I'm so glad.I just purchased a Valeriano Bernal, at the nut strings where too close together for liking. So picked up a blank and followed your procedure. Chord changes and scale runs are much easier. Thanks you for you help
Yes, because if you glue it in you have to chip it apart to get it out. Or you could spot glue it, but it really isn't necessary because the force of the downward pressure keeps it from moving.
Is the spacing of the springs the dead centre of each string or do you take account the thickness of strings and mark nut by looking at spacing between strings?
The nut should be slightly loose in the slot so that you are certain that the nut bottoms out completely, thus transmitting sound waves perfectly to the neck. The neck in fact is great conductor for sound waves to travel. This is why they design guitar clip on tuners which clip onto the head of the guitar. Same is true for the saddle. It should be snug but not too tight. You want to make sure that the saddle is not bound up in the slot, and that it bottoms out with ease, but not loose in the slot. Many guitars would sound a lot better if the nut and saddle slots were cleaned out precisely and the nut and saddle bottoms out without getting bound in the slots. I always "slightly" knock off the sharp longitudinal BOTTOM EDGES of the nut and saddle WITH 320 GRIT SANDPAPER. THIS ALSO HELPS ASSURE YOU THAT THE NUT AND SADDLE bottom out precisely. It's all about GOOD TRANSMISSION of string energy to the soundboard and to the neck. Good job Michael. Your videos are always informative.
What should be the angle of the nut from the 6th string to the 1st? It's quite evident that there's a miniscule angle that you've integrated into it which is intuitive enough as the strings increase in radius in the ascending order!
Bear in mind that J Michael's advice is for classical guitar construction only. Other types of guitars (electric or steel-string acoustic) require that the nut be glued in place and that you have more sizes of nut files.
Hi! I Love your videos! I have learned so much, and feel so much better preppeared to these tasks when i am going to finish my making of my second guitar! By the way.. From where did you get that pencil (to mark the nut) and what do you call it? I have been looking for exactly that kind of marking pencil after i saw a video on the lie-nielsen tools channel... I owe you. Henrik
Mark Harris Before you sand the bottom of the nut you have to files the slots.......no? Each string is a different height as well. You see Mark things aren't as simple as they appear.
I see at least 10 people, if not more asked you what the height of the feeler gauge is and you leave it as a mystery??? Why??? I sometimes shake my head at why, people like this guy,,, won't answer a simple question?
i normally do answer rude people like you but in this case I'll make an exception. First off I never gave the measurements for the feeler gauge because it depends on what kind of frets you use.. some people use low frets some use high frets. I would think if an idiot like you were to make a guitar you might have a small bit of intelligence to figure this out without me spoon feeding you.
@@JMichaelThames so if you normally do answer rude people why am I the first one, genius? Read your first sentence and tell me who is the idiot?🤣 I don't make guitars, I play them. It was a simple question people asked and you didn't answer, so who is the rude person? 🤔Have a nice day genius!
You got nothing better to do than harass people? You don't appreciate the info I supplied in all my videos, but chose to complain about one thing? I don't owe anyone anything, I don't work for you, get over it, so sick of A-holes like you trolling people, now run along little man.
Does different bone make different sound? will bone crack easily? and can i make a nut out of wood? can i make a bridge out of bone/wood? sorry for all the questions
I'm so glad.I just purchased a Valeriano Bernal, at the nut strings where too close together for liking.
So picked up a blank and followed
your procedure. Chord changes and scale runs are much easier.
Thanks you for you help
thanks so much for these videos they are most informative. not to mention inspirational.
This has been a very helpful video. What is the height of your feeler gauges? Is the height the same across all 6 strings?
Hi. Great informative video. Did I miss where you determined the height of the nut please? Thanks
Yes, because if you glue it in you have to chip it apart to get it out. Or you could spot glue it, but it really isn't necessary because the force of the downward pressure keeps it from moving.
Very helpful video, thank you, how do you use the feeler guagesto figure out bottom nut slots? What is the space relation between fret & nut slots?
