The measurement in exactly 17 inches from the top of the 12th fret to the top of the nut channel on the head side....
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NUTZ
- Thread starter DURP
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GotchaNo worries
It's always 1/2 of total scale length. Fenders are 34" scale. This is crucial, all the notes will be off it that isn't right.
You’re probably good but just to make sure (and for the sheer joy of being Captian Pedantic) the measurement should be from the center of the 12th fret to this spot. I’m reading what you wrote as 17” to the other side of the nut slot.
Yes, as @Matt Liebenau said, the witness point of a nut is right at the end of the fretboard. It is that point which must be 1/2 the scale length measurement to the center of the 12th fret (the witness point of the fret).
I did measure those points on both bass and treble side to both ends of channel on head side, dead on at 17...
That's a little odd, only off by 1/8" but still off. What is the neck relief (bow) like? Without strings I'd expect it to be pretty flat, if not have a bit of back bow. I don't know that it could bow forward enough to put that measurement off by an 1/8"... i don't have experience with the MIK Squier p bass to know if they did anything odd with scale like use a metric measurement.
I do not have a way to measure exactly atm so here are pics. It is off (back bow) a bit, waiting for parts now so I can finish the nut. Prior the strings touched with the strut rod nut completely off the neck. Will be mid week or so before I have the new parts in hand...
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Ok. That’s what I thought you meant. Reed covered it above but, yes, the fretboard side of the nut is the side that should be half the scale length measurement from the 12th fret. I’ll try to remember to post a picture later.
Just for fun, what’s the measurement from the center of the 12th fret to the middle of the G string saddle with the saddle say 90% of the way towards the bridge in its travel?
Just for fun, what’s the measurement from the center of the 12th fret to the middle of the G string saddle with the saddle say 90% of the way towards the bridge in its travel?
I truly have no idea, as you can see in the pictures, the saddles were rusted solid. One of the screw heads sheered off even after penetrant. I ordered a new set that left London yesterday, I know someone who makes exact replicas of the original saddles, he has made parts for other instruments I own. Short of it, I did not measure before I removed them...
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This is your best bet.
Normally, the bottom of a Fender nut slot follows the curve of the fingerboard. Since the current state of the slot is… compromised, I suggest cutting the bottom and everything behind it flat and then grafting the new piece right up to the witness point. In other words, cover up the old nut slot completely. Then you can cut a new slot in the graft that has a clean, curved bottom. The front edge of the nut will still sit against the old fingerboard in the same spot it always did.
Indeed my plan . Have to wait till Monday to pick-up the rosewood, he's already promised...
Without showing the other end of the tape measure, this is not a reliable measurement. And it's generally not reliable anyway, due to intonation, which is why the stock way to measure is to the 12th fret midline.
The point that matters is shown at 33-3/8" from wherever the other end of the tape is, which is likely not the "scale length point" (which is largely imaginary due to intonation.) The end of the fretboard can be there (for non-Fender-style nuts) or practically anywhere beyond it (practicality does tend to limit the extension, as an overly long useless part of the board gets in the way of the strings going to the tuners.)
It certainly appears (but can't be positively verified from pictures so far) that the nut slot was possibly widened in a direction that would make the bass impossible to correctly intonate if not corrected. As closely as I can guesstimate the tape measure, it appears to be 1.71875 (1.719) from the important edge of the nut slot to the center of the first fret. (33-3/8" - 31-23/32" as I read it, not expecting that to be completely accurate as read.) If that's Equal to or Shorter Than the distance from the center of the first fret to the center of the second fret, there's definitely a problem with the nut slot position.
The point that matters is shown at 33-3/8" from wherever the other end of the tape is, which is likely not the "scale length point" (which is largely imaginary due to intonation.) The end of the fretboard can be there (for non-Fender-style nuts) or practically anywhere beyond it (practicality does tend to limit the extension, as an overly long useless part of the board gets in the way of the strings going to the tuners.)
It certainly appears (but can't be positively verified from pictures so far) that the nut slot was possibly widened in a direction that would make the bass impossible to correctly intonate if not corrected. As closely as I can guesstimate the tape measure, it appears to be 1.71875 (1.719) from the important edge of the nut slot to the center of the first fret. (33-3/8" - 31-23/32" as I read it, not expecting that to be completely accurate as read.) If that's Equal to or Shorter Than the distance from the center of the first fret to the center of the second fret, there's definitely a problem with the nut slot position.
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I get what you say, the overall is not important as to the edge of the nut channel and corresponding distance to the nut itself? The other end of the tape was on the edge of the bridge centerline
You have to figure out definitively what the scale is. By needing to locate the nut, you're essentially locating a fret (the zero fret). You can only do that if you know the specific scale length. Usually, if you didn't know what scale you had, you measure from the nut to the 12th. In this case the nut isn't a reliable location so you'd have to work it out by the frets, which are. Bridge is not reliable either cause the saddles are moveable.
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