Fretless bass nut fileing down?

[mikedones]

I have a mim fretless jazz bass

The original nut was pretty low to the neck.

And i bought a new one to replace,but its must higher then the original one.


Now is it important to have it low as you can to the neck if so how much do it has to stick out??

Thanks

[selfblessed]

When I first got my mim Fretless Jazz the nut was so low that the g string was rubbing and biting into the fret board. I took it in and got it fixed.
Not sure if there is an absolute number though.

[needmoney]

You want about a papers thickness (or less) of clearance when fretting at the 3rd or 4th fret.

[mikedones]

Thanks that helps and gives me an idea what do to.

[Fretlessboy]

I personaly use a feeler gauge as a file stop. If the fingerboard was properly planed so there are no humps in it, your strings must only be high enough to clear the end of the fingerboard. using a feeler guage as a measuring/finling stop will allow you to get it uniform across all the strings. I believe that the nut should be as low as possible (without buzzing the board). This improves intonation as well because you are having to bend the string pushing it down to fret (so to speak) the first few frets.

[Fretlessboy]

When you say it was pretty low, was it clearing the fingerboard?

Originally Posted by mikedones

I have a mim fretless jazz bass

The original nut was pretty low to the neck.

And i bought a new one to replace,but its must higher then the original one.


Now is it important to have it low as you can to the neck if so how much do it has to stick out??

Thanks

[Captain_Arrrg]

I'm going to filing my nut for my defret project soon (today I hope) and this is really helpful!

[AN0INTD]

Fretlessboy: Do you use any specific thickness gauge? I was considering buying a "sparkplug" guage from a dicount auto parts by my house since the guage gets some pretty thin measurements....I just don't know which measurement would be best.

[Fretlessboy]

.015 is my nut height of choice for fretless. My tool kit is my other halves van from when I did some mobil stuff yester. I will check that tonight.
With a set of guages, you can take it doen in perfect increments so if it isn't low enough... chage guages

Originally Posted by AN0INTD

Fretlessboy: Do you use any specific thickness gauge? I was considering buying a "sparkplug" guage from a dicount auto parts by my house since the guage gets some pretty thin measurements....I just don't know which measurement would be best.