Red Ensign Stratocaster Build Diary

[CascadiaGuitarGeek]

Thanks for info Simon. I do have staggered height tuner posts, but it does look like a retainer bar is needed to increase the angle on the strings. I'll definitely be ordering one.

As for the action, I'll have to wait for the full setup to be done to confirm if the nut height needs any adjustment. I haven't adjusted the neck relief, bridge height, etc. so that could take care of it.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, set the neck relief first, the bridge height second (for clean playing on all but the 1st fret), and then sort out (if necessary) the nut height.

[PeterSik]

err.. wasn't it; fix neck relief, then nut and then bridge?? as nut height also has an impact on intonation..

[Simon Barden]

Not really for guitars with standard nuts. If the bridge is high and you adjust your nut slots to be as low as possible first, and then lower the bridge to get the overall action down, the string height at the 1st fret also gets lowered and you end up with string buzz. You'll probably end up adjusting the neck relief and the string height a couple of times first before things settle down, so you do the nut slots after that. And only after that do you set up the intonation.

Yes, you can set the nut slots up first with a generic height above 1st fret if you put a capo on the 3rd fret, but that height will move very slightly if you do then adjust the neck relief. If you haven't got nut files and are sanding down the base of the nut, then maybe that's the best way. But I find that if you have nut files, then doing the nut after the relief and bridge height has been set allows for getting a really low 1st fret string height.

But lack of experience means I don't know the very best time to set up the height of a locking nut, so pre-setting the height before doing anything else might make more sense with a FR trem, as de-stringing and then setting the trem up again is a real pain to do, but even after that, once the guitar is set up, you may still find that the nut height could be a bit lower, (or may need to be a bit higher), so you may still end up biting the bullet, loosening the strings and then adding or removing a shim and going through the whole FR balance set-up again.

My only locking nut guitar has a nut that's too high with no shims fitted, but I'm a bit loath to take a file to either the nut or the guitar, so I'm living with it at the moment.

[Fretworn]

It's been a long time since I've had a guitar with a locking nut, but I know that shimming the nut is something that does have to happen with these. It's a bit of a pain but you may need to remove the nut build up underneath it and then sand that down to get the height you need, which is probably only a tiny adjustment.

[CascadiaGuitarGeek]

After a long period of procrastination I finally got around to installing the string retainer bar on this guitar. During the build hiatus I went and ordered a custom decal for the headstock to tidy it all up.

[Dedman]

that really finishes it off nicely. Bravo!