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1. Fender Stratocaster Nut Replacement
2. Electric Guitar Nut Slot Height
3. Stratocaster Nut Slot Height To Fretboard
4. Stratocaster Nut Slot Height Weight Chart
5. Guitar Nut Slot Height
6. Acoustic Guitar Nut Slot Height
7. Stratocaster String Height At Nut

This is a “top-down checklist” for the assembly of a solid-body electric guitar.
It can help you to build a guitar with specific sound and playability characteristics. Please read licence and the contribution guidelines before contributing.

Table of Contents

Ideally, the nut slot height is identical to any other fret. But remember that strings can 'saw' themselves through a nut just through normal use. I ordinarily leave a nut slot a little higher than necessary at first, to allow for the string to cut itself a little lower. .018 height over first fret for the nut height 4-6/32nds over 17th fret for bridge height depending on which strings you use and how low you like your action. That is a very generic setup that a lot of people can do with. I do my personal guitars a low as humanly possible because thats what i like. The Super-Vee locking system uses the patented “Blade” technology to connect the bridge to the mounting plate. It’s completely frictionless and will never wear out. Independent saddle height and intonation adjustments and precision fine tuners with plenty of range. The Super-Vee locking nut drops securely into the existing Strat nut slot.no routing or screws. The patented design clamps. Rough in the nut height and shape The top of the nut is shaped to follow the radius of the fretboard, and the string slots also follow this curve. To allow the strings to clear the top of the first fret, the bottoms of the slots should be.030' higher than the fret height. The nut serves to define and maintain the spacing of the strings, and to hold them at the proper height. If the nut is too low, the string will bump into the first fret when it is played and it will 'buzz,' even if the rest of the instrument is properly set up and working well.

Sound and Playability Influencing Factors

*influence ( “-” stands for little, “++++” stands for very strong)

For example, for building a solid-body ‘jazz-sounding’ guitar you have to choose (top down by importance):

• vintage or jazz pickup with convenient po­ten­tiomet­er and capacitor values
• flatwound strings
• massive neck, hollow body with wood such as mahagony
• shorter scale length

Guitar Necks

Neck thickness, neck width, neck contour and fret wire size affect playability and are a matter of personal taste. Important for good playability is balanced interaction of these components. Thicker neck often creates warmer tone.

usacustomguitars.com/necks - many neck shape and thickness combinations
musikraft.com - additional information for understanding of neck features.

Neck Profile

Neck Profile is the combination of contour (C, U, V , asymmetrc) and thickness (.0750' - 1')

*warmoth - Warmoth Neck Profiles
*fender - see “NECK SHAPE” Filter
*gibson forum - Gibson Neck Profiles

Neck Nut Width and Nut Slot Spacing

The real e1 to E6 string spread can be controlled not only through nut width, but also by slot spread in the nut. For example, 44.5 mm wide nut can have e1 to E6 distance between 35 and 37.5 mm.

Neck Heel Width and Mounting

Most guitar parts manufacturer adopted Fender’s® neck heel and neck pocket dimensions:

• 56 mm (2-3/16') - Width
• 76 mm (3') - Length
• 16 mm (5/8') - Pocket Depth

These dimensions are not a standard. Only careful measurement ensures that your parts will be compatible.

Strat necks have a rounded base to their heel and Tele necks have a squared-off base to their heel, which makes it difficult to interchange the two types of necks across various bodies.

Standard Fender heel mounting is done with 4-Bolt Holes - 1/8' (3mm) diameter (spread of 2' x 1-1/2').

Fretboard’s Radius

Smaller radius means a more rounded shape.

• 7-1/4' - “Vintage” Fender®
• 9-1/2' - “Modern” Fender®
• 10' - Gibson®/PRS®
• 12' - Ibanez®
• 16' - Jackson®
• compound (10' - 16') - Warmoth® and others

youtube.com - understring radius gauges - video demonstration of three different gauges used for guitar setup and fretwork: standard, notched and understring.

Fret Sizes

lutherie.net - provides an excellent manufacturer/sizes overview.

Common Neck Head Shapes

• 6L - Fender Style - left in line
• 6R - for left-handed
• 3L/3R - “Gobson Stype”
• 4L/2R - “Musicman Style”

Tuner Holes

• approx. 8,7mm (11/32') - “Vintage Fender Style”
• approx. 10mm (25/64' = 9,9mm) - “Sperzel Style”,
• approx. 10mm (13/32' = 10,3mm) - “Planet Waves Style”
• approx. 10mm on top and 8,7mm bottom - “Schaller/Grover/Gotoh Slyle”

Small holes can be enlarged with a sunk. Big holes can be retrofited by adapter bushings.

