Advice on nut radius

[Deleted]

Hi,

I recently bought a Crafters of Tennessee "Tennessee Blues" (TN10.5) roundneck Dobro type guitar (from the LRC, who were as usual very helpful). I really love playing the guitar and all other guitars are taking a back seat at the moment, even using it for a celtic type fingerstyle number.

The neck radius is rather similar to my Strat and the nut radius appeared a bit exagerrated when I looked at it closely. I found some problems with noise and in particular when sliding chords where I could get significant unwanted rattles. So, I had the nut filed to give "flat strings". I found the same advantages as Michael mentioned in another post on Tele setups.

However, I'm thinking of getting a slight curve put back on and raising the nut height. What are general thoughts on such matters. Is there accepted wisdom on advantages and disadvantages on having a flat nut or one with a radius.

[Michael Messer]

Hi AllAroundMan,

There are no rules to this stuff, just what feels right and some guidance from experienced players. I like the flat nut and curved fingerboard on my Tele, but that doesn't mean to say I would do the same on a Dobro. I think it is easier to get clean chords with a flat nut, but each guitar and its ownet are different! One thing to consider is that you must be able to play the guitar in tune up the neck, so both the string height and the intonation must be correct, or at least as near as you can. Dobros & Nationals are almost impossible to get perfect intonation. It s part of their character. You probably need a new nut and to go for a flat nut but with a slightly higher action on the middle strings - also....try having the bass E string cut in slightly so it is lower than the A. This should help with playing in tune up the neck. I hope all this makes sense?

Let me know how you get on,

Shine On,
Michael

[Deleted]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for reminding me about intonation aspects if I raise the nut to high. The guitar actually has a compensated saddle with near perfect intonation up the neck so hopefully I'll have some leeway.

The guitar is very responsive, which has a downside in that it seems to picks up clatter more easily than I've found when playing other guitars, both resos and standard acoustics. I had to improve smoothness of style and the flat string set up certainly helped with chording.

I've been trying some Martin Simpson stuff - I'm intrigued by the tunings. But you need some quite clever right hand string damping. I think I might be able to reduce the reliance on one of methods he uses (he calls it a modified classical rest stroke) with a touch of curvature and/or a slightly raised nut. But then maybe I should just learn the technique......

[Deleted]

If you do get intonation problems with a tall nut it's likely to be worst on the first few frets, as effectively you are 'bending' the strings more when you fret them. The compensated saddle isn't really going to help much here if this does affect your intonation. However, you would have to have pretty high action down at the nut for this to cause a serious intonation problem, and the more obvious problem would be wrestling the strings down to fret on the first two or thee frets. As long as you are looking at a compromise height at the nut so that conventional chording and playing is still relatively easy, raising the action a little with a slightly radiussed nut shouldn't give you too many problems. Remember that intonation on a guitar fretboard is never perfect, it's always a compromise, and the human ear is willing to accommodate a certain ammount of lattitude.