Most new guitars arrive from the factory with the nut just barely playable. Elder guitars could have the nut filed or worn down so much that fret buzz cannot be eliminated by neck or string height adjustment. In case you have a fresh guitar, or that you’re replacing the nut having a new one, here’s another method to file and adjust the nut material in making your guitar play such as professionals guitars play.

Before adjusting anything, be certain your guitar is strung up correctly and that your neck is straight and never bowed or warped. In case your neck is bowed you initially need to adjust the truss rod. If the neck is warped it would force a more extensive repair. For all-time low possible action or to avoid fret buzz all across your finger board it can be required to have your frets leveled and crowned first.

You’ll need a set of nut files (available from Stewart MacDonald), and a good set of feeler gauges as well. Different grades of sandpaper are very useful too.

Fret each string individually, starting when using the High E, between the second and third fret, use your feeler gauge to test the amount of space between the underside of the string and the first fret. You should have approximately .005″ of space between each one, when using the string barely touching the 2nd fret. If this measurement is close or dead on then move on to the next string right up to the Low E string. You may want to record the gap on a scrap piece of paper as you progress across the fret board, to see the nut slot’s height in relation to the fret board as you do so.

For most players a string height (also known in guitar slang as “action”) of 3/64″ of an inch is considered normal. Some players choose a higher sting height for example 4/64″ of an inch while players which tend to have a light touch and want the fastest action possible strive to lower the action as close as possible to 2/64″ which in many case’s is very hard to setup and maintain without fret buzzing somewhere on the finger board.

Of course, you can use the traditional method to set your string height in relation to the nut, by using multiple feeler gauges below the nut, and filing down to the factory depth and width. However, I have found using this method to provide a better and more consistent feel while playing near the nut.