Gibson Nut Slot Height

This is a “top-down checklist” for the assembly of a solid-body electric guitar.
It can help you to build a guitar with specific sound and playability characteristics. Please read licence and the contribution guidelines before contributing.

Table of Contents

Typical Fender and Gibson style nuts sit in a square u-shaped slot requiring a little more care and patience in removal. The same principals apply in protecting the finish as above. Many other types of guitars, acoustic and electric, North American and offshore, have nuts that sit in a simple right angled shelf. The ideal nut slot height, in terms of playability, is subjective — much like string action height at the bridge. Some players like the slots to be cut up a little higher (like slide players), and some players want them cut down as low as possible so the guitar plays very easy with no fight.

Sound and Playability Influencing Factors

*influence ( “-” stands for little, “++++” stands for very strong)

For example, for building a solid-body ‘jazz-sounding’ guitar you have to choose (top down by importance):

• vintage or jazz pickup with convenient po­ten­tiomet­er and capacitor values
• flatwound strings
• massive neck, hollow body with wood such as mahagony
• shorter scale length

Guitar Necks

Neck thickness, neck width, neck contour and fret wire size affect playability and are a matter of personal taste. Important for good playability is balanced interaction of these components. Thicker neck often creates warmer tone.

usacustomguitars.com/necks - many neck shape and thickness combinations
musikraft.com - additional information for understanding of neck features.

Neck Profile

Neck Profile is the combination of contour (C, U, V , asymmetrc) and thickness (.0750' - 1')

*warmoth - Warmoth Neck Profiles
*fender - see “NECK SHAPE” Filter
*gibson forum - Gibson Neck Profiles

Neck Nut Width and Nut Slot Spacing

The real e1 to E6 string spread can be controlled not only through nut width, but also by slot spread in the nut. For example, 44.5 mm wide nut can have e1 to E6 distance between 35 and 37.5 mm.

Neck Heel Width and Mounting

Most guitar parts manufacturer adopted Fender’s® neck heel and neck pocket dimensions:

• 56 mm (2-3/16') - Width
• 76 mm (3') - Length
• 16 mm (5/8') - Pocket Depth

These dimensions are not a standard. Only careful measurement ensures that your parts will be compatible.

Strat necks have a rounded base to their heel and Tele necks have a squared-off base to their heel, which makes it difficult to interchange the two types of necks across various bodies.

Standard Fender heel mounting is done with 4-Bolt Holes - 1/8' (3mm) diameter (spread of 2' x 1-1/2').

Fretboard’s Radius

Smaller radius means a more rounded shape.

• 7-1/4' - “Vintage” Fender®
• 9-1/2' - “Modern” Fender®
• 10' - Gibson®/PRS®
• 12' - Ibanez®
• 16' - Jackson®
• compound (10' - 16') - Warmoth® and others

youtube.com - understring radius gauges - video demonstration of three different gauges used for guitar setup and fretwork: standard, notched and understring.

Fret Sizes

lutherie.net - provides an excellent manufacturer/sizes overview.

Common Neck Head Shapes

• 6L - Fender Style - left in line
• 6R - for left-handed
• 3L/3R - “Gobson Stype”
• 4L/2R - “Musicman Style”

Tuner Holes

• approx. 8,7mm (11/32') - “Vintage Fender Style”
• approx. 10mm (25/64' = 9,9mm) - “Sperzel Style”,
• approx. 10mm (13/32' = 10,3mm) - “Planet Waves Style”
• approx. 10mm on top and 8,7mm bottom - “Schaller/Grover/Gotoh Slyle”

Small holes can be enlarged with a sunk. Big holes can be retrofited by adapter bushings.

Guitar Bodies

The sound of electric guitar depends mainly on the vibration behavior of the string itself and the reproduction characteristics of the pickup. The vibration behavior of the string depends (very little) on wood. The body itself is very thick compared to the neck, that is why the body wood type and form have very limited influence on the sound of electric guitar.

music.stackexchange.com - how much does electric guitar’s body physics affect the tone and playability.

