     

    the best,

     

    Wichita Sam

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