Richard Starkey is unbelievable in this regard, as well as many on our forum. Measure the height of the first two frets by laying a straight edge across them and sliding different combinations of feeler gauge blades under it until they touch the straight edge.

After the truss rod is set correctly and your nut slots are filed properly, saddle height can be adjusted, if needed.

1. I always do setups in this order: 1) relief, 2) nut, 3) saddle because a) relief can affect the other two and b) there is essentially one correct nut height and it will affect the overall action.

Start by loosening the string, not taking it off. The ideal height would be just about the same as a fret's height in the same position as the nut.

Ideally, the nut slot height is identical to any other fret.

Have … For electric guitars, in our opinion, a good default string height at the 12th fret is typically about 6/64th of an inch on the bass side and 4/64th of an inch on the treble side. Since every guitar neck, saddle height, nut height, neck angle, fret, and top condition may be slightly different, using some average measurements can give any guitar a basic, comfortable "feel".

In practice, I've found that there are some musicians whose playing attack is so vigorous that they require the nut to be higher to avoid the open string buzz.

While the shape of an acoustic guitar is symmetrical (unless featuring a cutaway) giving the impression that all that’s required to change orientation is to change the strings around. Even if you are replacing the nut that is currently on the guitar you still need to do this carefully because you don’t want to chip the wood around the nut. This is similar to checking neck relief, but the string should move much less. If the string doesn’t move at all, chances are the slot is too low.
For proper string nut slot depths, use the feeler gauges. When I am certain of the condition of the frets I set action at the nut as low as possible.

For acoustic guitars, we’ll want to go just a bit higher than this:

Jon says: October 17, 2014 at 2:18 pm Great guide.


I also avoid synthetic and elephant ivory, both of which are too soft and rubbery to make good nuts for steel strings.

After checking the string height with a gauge THEN sand the bottom of the nut. If it moves more than a few thousandths of an inch, it should be filed lower. But remember that strings can 'saw' themselves through a nut just through normal use. String height at the nut should be as low as possible without causing open string buzz. Now let’s say for example that your measurement is .040 inches on the low E string and you want your nut down to .030 inches. Watch videos from stew mac, they’re pros and most of their videos can be understood and done by anyone.

The definition of “setup” can encompass everything from a change of strings and action adjustment to a much more comprehensive job that corrects intonation, neck angle, saddle height, and more.


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