Recommended Nut Action

[Gilmourisgod]

Installing a new OEM Bakelite nut from POTR. The new 4003 all seem to be shipped with a very high nut action. Rule of thumb on Fender style basses is something like .003" clearance between strings and first fret when capo'd at the third fret. Anything different about Ricks that would necessitate the much higher factory setting? What are people setting them at for a low action and minimal relief?

[jps]

I don't measure the nut height to some "standard" setting. What I do is set the height at the nut so that the space from the bottom of an open string to the top of the first fret is the same as the space under the string at the second fret when I press down at the first fret. This comes after I have set the neck relief, string height, and intonation where I want it to be. After getting the nut slots where I want them, I go back and recheck/adjust intonation again.

[aceonbass]

I push the string down at the 2nd fret, then file the nut slot till there's just a hair (whatever that is ) of clearance between the string and 1st fret.

[jps]

I push the string down at the 2nd fret, then file the nut slot till there's just a hair (whatever that is ) of clearance between the string and 1st fret.

Have you lost yours? I still have all of mine (that's left).

[aceonbass]

Still have all of mine. I was referring to the ambiguousness of "hair" as a unit of measurement....

[Gilmourisgod]

Is a "hair" the same as a sheet of paper? Some people use that instead of a feeler guage. The other one is a dollar bill which is supposedly .0043" thick.

[aceonbass]

Actually, it's a particular TYPE of hair.....

[radapaw]

I do what aceonbass does.... and yes, that type of hair is practically an official unit of measurement, but yeah paper should be close enough for rock and roll.

[cheyenne]

I've always went with feel. When you start to get close it gets pretty tedious, ( my 56 year old eyeballs ain't what they used to be), If you hear buzzing on open strings, you went to low. Been there, done that a few times.