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Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Wed May 05, 2021 12:42 am
by Veitchy
I'm going to get the nut slots enlarged on my CV Jazzmaster. 11-50 is my usual gauge, but I'm also tempted to try 12s this time around. Knowing that nut slots are often cut slightly wider than the string gauge, especially where trems are involved, I'm wondering if I get the nut cut for 12s first up, will the slots be too wide for the 11s if I decide to go back down?

String gauges are as follows if that's at all useful. Both are using an unwound third.

011, 015, 018, 26, 36, 50.

012, 016, 019, 028, 038, 052.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Wed May 05, 2021 5:15 am
by Scout
Nut slots are not cut to the thousandth of an inch, won’t be an issue .

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Wed May 05, 2021 4:30 pm
by Veitchy
Scout wrote:
Wed May 05, 2021 5:15 am
Nut slots are not cut to the thousandth of an inch, won’t be an issue .
Ok, that's reassuring. I figured most of the middle strings would be fine, but I wasn't sure about the tolerances on the outside e/E especially.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Thu May 06, 2021 8:06 am
by Scout
A properly cut nut is only half the diameter of a wound string or thereabouts in depth , also wide enough that it won’t bind.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 6:27 am
by Mondaysoutar
A little off topic but, I use 11-48s on my JM, would like to go to 12s but don’t like a wound G.. are there any pure nickel sets that do 12s without a wound G or would it just be matter of buying single Gs?

On topic, I spoke to a luthier about my nut slots if I go to 12s and as another poster said, it should be fine, might need to adjust the truss rod right enough.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 8:58 am
by HarlowTheFish
Mondaysoutar wrote:
Sat May 08, 2021 6:27 am
A little off topic but, I use 11-48s on my JM, would like to go to 12s but don’t like a wound G.. are there any pure nickel sets that do 12s without a wound G or would it just be matter of buying single Gs?

On topic, I spoke to a luthier about my nut slots if I go to 12s and as another poster said, it should be fine, might need to adjust the truss rod right enough.
I thought D'Add used to do a set, but I can't find it anymore. Stringjoy can hook you up with a plain G set of 12s for not a ton of cash, and I know Kalium, Labella, and D'Add can all do that if you're ordering a custom set.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 1:29 pm
by jorri
HarlowTheFish wrote:
Sat May 08, 2021 8:58 am
Mondaysoutar wrote:
Sat May 08, 2021 6:27 am
A little off topic but, I use 11-48s on my JM, would like to go to 12s but don’t like a wound G.. are there any pure nickel sets that do 12s without a wound G or would it just be matter of buying single Gs?

On topic, I spoke to a luthier about my nut slots if I go to 12s and as another poster said, it should be fine, might need to adjust the truss rod right enough.
I thought D'Add used to do a set, but I can't find it anymore. Stringjoy can hook you up with a plain G set of 12s for not a ton of cash, and I know Kalium, Labella, and D'Add can all do that if you're ordering a custom set.
12-60 set, this may be only NYXL series but used to use them, plain G

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Sun May 09, 2021 4:26 pm
by Veitchy
D'addario definitely made a set at some point, I had some on my Tele. GHS make the Boomer set I outlined above, though I've no idea what their nickel content is. They may make an unwound set in one of their other lines. Otherwise, Stringjoy or another custom string maker would likely be your best bet as you may be able to spec every string you want in the set.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 2:46 pm
by Mondaysoutar
Ah cheers man, I’ll have a look into these.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Tue May 11, 2021 4:44 am
by jorri
Veitchy wrote:
Wed May 05, 2021 4:30 pm
Scout wrote:
Wed May 05, 2021 5:15 am
Nut slots are not cut to the thousandth of an inch, won’t be an issue .
Ok, that's reassuring. I figured most of the middle strings would be fine, but I wasn't sure about the tolerances on the outside e/E especially.
For reference when i changed from 100 strings on my bass VI to ~70 for baritone tuning i didnt have a single issue or rattle. Depends on the nut but changing to the next guage probably not, unless you go large and the string wont fit.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Tue May 11, 2021 5:56 pm
by Veitchy
jorri wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 4:44 am
For reference when i changed from 100 strings on my bass VI to ~70 for baritone tuning i didnt have a single issue or rattle. Depends on the nut but changing to the next guage probably not, unless you go large and the string wont fit.
Good data. Cheers.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Wed May 12, 2021 1:00 pm
by Arc
Mondaysoutar wrote:
Sat May 08, 2021 6:27 am
A little off topic but, I use 11-48s on my JM, would like to go to 12s but don’t like a wound G.. are there any pure nickel sets that do 12s without a wound G or would it just be matter of buying single Gs?

On topic, I spoke to a luthier about my nut slots if I go to 12s and as another poster said, it should be fine, might need to adjust the truss rod right enough.
Daddario XL148 12-16-20-36-48-60 but they are nickel plated steel and I really don’t like them, and Thomastik-Infeld jazz bebop 12-16-20-27-37-50, pure nickel, double wrap of thin nickel wire, balanced tension, very smooth and warm tone. I have them on a les Paul scale guitar, but they’re pricey, 20€ in Europe, 30+$ in the US. They last forever though.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Thu May 13, 2021 4:12 pm
by Mondaysoutar
Arc wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 1:00 pm
Mondaysoutar wrote:
Sat May 08, 2021 6:27 am
A little off topic but, I use 11-48s on my JM, would like to go to 12s but don’t like a wound G.. are there any pure nickel sets that do 12s without a wound G or would it just be matter of buying single Gs?

On topic, I spoke to a luthier about my nut slots if I go to 12s and as another poster said, it should be fine, might need to adjust the truss rod right enough.
Daddario XL148 12-16-20-36-48-60 but they are nickel plated steel and I really don’t like them, and Thomastik-Infeld jazz bebop 12-16-20-27-37-50, pure nickel, double wrap of thin nickel wire, balanced tension, very smooth and warm tone. I have them on a les Paul scale guitar, but they’re pricey, 20€ in Europe, 30+$ in the US. They last forever though.
Ah great man. Ordered a set of the Infeld bebop 12-50, I’d always assumed they had a wound G. I’ve used pure nickel D’Addario 11-49 for ages man, fancy a wee change. Not too bad price wise for me in Scotland, 16 sheets off Amazon.

Cheers man, good tip

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Thu May 13, 2021 9:18 pm
by Arc
Yeah more or less same price in Italy. They are great strings in my opinion. The double wrap of thin wire makes them soft to the touch, the round core is thinner as a consequence and being wrapped in nickel they do not push the pickups too hard. The tension is almost perfectly even across the set, therefore you could feel like the top strings being stiff, but you’ll soon find that employing the same kind of strength for every string is rewarding in terms of technique improvement. I dig the brass plating on the GBE strings too. And they last for ages really.

Re: Nut Slots - How Wide is Too Wide?

Posted: Mon May 17, 2021 2:56 pm
by Colnago
Scout wrote:
Wed May 05, 2021 5:15 am
Nut slots are not cut to the thousandth of an inch, won’t be an issue .
Not sure what you mean. My nut files are measured as such.
Whenever I go up a size I always try with the existing slots and they nearly always need to be adjusted wider.
I’ve not tried going back down a size though, so I don’t know if the OP would have issues doing so or not.
Curious to know how nut slots are cut if they’re not cut to the thousandth of an inch.