That mysterious end of my guitar that will probably remain mystical and baffling

JanekLubanski

The nut and first fret. Why does that area of my guitar cause me so much angst. I kinda understand that the nut height should be only a smidgeon higher than the height of the first fret. Press string between second  and third fret and look to see the gap between string and first fret....should be very very very small. Ok......so why do some guitar companies and those blokes who do set ups on the Toob give string heights for first fret string heights. Just the height of the open string from the first fret?

18 to 20 Thou for some (0.45 to 0.5mm) on all the strings. Some state 0.3mm on low E graduating  down to 0.2mm or even 0.15mm to high e string and anything in between. Just to confuse me or to  increase the sales of feeler gauges?

mbe

Youtubers gotta cite standard measurement and, even though I work to the smidgeon, it is unfortunately not an official SI unit of distance. 

Winny_Pooh

I've worked it out by trial and error and seeing by eye, go too low, add baking soda and super glue and whittle it down again.

WezV

I have a few tools for it.  I still do it by feel

digitalscream

mbe said:

Youtubers gotta cite standard measurement and, even though I work to the smidgeon, it is unfortunately not an official SI unit of distance. 

If it helps, I was always advised that the official unit of measurement for this particular purpose is "the gnat's cock".

Danielsguitars

I'm by look and feel too and looks to me like a gnats too, haven't tried measuring that cock 

Funkfingers

digitalscream said:

If it helps, I was always advised that the official unit of measurement for this particular purpose is "the gnat's cock".

Proper Imperial units.

ICBM

The 3rd fret method is the correct one because it removes the relief and bridge height from affecting the result, which they do (even though minor) if you measure under the open string.

You don’t really need feeler gauges - by eye is good enough. Feeler gauges do give precision and consistency though, so it’s not wrong to use them if you want or you aren’t sure.

Danielsguitars

Another good guideline is to cut the nut slot until it's in tune at the first, this is a good way of not going too low to start, then fine tune with the third fret method