Body Shapes

The shape of an electric guitar can historically be divided into the following categories:

• ST (Strat)
• T (Tele)
• Single Cut (LP)
• Double Cut (SG)
• Hollowbody
• Other Forms

Bridge And Pickup Routing Overview

• Flat Mount Hardtail (Strat/Tele/Schaller)
• Tremolo (Strat)
• Tune-O-Matic (Gison)
• Other (Jazzmaster®, Jaguar®, Bigsby®, Kahler®, Line 6, etc)

Picture left to right:

• American Standard Tremolo Routing and Single Coil Strat Pickup,
• Vintage Telcaster Routing and Single Coil Tele Pickup,
• Tune-O-Matic Style Routing and Habucker Pickup

Flat Mount Strat Routing

Flat Mount Tele Routing

Flat Mount Schaller Routing

Tremolo Routing

callahamguitar.com - technical specifications of some coustom parts.

Tune-O-Matic Gibson Style Routing

Instead Tailpiece - there may be “strings through the body” drillings.

Other Rare Bridge Variants

• Wrap-Around (bridge-tailpiece combo - the strings are installed through the front side and wrapped around)
• Jazzmaster®
• Jaguar®
• Bigsby®
• Kahler®

Pickup Routing

• Single Coils (Strat)
• Single Coils (Tele Neck)
• Single Coils (Tele Bridge)
• Humbucker
• Wide Humbucker *
• Mini Humbucker
• P90
• Lipstick Tube
• Jazzmaster

*Wide Humbucker (same as Seymourduncans “Trembucker” or Dimarzios “F-spaced Hambucker”) can be used for guitars with larger sting distance with standard “Humbucker Routing”. Measure from the middle of the high string to the middle of the low string, directly over the pickup. If the distance is greater than two inches or 50mm, go for a Wide Humbucker.

Exact specifications can be found on the manufacturer’s website like:

bareknucklepickups.co.uk - dimensions

In addition to classic HH routing (2X hambuckers), there are the following variants: - SSS (Strat, Nashville Tele)

• HSS (Strat Humbucker im Steg, Modern Player Tele)
• HSH (Strat),
• HS (Strat, 72 Tele)
• SS (Tele),
• HP90 (Yamaha Pacifica),
• S (Tele Esquire),
• and some other exotic combinations

Tuning Machines

Tuning Machines Options:

• Configuration: 3L+3R (Gibson style), 6-in-Line (Fender style), 4L/2R (Musicman style)
• Diameters of bore holes for axis (see chapter Tuner Holes)
• Ratio - for 1x winding around the shaft head - 1x rotation necessary.
  Larger ratio (1:18 > 1:14) allows finer adjustments.
• Standard vs Locking - with locking tuners strings are inserted through the axle bore and fixed by a screw from the outside

Bridges

Guitar bridge has large influence on playability (mainly through string spacing). Wider string spacing is better for finger-picking style, narrow spacing gives easier control when playing leads with distorted tone. Bridge Routing chapter above describes common bridge categories with string spacing specification.

Bridge form and material have also some influence on sound.
Good manufacturers provide detailed product information on their pages:

ABM - indicates that Bell Brass and Steel shape the guitar sound with character, while Aluminum acts largely neutral in the transfer of tone.

Hardware Parts Checklist

• Jacks & jackplates
• Neck plate (neck-to-body)
• Pickguard or pickup mounting rings
• Screws for all parts above
• Control plate (only for for standard tele)
• String ferrules (String-thru Top or Bottom - if you use “string through body” instead of bridge)
• String retainers. Happy Little String Trees
• Strap holders

For each screw, the hole must be pre-drilled to the core diameter (not outer diameter)

Electronics

Electronics exerts greatest influence on the overall sound of a solid-body electric guitar.

buildyourguitar.com - The Secrets of Electric Guitar Pickups by Lemme - “If you know the resonant frequency and height of the resonant peak, you know about 90 percent of a pickup’s transfer characteristics. Some other effects cannot be described using this model, but their influence is less important”.

