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Hello DB. Query on the bone nut, received with my PB4-A kit. Is this reversed? Assuming that the widest groove is for the E string, the top surface ramp/taper faces to the headstock and not to the fretboard. I hope the pics of comparison with the original plastic nut show what I mean.
I can't see whether it says L/H or R/H nut on the card in the package. But assuming that you've got a R/H bass, and in the second picture that the bottom E slot is nearest the camera, then the DB nut is sloping correctly. Fender-style nuts are normally either left flat on top, or like other guitar nuts, are sloped down toward the headstock side, with the fretboard size being the highest. So to me it looks like the kit nut had been incorrectly sloped and the replacement is fine.
However, you'll probably need to cut the slots a bit deeper once the bass is put together. After that you've probably got enough height to file the top down a bit and level it if you wish. Just round the corners off so you've got no pointy bits to stick in your hand.
Thanks Simon. But the photo doesn't show the bone nut too clearly. Assuming that the widest groove is for the E string (what else?) these two nuts are mirror images, so with the bone nut the strings would go from the tuners straight on to the top of the slope then down the slope toward the bridge.
Logically I seem to have an incorrectly packaged bone nut but I thought I had better ask just in case there is some secret bone-nutters business that only the initiates would understand. :rolleyes:
Hey Vox looks like DB may have mixed up a left hand nut. The nut should slope down toward the headstock, not toward the bridge.
So that 2nd photo you posted, is that with the E string toward the camera ?
Hi Wokka. Yes, E string closest to camera.
actually Vox the slope of the nut may depend on if its a Fender type (flat headstock) of Gibson type (tapered headstock)
I've forgotten which way the Fender type slope so will check my DB bone nut for my jazz bass when I get home from work and let you know on this thread
Hi Vox, I just asked DB and he said the slope should be toward the headstock. ie high point on fingerboard side and low side toward headstock, so this isn't the case?
Maybe Adam has sent you a left hand nut as DB can't remember sending it to you.
Can you please check the paperwork to see if it says left or right hand ?
Hi Wokka, the packet says "R/H", but clearly, this is left hander. Perhaps Clarence the cocky (re. the DB bone nut fitting vid) needs to do some performance management with his worker? :D
ahha no worries Vox. Send Adam an email and he will arrange to post a right hand nut and you may have to mail back the nut you have.
Just wait till I check my nut at home tonight. I asked DB which way it supposed to slope but didn't ask if it sloped down or up toward headstock
Are you sure about that? Because that would make the bone nut correct, but your later comments indicate that the slope is from headstock side (highest) to fretboard side(lowest).Quote:
Originally Posted by VoxMechanica
For the bone nut to slope that way and be for a L/H bass, it would have to be the G slot nearest the camera.
Yes, sure. In my original post when I said the taper faces to the headstock I was attempting to describe that the high side is on the headstock side and the low side is to the fretboard. (Note to self, get a macro-capable camera).
Hi Vox that's what I worked out when I read your first post again.
I'm still very confused. Maybe it's a northern/southern hemisphere thing.
Hi Vox, the nut should slope downward toward the headstock, I checked mine on the jazz bass and Precision.
If you have some files you can always file the slope the other way. If you haven't got bass nut files use a set of old wound round strings like dental floss and lower the nut slots a little if needed. Be easier than posting it back and getting a right hand nut sent back
Hi Simon, As a Mancunian (of many years' absence) let me try to explain. With the plastic/kit nut the strings would run from the tuners and ascend the nut's taper/ramp until reaching the highest point, at the fretboard end - thence on to the bridge - eventually.
However, with the bone nut (E string notches being constant) the strings would run from the tuner to the top of the taper/ramp and then descend across the nut to the fretboard & on to the bridge. As I said, the two nuts are mirror image.
It's just that if the white nut is the bone one (the yellow one seems to be PBG standard yellow so I'm assuming that's the plastic one), and the E slot is nearest the camera in the right hand picture, then the left side would be the headstock side and the right-hand side the fretboard side - and the slope on the bone nut would be correct. I can only assume that it is in fact the G slot nearest the camera, which would make the slope reversed.
Ahh....now I see the problem! The plastic nut is the white one!
Sorry, but I had assumed that all would recognise the yellow one as being bone.
Note to self, don't assume. Assumption - the mother of all ph@^& ups!:eek:
A-ha! All is revealed. I've never seen a bone nut that yellow before and a lot of the PBG nuts are the same yellow.
Yes, definitely sloping the wrong way for a R/H nut. But as you'll probably need to cut the string slots deeper (I use the pointy end of a round needle file for bass nuts), then you'd probably want to file the top of the nut down anyway. It doesn't need a slope, it's more aesthetic than anything, and a lot of Fender-style nuts are pretty flat at the top, albeit with a square edge on the fretboard side and a rounded-off edge on the headstock side.
Try it in place without any glue, see how much the string slots need to come down by then guestimate how much the top of the nut could be filed down. In theory the minimum slot depth is 1/2 a string (which is how DB normally cuts them), but if you ever bend the strings at all, it's very easy to unseat a string so I prefer most of a full string's depth to the nut slots on my guitars and basses.