Zero fret question

[Harry Cahyadi]

I'll say it again:

The practical reason why we Luthiers leave the zero fret/nut a little bit higher is because it works. Years of experience. I've built and set up hundreds of basses with zero frets. I tried cutting them level, and had too many problems. And yes, I know how to set the relief and action correctly.

The technical reason why this extra height is needed is because, when you loosen the truss rod, the neck doesn't go into the exact theoretical curve that's needed for string clearance. Its curvature is imperfect. The part of the neck around the nut and the first fret is stiffer than the middle of the neck, because of the volute on the back as it transitions to the headstock. So it doesn't bend into the perfect curve. If you measure the actual relief curve of a neck carefully, you'll find that there's a flat spot in the curve around the 1st-2nd fret area. Along that desired clearance curve, the 1st and sometimes 2nd fret are effectively high, in relation to a equal-height zero fret. Raising the zero fret/nut compensates for that. It corrects the curve. So, the first zone of the relief curve is mechanically built into the neck, regardless of how the truss rod is set.

When you press the string down at the first fret, then you are moving down past the flat spot into the real relief curve, where the neck actually begins to curve. So, there's clearance over the 2nd fret, and no buzz. Same on down the neck. The problem zone is that first fret buzzing when you play the string open.

If you cut the zero fret level with the other frets down the neck, you'd have to slightly lower the first fret to keep it from buzzing. It's more practical to take the relief out of the neck, level all the frets except for the zero fret, and then trim the zero fret to be slightly higher.

Thanks Bruce for chiming in.

That is exactly what I have experienced (not as many basses yet though ). That "first-two-frets" issue is so true, thats why I chose to take the relief out.

 

[KramerDon]

My old Kramer 650B has a zero fret that is different from the other frets.It is a Pettillo fret for whatever that's worth and it's slightly higher than the other frets.

 

[miziomix]

I started using same size fret for zero frets. Levelling all frets but the zero one would effectively end up with a very slightly taller zero fret. Which is what it needs to be. As fretting gets cleaner and one needs less levelling then the question naturally presents itself: why not just use a slightly taller zero fret instead? That's what I do now. Two means to the same end. But a taller zero fret seems a neater approach.

 

[Harry Cahyadi]

As fretting gets cleaner and one needs less levelling then the question naturally presents itself: why not just use a slightly taller zero fret instead? That's what I do now. Two means to the same end. But a taller zero fret seems a neater approach.

Great point.

It is quite sad knowing (from reading this thread) that still quite a few people out there, even in this era, are still doing/following something "by the text book", and refuse/afraid to experiment doing something different (not necessarily new or complicated) to achieve a better results.

They prefer to hold on to something they have previously known, sometimes without even knowing the reason why they are doing it.

The funniest part is, those people will keep doing the same thing, even when they know others have done something different and got better results, simply because they think it is "illogical" or "not ideal".

IMHO, the core of this forum (especially luthier's corner) is to spark creativity and challenge every member achieve better results, so they can inspire others to do even better. Otherwise everyone is just going to do fender copy, which is fine, nothing wrong with that, but how boring will it be?