Frequency response of a magnetic pickup may look like this

Following topics change resonant frequency and resonant peak:

• Pickup Properties - position and height of frequency peak vary from type to type.
• Electronics Wiring Options - Hambucker coils are switched in series by default, switching them in parallel or using only one of the coils will increase resonant frequency and the sound will have more treble.
• Potentiometer and Capacitor Values changing provides also simple way to change resonant frequency and peak.
• Cable capacitance - longer cable will lead to lower resonant frequency.
• Amp input impedance

Pickup Properties

• Dimension and product group - see chapter Puckup Routing
• Wiring: 1, 2, 3 or 4-Con­ductor (4-Con­ductor allowing most flexible wiring)*
• Position: Bridge, Neck, Midd­le
• Symmetrical vs asymmetrical connection type
• Output: low(vintage), medium, high (vintage used often for jazz and blues)
• Passive vs. Active (Active often used for distortion sound)
• D.C. Resistance: indication how much output a pickup will have
• E.Q. chat: A general idea as to the Bass, Mids and Treble.

seymourduncan.com - pickup selector
dimarzio.com - pickup picker

Gibson Nut Slot Height Chart

Classic humbuckers are asymmetrical. They are internally wired in series (i.e. serial - brings more power) in opposite phase (less noise). The current multi-Con­ductor PUs offer the option of switching the coils differently using push / pull pots, mini switches, toggles, mega switches and rotary switches, and allow broad control over the sound directly on the guitar.

Sound Control with Switches

• Coil Split - “Single Coil Sound”
• Seriell/Parallel Schaltung - “double Single Coil Sound”
• Phase-Switch - “Out of Phase Sound”

Gibson Nut Slot Height Dimensions

SP = Single Pole, DP = Double Pole, DT = Double Throw

Example: “Seriell/Parallel und Coil Split at same time” are possible with 4 Push/Pull Pots, 4 Mini-switches (i.e. duncan triple shot) or by 5-Way Blade Megaswitch

open.guitars (german) - Hambucker Conductor/Coils switching options.

Electronics Wiring Schemas

More wiring schemas from:

Potentiometer and Capacitor Values

http://www.planetz.com/guitar-tone-capacitors-material-types - comparison of tone capacitor material types and capacitance values.

Volume and Tone Potentiometer Options

• Resistance: 250K, 300K, 500K, 1M
• Taper: Audio, Reverse Audio, Linear, Balance
• Shaft Type: Knurled, Round & Plain
• Shaft Diameter: 6 mm (0.236 in), 6.35 mm (0.25 in)
• Shaft Length: 17mm, 19 mm (0.75 in), 27,5 mm (1.125 in)

Potentiometer Knob Styles

There are 3 common styles of knobs:

• bell
• speed
• domed

philadelphialuthiertools.com - Choosing the correct knob for your guitar or bass.

Gibson Nut Slot Height Weight Chart

Active Pickups Electronics

Active Electronics tries to reduce dependancy from the shielded cable and amp input impedance. However, that needs power to operate, and that’s its biggest drawback.

Custom Buffers (german) - used to decouple the guitar electronics from the sound influencing effects on the shielded cable.

Strings

Depending on following options your sound will be more bright or more mellow:

• Construction (Flat Wound/Round Wound)
• Material (Steel/Nickel) and
• Tension

Most manufacturers use following naming convention to describe tension of string set:

There are also other hybrid sets available - like “Light Top/Heavy Bottom” and “Balanced Tension” combinations.

daddario.com - you can choose between bright and mellow sounding electric strings.
ghsstrings.com - also bright vs mellow overview, and tension guide (pdf)
thomastik-infeld.com - good jazz and blues strings

Scale Length

A guitar’s scale length is length of string between the nut and the bridge.

Scale has a relatively low impact on sound and playability of the guitar. (Compared with other parameters such as strings or pickups).

Longer scale length sound and playability characteristics:

• quick response, crisp attack
• transparent sound with well-defined basses and heights
• larger finger spread
• higher string tension at constant gauge

Shorter scale length sound characteristics:

• warmer
• more sustain and longer decay

Common Scale Length:

Gibson Nut Slot Height Bars

• 572 mm (22.5') or shorter - 3/4 & some travel guitars
• 596,9 mm (23.50') - Fender Jazzmaster/Jaguar guitars
• 629 mm (24.75') - many Gibson guitars
• 635 mm (25') - many PRS guitars
• 648 mm (25.5') - many Fender guitars
• 650 mm (25.5) - typical classical guitars
• 686 mm (27') or longer - Baritone guitars

Woods

¹ Sound: the diagram for effects on tone stands mainly for acoustic instruments and NOT for solid body guitars, where other components have much larger impact on sound. Thus, a mahogany electric guitar can sound bright despite the representations below.
² Weight may vary for the same variety.
³ Used for: T - Body Top B - Body N - neck F - fretboards

frudua.com - graphical examples for body and neck woods showing relationship between wood hardness, its density and tone.

