Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

NegativeEase

New member
Interested especially in pro luthiers comments on this -especially people like ICTgoober who apparently doesn't hold back feelings on members and customers :lmao:
-the nut filing thread today made me think of this.

I once had a Luthier (I didn't know) backfill the space behind the bone nut with a filler instead of dialing the nut in flush and correctly. -and leaving a large gap at that -gaps on both sides on the nut, from the neck surface on the north side and slightly gapped on the neck AND against the fretboard block on the south side. looked horrible. When I picked it up, saw it, and nicely I asked him to do it again, he said that was a totally acceptable professional technique and standard and refused.

Anybody agree?

My logic being -the nut is the second most critical point on a guitar for transmission of the waveform into the closed looped through the body for resonance and and that with the materials making much of the personality, feel, and tone of the guitar. (bridge I guess being number one -because it's always a part of the fretted sound too.). So a repair in which the nut is not uniformly firm and flush to the neck wood and against the fretboard side for a clean vibration into the loop is altering the efficiency and transmission of the vibration cleanly from medium to medium -because using a wood filler is another medium imparting properties and personality into this critical loop.

I understand that perhaps a filler could have a positive effect as well in some cases, but I don't think its a decision for a luthier to make without involving the guitarist seeking to preserve the bone nut tone he's getting prior to arrival. -anyways, I'm not sure if he was having personal problems at home of something -but he went absolutely bat **** crazy on me for asking him to redo it.

I have never had my guitar serviced by anyone else -except people I know since then. -and If you want science, I can probably post spectral analysis of guitar resonant properties and how medium transmission absorption and reflection affect them when I get some time

-Thoughts?
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

I had a nut replaced and the guy did exactly the same thing that you said, who did the same thing. There was a 2 or 3 mm gap between the nut and the upper part of the headstock. Well, that and the low E was cut way, way, way too high. I used some sandpaper to file the E slot down to a playable level and never went back to the guy.

I suspect that the gap with the nut has to do with whatever materials the guy doing the work happened to have on hand. He didn't have quite the right blank so just dumped whatever he had in there and called it a day.
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

i wouldnt accept that, nor would i let anything off my bench like that. as long as the neck is in good shape then the nut should fit flush and snug. if the neck isnt in good shape where the nut sits then that should be addressed.
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

i wouldnt accept that, nor would i let anything off my bench like that. as long as the neck is in good shape then the nut should fit flush and snug. if the neck isnt in good shape where the nut sits then that should be addressed.

Love to hear this.
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

I suspect that the gap with the nut has to do with whatever materials the guy doing the work happened to have on hand. He didn't have quite the right blank so just dumped whatever he had in there and called it a day.

Sounds like a very plausible explanation.
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

how much did he charge? making a good nut and installing is not as cheap as people might think
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

Whilst the most important fit aspect of the nut is the bottom (followed by it fitting snugly to the scale length face so the intonation and tuning works) it doesn't make for a very confidence inspiring look if you have had to do a fill in any aspect of the nut slot. Most especially if you are charging premium prices for your work. There are enough blank/oversized products available that you should be able to fit the nut to the slot snugly in all dimensions.
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

In answer to OP's question.... I assume you are talking about a Fender guitar? I wish you posted pix so I'd know exactly what we were talking about....
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

In answer to OP's question.... I assume you are talking about a Fender guitar? I wish you posted pix so I'd know exactly what we were talking about....

Sorry, this was years ago no pic -it was a custom Pedulla guitar -the nut sits on the neck wood and against the Fretboard vertical end, the other nut thread made me think to ask you guys that do this as a pro -because this pro guy was soooooo confident that using filler on a nut was an "acceptable professional job"

I called bull**** on it and made him do it again -but not after a heated argument -which he was clear he didn't want to do it.

I didn't want to turn this into a Guitar Center hate thread -but this guy also did all of Guitar Center's work in the mid 90s when Guitar Center has a short lived attempt to outsource work -I didn't go through GC -I went straight to his shop, but my thinking (bear in mind I was in my early 20s was that this guy deals with 1000s of setups and repairs, so those reps should make him very competent..... I was wrong.
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

There is no, I repeat NO, excuse for a "luthier" delivering a guitar to a customer with a nut that:
doesn't seat soundly/flush/evenly on the fretboard;
doesn't fit tightly against the fretted part of the fretboard;
has any noticeable gaps around it;
is not slotted to the correct size of the strings; or
is slotted with an action height that is not as specified by the customer determined by his playing style and preferences.

Even if doing the job as a favor (free) for a good customer. But at $100 it should have been near perfect or at least acceptable to the customer.
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

There is no, I repeat NO, excuse for a "luthier" delivering a guitar to a customer with a nut that:
doesn't seat soundly/flush/evenly on the fretboard;
doesn't fit tightly against the fretted part of the fretboard;
has any noticeable gaps around it;
is not slotted to the correct size of the strings; or
is slotted with an action height that is not as specified by the customer determined by his playing style and preferences.

Even if doing the job as a favor (free) for a good customer. But at $100 it should have been near perfect or at least acceptable to the customer.

Thanks, that's what I was looking for -a confident answer -I figured his answer was horse **** but always wondered if there was something I wasn't considering.
 
Re: Nut Fitment Standards -What is the Pro Luthier standard?

I fitted a nut to one of my acoustic guitars. It took a lot of sanding and patience, filing and more sanding, but got it looking damn near perfect. Certainly no filler needed. It’s a painstaking process but it’s not rocket science. No excuse for a pro to F it up like that.
 
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