Guitar Bodies

The sound of electric guitar depends mainly on the vibration behavior of the string itself and the reproduction characteristics of the pickup. The vibration behavior of the string depends (very little) on wood. The body itself is very thick compared to the neck, that is why the body wood type and form have very limited influence on the sound of electric guitar.

music.stackexchange.com - how much does electric guitar’s body physics affect the tone and playability.

Body Shapes

The shape of an electric guitar can historically be divided into the following categories:

• ST (Strat)
• T (Tele)
• Single Cut (LP)
• Double Cut (SG)
• Hollowbody
• Other Forms

Bridge And Pickup Routing Overview

• Flat Mount Hardtail (Strat/Tele/Schaller)
• Tremolo (Strat)
• Tune-O-Matic (Gison)
• Other (Jazzmaster®, Jaguar®, Bigsby®, Kahler®, Line 6, etc)

Picture left to right:

• American Standard Tremolo Routing and Single Coil Strat Pickup,
• Vintage Telcaster Routing and Single Coil Tele Pickup,
• Tune-O-Matic Style Routing and Habucker Pickup

Flat Mount Strat Routing

Flat Mount Tele Routing

Flat Mount Schaller Routing

Tremolo Routing

callahamguitar.com - technical specifications of some coustom parts.

Tune-O-Matic Gibson Style Routing

Instead Tailpiece - there may be “strings through the body” drillings.

Other Rare Bridge Variants

• Wrap-Around (bridge-tailpiece combo - the strings are installed through the front side and wrapped around)
• Jazzmaster®
• Jaguar®
• Bigsby®
• Kahler®

Pickup Routing

• Single Coils (Strat)
• Single Coils (Tele Neck)
• Single Coils (Tele Bridge)
• Humbucker
• Wide Humbucker *
• Mini Humbucker
• P90
• Lipstick Tube
• Jazzmaster

*Wide Humbucker (same as Seymourduncans “Trembucker” or Dimarzios “F-spaced Hambucker”) can be used for guitars with larger sting distance with standard “Humbucker Routing”. Measure from the middle of the high string to the middle of the low string, directly over the pickup. If the distance is greater than two inches or 50mm, go for a Wide Humbucker.

Exact specifications can be found on the manufacturer’s website like:

bareknucklepickups.co.uk - dimensions

In addition to classic HH routing (2X hambuckers), there are the following variants: - SSS (Strat, Nashville Tele)

• HSS (Strat Humbucker im Steg, Modern Player Tele)
• HSH (Strat),
• HS (Strat, 72 Tele)
• SS (Tele),
• HP90 (Yamaha Pacifica),
• S (Tele Esquire),
• and some other exotic combinations

Tuning Machines

Tuning Machines Options:

• Configuration: 3L+3R (Gibson style), 6-in-Line (Fender style), 4L/2R (Musicman style)
• Diameters of bore holes for axis (see chapter Tuner Holes)
• Ratio - for 1x winding around the shaft head - 1x rotation necessary.
  Larger ratio (1:18 > 1:14) allows finer adjustments.
• Standard vs Locking - with locking tuners strings are inserted through the axle bore and fixed by a screw from the outside

Bridges

Guitar bridge has large influence on playability (mainly through string spacing). Wider string spacing is better for finger-picking style, narrow spacing gives easier control when playing leads with distorted tone. Bridge Routing chapter above describes common bridge categories with string spacing specification.

Bridge form and material have also some influence on sound.
Good manufacturers provide detailed product information on their pages:

ABM - indicates that Bell Brass and Steel shape the guitar sound with character, while Aluminum acts largely neutral in the transfer of tone.

Hardware Parts Checklist

• Jacks & jackplates
• Neck plate (neck-to-body)
• Pickguard or pickup mounting rings
• Screws for all parts above
• Control plate (only for for standard tele)
• String ferrules (String-thru Top or Bottom - if you use “string through body” instead of bridge)
• String retainers. Happy Little String Trees
• Strap holders

For each screw, the hole must be pre-drilled to the core diameter (not outer diameter)

Electronics

Electronics exerts greatest influence on the overall sound of a solid-body electric guitar.

buildyourguitar.com - The Secrets of Electric Guitar Pickups by Lemme - “If you know the resonant frequency and height of the resonant peak, you know about 90 percent of a pickup’s transfer characteristics. Some other effects cannot be described using this model, but their influence is less important”.