This is how I usually configure the saddles but there is no “right” way. Turning the G saddles is often necessary to get it far enough back to intonate properly.

I always appreciate readers suggestions for posts. There’s only so much to be written about any given subject and when your subject is as narrow as mine and you’ve been writing about it for seven years, you will run out of subject matter. You will note that I’m posting less frequently than I used to. It’s not simply laziness or being too busy with other things, it’s just that I’ve covered almost everything. Going forward, going into greater detail on subjects already covered is a logical next step, so instead of writing about a PAF, I could do a post about magnets. Or tuner bushings. But this week a writer made a suggestion for a post that somehow slipped through the cracks. It should have been done years ago. How do you set up a 335? Or, more to the point, how do I set up a 335?

I set up a lot of 335’s (345’s/355’s) and the good news is that they are pretty easy to get right and relatively consistent. I’m going to assume that you don’t need to recut or replace the nut or level the frets. These are really important elements for a good setup and it may be necessary to do one, the other, or both. But we will save that for later.

First, play the guitar and decide what you don’t like or what is wrong with the setup. Consider the action, the intonation and the sustain. The action pretty easy. Raise or lower the bridge until you like the action. Then the real work can begin. If any of the open strings are buzzing, then you have a problem which we will address later. It can be the nut, it can be a fret or frets or it can be the relief (truss adjustment). Or maybe you simply have the action too low. Factory spec. is 5/64″ for the low E at the 15th fret and 3/64″ at the high E. I like mine slightly higher at the high E.

After getting the action where I like it, I look at the relief (the amount of bow in the neck). Sight down the neck. If it’s dead flat and there is no buzz, you can leave it alone. I like a little bit off relief-a small amount of bowing away from the strings- so I would loosen the truss rod a quarter turn to a half turn until I see a slight bow. You may have to leave it for a while. Truss adjustments aren’t instantaneous. If there is buzzing and you see the neck is bowed toward the strings, do the same-loosen the truss a quarter to a half turn. Leave it for a bit and go back and look. If the neck has flattened out or bowed slightly away from the strings and the buzz is gone, then you’re done with the truss rod. If it is still back bowed or buzzing, loosen the truss some more. If you run out of adjustment-the truss nut is all the way loose-then you will have to see your luthier. Back bows are rare in 335’s with big necks but not uncommon in thin 60-63 necks.

Once I have the truss adjusted, I adjust the stop tail. This is more art than science. Raising or lowering the stop (skip this step if you have a Bigsby or trapeze) can make a small difference in sustain or no difference at all. Some 335’s have a sweet spot usually a few turns up from being screwed all the way down. It’s trial and error and the likelihood is that it won’t much, if any, difference. You’re changing the string break angle which affects the downward pressure on the bridge. Some argue that the break angle changes the ease of bending notes. I’ve never perceived it. The theory is that less break angle means easier bending. You decide.

Once I have the truss adjusted, I set the intonation. Using a good clip on tuner is the easiest way to do it, although I use harmonics as well. I assume you know how to intonate a guitar with an ABR-1. Be aware that 335’s were made to be played with a wrapped G string, so intonating a plain G can be tricky. Usually, you have to turn the saddle around so the flat side faces back rather than forward. That allows more adjustment back toward the tailpiece. Most vintage 335s with 10’s require the G saddle to be as far back as it will go. Otherwise it will be sharp at the upper frets. 9’s generally won’t intonate well. I usually turn the top three strings flat side back but it’s usually only necessary to do the G that way. Once you’ve done the intonation and there is no buzzing and you are happy with the action, it’s time to plug it in.

Next post will cover pickup height adjustments and what to do if you have buzzing or bad sustain.

Adjusting the stop tail height changes the break angle of the strings. It may make a difference, it may not. There is no correct break angle, so try a few settings until you like it. If you don’t perceive a difference, a couple turns up from all the way down looks good to me.