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How to build a bass guitar – Rough slotting the nut

Below: The items used in this build step. A vice, five gauged nut slotting files, and the nut itself.

Below: The nut secured in the vice.

Below: A .130″ file was used for the 5-string B, seen at left of nut. Note that this is not filed to final depth; this will not be done until strings are physically in the slot to precisely measure slot depth later.

Below: A .110″ is about to be used for the 4-string E to file the nut slot.

Below: The 4-string E string slot has been filed.

Below: The 3-string A slot has been filed, using file size .080″.

Below: The 2-string D slot has been filed, using file size .065″.

Below: The 1-string G slot has been filed, using file size .047″.

Below: Some extra height has been filed off the nut as it was no longer necessary to be there.

Below: The nut as it looks now when seated in the neck.

Where are the rest of the build steps?
You can view them all here.

4 thoughts on “How to build a bass guitar – Rough slotting the nut”

    • Hey Leo, Yes you are right! it is taller than needed. Exposing 1/2″ the string is exactly what they taught us at school, and I am clearly breaking that rule here. It is also sort-of a myth. I think a good example is PRS guitars which have a mile high nut and yet still manage to stay perfectly in tune.

      Reply
  1. Having an accurately slotted nut is so important, but I would be discouraged if someone forced me to make a nut like this. It’s an overly complicated procedure and some of the layout inaccuracies as seen in the photos are a concern.

    A lot of this layout work is unnecessary. Accurately dress the ends of the nut blank on a belt or disc sander until the length of the blank matches the width of the fingerboard. Strike centerlines for the two outermost strings from the ends of the nut blank with a pencil gauge. That will determine how far inboard from the edges of the fingerboard those strings will be.

    Layout the remaining string centerlines with a Stew Mac string spacing rule, based on the two outer centerlines. Saw a thin kerf down the centerlines with a fine handsaw. Rough out the slots with diamond needle rasps using the saw kerfs as centerline guides. Finish the slots with files, letting the files determine the final width and depth of the slots. Remove the extra material from the top of the nut once the slots are close to or at full depth.

    All this can be done on the bass if you don’t want to use a vise. Once you get comfortable with the process, it happens fast. You can carefully and accurately slot a nut from start to finish either on or off the bass in less time than it would take to just do the layout work on this nut blank with having to draw in all the circles, etc.

    Reply
  2. William, Yes I completely agree I over-complicated the heck out of it. You description of the process is without a doubt the only way I have ever seen the job approached by any builder or repairman that I know, and is much more straightforward than what I showed drawing circles etc etc. Anybody looking here for the proper procedure would be well advised to take Williams advice and follow his procedure verbatim! You have a good eye. As you noticed my layout isn’t quite perfect. It’s only as accurate as I am able to draw it. Perhaps the only benefit I can see to what I am doing is the drafting exercise. I found it challenging to try to draw it out. Yes difficult to do, but somehow I felt I should be capable of drawing it out. Also for some reason I really just wanted to show an alternate procedure here. Thanks for taking the time to type out and share your method. If anybody else would like to straighten me out please jump right on here and tell me how you like to do this job! I really enjoy the responses. Happy, fun and safe building to all! 🙂

    Reply

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