Frequency response of a magnetic pickup may look like this

Following topics change resonant frequency and resonant peak:

• Pickup Properties - position and height of frequency peak vary from type to type.
• Electronics Wiring Options - Hambucker coils are switched in series by default, switching them in parallel or using only one of the coils will increase resonant frequency and the sound will have more treble.
• Potentiometer and Capacitor Values changing provides also simple way to change resonant frequency and peak.
• Cable capacitance - longer cable will lead to lower resonant frequency.
• Amp input impedance

Pickup Properties

• Dimension and product group - see chapter Puckup Routing
• Wiring: 1, 2, 3 or 4-Con­ductor (4-Con­ductor allowing most flexible wiring)*
• Position: Bridge, Neck, Midd­le
• Symmetrical vs asymmetrical connection type
• Output: low(vintage), medium, high (vintage used often for jazz and blues)
• Passive vs. Active (Active often used for distortion sound)
• D.C. Resistance: indication how much output a pickup will have
• E.Q. chat: A general idea as to the Bass, Mids and Treble.

seymourduncan.com - pickup selector
dimarzio.com - pickup picker

Classic humbuckers are asymmetrical. They are internally wired in series (i.e. serial - brings more power) in opposite phase (less noise). The current multi-Con­ductor PUs offer the option of switching the coils differently using push / pull pots, mini switches, toggles, mega switches and rotary switches, and allow broad control over the sound directly on the guitar.

Sound Control with Switches

• Coil Split - “Single Coil Sound”
• Seriell/Parallel Schaltung - “double Single Coil Sound”
• Phase-Switch - “Out of Phase Sound”

SP = Single Pole, DP = Double Pole, DT = Double Throw

Example: “Seriell/Parallel und Coil Split at same time” are possible with 4 Push/Pull Pots, 4 Mini-switches (i.e. duncan triple shot) or by 5-Way Blade Megaswitch

open.guitars (german) - Hambucker Conductor/Coils switching options.

Electronics Wiring Schemas

More wiring schemas from:

Potentiometer and Capacitor Values

http://www.planetz.com/guitar-tone-capacitors-material-types - comparison of tone capacitor material types and capacitance values.

Volume and Tone Potentiometer Options

Fender Stratocaster Nut Replacement

• Resistance: 250K, 300K, 500K, 1M
• Taper: Audio, Reverse Audio, Linear, Balance
• Shaft Type: Knurled, Round & Plain
• Shaft Diameter: 6 mm (0.236 in), 6.35 mm (0.25 in)
• Shaft Length: 17mm, 19 mm (0.75 in), 27,5 mm (1.125 in)

Potentiometer Knob Styles

There are 3 common styles of knobs:

• bell
• speed
• domed

philadelphialuthiertools.com - Choosing the correct knob for your guitar or bass.

Active Pickups Electronics

Active Electronics tries to reduce dependancy from the shielded cable and amp input impedance. However, that needs power to operate, and that’s its biggest drawback.

Custom Buffers (german) - used to decouple the guitar electronics from the sound influencing effects on the shielded cable.

Strings

Depending on following options your sound will be more bright or more mellow:

Electric Guitar Nut Slot Height

• Construction (Flat Wound/Round Wound)
• Material (Steel/Nickel) and
• Tension

Most manufacturers use following naming convention to describe tension of string set:

There are also other hybrid sets available - like “Light Top/Heavy Bottom” and “Balanced Tension” combinations.

daddario.com - you can choose between bright and mellow sounding electric strings.
ghsstrings.com - also bright vs mellow overview, and tension guide (pdf)
thomastik-infeld.com - good jazz and blues strings

Scale Length

A guitar’s scale length is length of string between the nut and the bridge.

Scale has a relatively low impact on sound and playability of the guitar. (Compared with other parameters such as strings or pickups).

