I have been building and experimenting for a couple of years now.
1) I am curious for peoples thoughts on the best set up heights for the nut and bridge.
2) Having experimented with many materials, what is the best nut material and bridge material?
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Someone revived an old post.
On the cheap rosewood or Ebony for both saddle and nut, easy to shape and cut string slots nice warm tone.
Bone blocks for nuts work great for 3 and 4 string bridges. There is a reason guitar company's use tone wood and bone.
Bolts look great but don't transfer vibrations very well, I think in the last 7 years we have all learn this but still use them. We all have a box of old bolts.
On fretted necks use a headstock tuner to set string height, check intonation between open note and the 1st fret if they are not correct none will be. I didn't have a clue 7 years ago.
As a first step, for the nut I use an old blunt jigsaw (aka sabresaw) blade that I found was just a touch higher than my frets. To check, put it between two frets and get a short straight edge/fret rocker if you get a little bit of rocking, I covered one side of the old blade with masking tape to minimize the chance of scratching the fretboard. Then I hold that against the nut and cut my string slots with a junior hack saw, stopping when the blade hits the old blade. I then adjust the width of my slots as necessary. At this stage the instrument is ready for stringing up.
I then follow up with the universal third fret method on all my builds. You press down between the second and third fret. There should be a slight gap of a gnat's whisker between the string and the first fret. Old time builders tested with a cigarette paper. I just make it really really close but without touching. Given the above step I usually don't have much to do.
This is how all instruments I build from bass ukuleles to Tahitian ukuleles are set up at the nut. No exceptions for instruments needing fingered frets. Slide or fretless can be higher.
Action (at the 12th) varies between instruments from 1.5mm on Tahitian ukes to 6mm for bass ukes and in between for everything else. It is more of a taste and playing style thing. If fret noise is your thing (I call it fret growl on bass ukes) make the action lower. If your frets are a little uneven leaving the action a little high can compensate for that.
Thanks for the tip, Titch. Guess I've been pretty Damn lucky so far, using the "eyeballing and feels right" method. I like your method better. I couldn't get my first one to sound right now I know at. Thank you again.
Tri can resonator bridge
Tough question.........
Over time, you will develop a personal preference for string action height. Some people like very low action while others like fairly high action. In the meantime, you can take tips from some professional guitar techs regarding action height.
Here is a good overview about string height and how to set it up.You'll find that action at the 1st fret is usually not considered unless chasing a problem. Normally, action height is measured (set) at the 12th fret. There are several charts showing typical Low, Medium and High action.
A lot depends on what you want to do. If you finger notes (fret them), most people lean toward lower action height. If you are playing slide, low action just makes it harder (assuming you have frets). If you are playing a slider, action height is not important (withing reason).
Ask about the "Best" nut and bridge materials and you may end up in an endless discussion where everyone has logical reasons for their particular choice. Bone for the nut has been the traditional choice on acoustic guitars for centuries for a reason. It's hardness helps to allow the string to vibrated without losing energy through the nut.
Electrics seem less critical with regard to nut material with options including bone, metal and various synthetic materials.
Bridge material, just like nut material is all over the place. Bone is used on some acoustic bridges and adjustable metal bridges are common on electrics (for a reason). When Les Paul was searching for a guitar design with more sustain than he was getting from his hollow bodied electrics, he tried a solid wood body with a metal bridge firmly attached to the body. He found the combination of solid wood and a firmly attached metal bridge produce better sustain than other designs. Thus the birth of the Les Paul guitar.
If you are looking for more sustain then a hard tail metal bridge screwed firmly to a pass-through neck will do the trick. If you are looking for some other trait, then other bridge designs may be better.
It all comes down to what you want to accomplish. I use a round steel zero-fret along with a hard tail bridge to maximize string sustain. It has worked for a long time, but like everyone else, I have an opinion.
Try different materials and decide for yourself what you like.Keep us posted.
Thanks old keys work well, Bolts and nuts and old screws on old wooden rullers.seem to work quite well too.. harder the wood the better. I have also used a fret on a hardwood before that seems ok..I tend to use a no head allen screw now 4mm - 5mm approx on a hardwood base..but most things work...
These are some great tips. After nearly 50 builds -all with either bolt/threaded rod, or skeleton key nuts & saddles- I'm just now starting to mess around with bone. My big question is how do you slice it cleanly? I have a dremel and a diamond tip blade, do I just stick the bone in a vice and go for it free hand? Then belt-sand or file it from there? That process seems like it would take just this side of forever. Other than a band saw, is there an easier way to slice bone thin?
As for the string height, awhile back somebody here said they just slide two pennies under the strings -between the strings & the first fret- and use that as a gauge. I tried it and it worked so well for me that I've been doing it ever since. I even superglued 2 pennies together and now I have a "first-fret string height gauge". This may not be a comfortable height for everyone, but I've had consistently good results.
As for bridge height? I dunno.. sometimes I just file-away until stuff quits buzzing. ; D
I just use the diamond cut off bit in my dremel and hold the bone blank with my fingers. The bit won`t hurt you if you hit your finger. That makes the cleanist cut and you can use the surface of it to fine shape the nut or saddle.
You can always go with a carved bone skeleton key to get that awesome bone tone !!!
Thanks, Randy. When it comes to "unlocking the mystery of bone", you are the man!
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