That's my question, too. He didn't even bother to mention it. That's the whole reason I even came to watch this I guess it's a secret.
Is the spacing of the springs the dead centre of each string or do you take account the thickness of strings and mark nut by looking at spacing between strings?
this is 100% what i was looking for, thanks.
The nut should be slightly loose in the slot so that you are certain that the nut bottoms out completely, thus transmitting sound waves perfectly to the neck. The neck in fact is great conductor for sound waves to travel. This is why they design guitar clip on tuners which clip onto the head of the guitar. Same is true for the saddle. It should be snug but not too tight. You want to make sure that the saddle is not bound up in the slot, and that it bottoms out with ease, but not loose in the slot. Many guitars would sound a lot better if the nut and saddle slots were cleaned out precisely and the nut and saddle bottoms out without getting bound in the slots. I always "slightly" knock off the sharp longitudinal BOTTOM EDGES of the nut and saddle WITH 320 GRIT SANDPAPER. THIS ALSO HELPS ASSURE YOU THAT THE NUT AND SADDLE bottom out precisely. It's all about GOOD TRANSMISSION of string energy to the soundboard and to the neck. Good job Michael. Your videos are always informative.
What should be the angle of the nut from the 6th string to the 1st? It's quite evident that there's a miniscule angle that you've integrated into it which is intuitive enough as the strings increase in radius in the ascending order!
How much higher should the bottom of the nut slots be above the height of the 1st fret? What size feeler gauges did you use??
Bear in mind that J Michael's advice is for classical guitar construction only. Other types of guitars (electric or steel-string acoustic) require that the nut be glued in place and that you have more sizes of nut files.
Hi JMichael,
Per the other question posted, what spacing do you use between the string slots and the finger board?? Thanks!
Your tuning pegs are drop dead gorgeous
Did you use the same size of file to slot the nut?
Hi! I Love your videos! I have learned so much, and feel so much better preppeared to these tasks when i am going to finish my making of my second guitar!
By the way.. From where did you get that pencil (to mark the nut) and what do you call it? I have been looking for exactly that kind of marking pencil after i saw a video on the lie-nielsen tools channel...
I owe you.
Henrik
What’s the size of the two feeler guages?
You didn't say why the nut should be loose in the slot.
Thank you Tommy!
Great video very helpfull
may I know what is the high of the nut??? how to measure the high of the nut??
What material do you use for the nut?
Why can't bottom of nut be sanded same as saddle, to lower it ?
Mark Harris Before you sand the bottom of the nut you have to files the slots.......no? Each string is a different height as well. You see Mark things aren't as simple as they appear.
Can you make a nut out of wood? how high is the nut suppoused to be?? Thanks
he is doing it the hard way for him it work but not for amatuer.
thank you so much
a drop of glue just to keep it in place will not hurt anything...
I see at least 10 people, if not more asked you what the height of the feeler gauge is and you leave it as a mystery??? Why??? I sometimes shake my head at why, people like this guy,,, won't answer a simple question?
i normally do answer rude people like you but in this case I'll make an exception. First off I never gave the measurements for the feeler gauge because it depends on what kind of frets you use.. some people use low frets some use high frets. I would think if an idiot like you were to make a guitar you might have a small bit of intelligence to figure this out without me spoon feeding you.
@@JMichaelThames so if you normally do answer rude people why am I the first one, genius? Read your first sentence and tell me who is the idiot?🤣 I don't make guitars, I play them. It was a simple question people asked and you didn't answer, so who is the rude person? 🤔Have a nice day genius!
You got nothing better to do than harass people? You don't appreciate the info I supplied in all my videos, but chose to complain about one thing? I don't owe anyone anything, I don't work for you, get over it, so sick of A-holes like you trolling people, now run along little man.
Does different bone make different sound? will bone crack easily? and can i make a nut out of wood? can i make a bridge out of bone/wood?
sorry for all the questions
I just use cow bone.