Alright, I finally made a successful neck with a scarf joint, now onward. I was considering using a 0th fret. I want to have a low action to make it easier on my arthritic fingers - will a 0th fret work with a low action or would I be better off with a little more height at the nut?
Thanks!!
Replies
This one has a O fret.Nice low action
Oooo - very nice! Mine won't be quite so fancy
Why settle for either, when you can have both!
Zero bone. Bone zero fret and nut. All the cool kids are doing this now. Or at least one. And he might not be that cool.
Looks like you have a one piece bone fret, space, bone string guide going on, correct? I was thinking of using fret wire (for hardness in supporting the strings) flanked by a wood with slots to guide the strings since I'm lacking something I thought would be hard enough.
Would a plastic such as a section of PVC pipe be hard enough to make a nut? I'm trying to avoid having to go out and purchase something else for this project and don't particularly like the aesthetics of a bolt, although I realize that that would work fine.
without any knowledge to back it matt,i feel pvc will not get you what you want,something harder i feel
Not sure what the PVC would sound like. Give it a shot. What's to lose but a few minutes of time.
A piece of jumbo fret wire would get you a little higher action than a standard zero fret. Or a finishing nail set into a little groove in the fret board. Or anything round. I've used the end of a chop stick from PF Changs.
Go to your local home improvement store and get a free sample piece of Corian from the bathroom department. It is hard enough to use for a nut, and is easily cut with a band saw. Free is good.
Please explain what ya got going on here Eric....
I made a bone nut for a guitar and I didn't like the required precision for the slot width and depth. Someone on the Facebook Cigar Box Guitar group was considering filing a traditional nut in half and adding a proper zero fret. I thought a complete replacement like I've pictured above was easier and a bit more elegant. I'm happy to say that it works very well.
I take a bone blank and cut a groove in it with a diamond disc on my Dremel tool. I do this over a ShopVac hose and I wear a respirator. Then I carefully start to grind down the leading edge to a rounded point like the first picture. Once the nut is glued into place I can finalize the zero fret height with a single cut file and I cut the string guides where I want them. The tone is like a bone nut, but I can change to whatever string gauges I want, whenever I want without fear of buzz. There is no binding of the stirngs so they slide right through when tuning up or down.
Randy Bretz and I were discussing this together when I did my design. He also did one that was pretty slick by gluing a piece of ebony onto the bone. The ebony acted as the string guide. It looked really nice.
Good question, given my limited experience not sure I can help, but my first thought is maybe instead of a traditional nut, you could possibly use larger fret wire. Just thinking that the lower nut would translate into a higher angle: so higher action at the 12th fret to avoid buzzing at the lower frets.
Your other option is to use lighter strings and keep your action height. . .
Maybe use more back-angle on the neck, too so your bridge height isn't so low that you drag your pick on the guitar body.
I am interested to see what others have done.