Longer scale length sound and playability characteristics:

• quick response, crisp attack
• transparent sound with well-defined basses and heights
• larger finger spread
• higher string tension at constant gauge

Shorter scale length sound characteristics:

• warmer
• more sustain and longer decay

Common Scale Length:

• 572 mm (22.5') or shorter - 3/4 & some travel guitars
• 596,9 mm (23.50') - Fender Jazzmaster/Jaguar guitars
• 629 mm (24.75') - many Gibson guitars
• 635 mm (25') - many PRS guitars
• 648 mm (25.5') - many Fender guitars
• 650 mm (25.5) - typical classical guitars
• 686 mm (27') or longer - Baritone guitars

Woods

¹ Sound: the diagram for effects on tone stands mainly for acoustic instruments and NOT for solid body guitars, where other components have much larger impact on sound. Thus, a mahogany electric guitar can sound bright despite the representations below.
² Weight may vary for the same variety.
³ Used for: T - Body Top B - Body N - neck F - fretboards

frudua.com - graphical examples for body and neck woods showing relationship between wood hardness, its density and tone.

Today we are going to go look at one of the most iconic guitars in history; the Fender Stratocaster.

We will go through the setup process and show you a couple variations on how they can be set up and the proper way to do it in each configuration.

Evaluation

The first step in the setup process is the initial evaluation of the instrument. You want to go through the guitar and find out as many possible problems beforehand so they can be properly fixed or addressed so you don’t waste any time going back to correct them later on.

Electronics

The first thing you want to do is plug in the guitar and check out all of the electronics. This includes the pots, pickups, jack, and switch to make sure everything is working properly. This will alert you of any electronic issues the instrument has now that can be fixed when the old strings are cut off later on during the setup process.

Neck Relief

The next thing to do is straighten out the neck if it is not fairly straight already. Doing this will help flush out any fret or nut issues that can be taken care of now before we go any further.

To straighten the neck you want to check how much relief there is first. You can use a straight edge ruler that lays across the top of most of the frets of the neck or a notched straight edge that rests against the fretboard. You want to lay the ruler down the middle of the neck between the D and G strings.

If there is too much relief, there will be a gap between the bottom of the ruler and the frets or fretboard near the middle of the neck.

You will then need to grab your truss rod tool and turn the truss rod nut clockwise until that gap is gone on the bottom edge of the ruler.

If the neck has a back bow, the ruler will rock back and forth at the ends because the neck is bowed up in the middle. You will want to adjust the truss rod nut counterclockwise until the ruler is resting flat and even across the frets and/or fretboard.

If you don’t have a straight edge or notched ruler, you can use a capo, a .005″ feeler gauge, and your hands to check the relief of your neck. Place the capo at the first fret. Then with the thumb of your right hand, fret the low E string down around the 17th fret.

Take the .005″ feeler gauge with your left hand and slide it between the bottom of the E string and the top of the 7th fret. You want this much relief in the neck. Adjust the truss rod until the feeler gauge fits between the bottom of the string and the fret.

Stratocaster Nut Slot Height To Fretboard

Unfortunately, most truss rod adjustments on a Stratocaster’s neck are located at the heel. So in order to adjust the neck, you will need to take the neck out of the body to get to it.

The easiest way to do this is to capo the strings at the first fret, loosen strings at the tuner, take out neck screws, pull the neck out of the body slightly in order to adjust the neck. After adjusting the truss rod, clockwise to reduce relief and counter-clockwise to add relief, then reattach neck in the body with the screws and retune the strings in order to recheck the relief in the neck.

Frets

Now with the neck straight we can check if there are any fret issues. It is important to take care of any problems with the frets now so we can make sure that we can setup up the guitar as best we can without any buzzing or dead spots on the neck.

We will use the fret rocker tool to check all the frets on the neck and make sure there are no high frets. You also want to make sure that none of the frets are loose and popping up out of the fret slots. If there are loose and uneven frets then they would need to be reseated and glued down. Then a fret level and crowning would need to be done to them before moving on.

You can check out our fret level article that shows you step by step how to go about one. If you are not comfortable or have the right tools then please let a qualified luthier or repair shop do this for you.

Nut

This is also the best time to check the string heights at the nut and see if the nut needs to be replaced or shimmed. You want to check the nut slots to see if any are too low that strings might be resting or buzzing on the first fret when the neck relief was adjusted straight. If there are issues like this at the nut or you prefer a different material, then it will have to be taken out to be either replaced or shimmed.

Remove Old Strings and Clean Up

After the initial evaluation of the guitar is finished, and we didn’t run into any issues listed above, then we can continue by removing the old strings and giving the guitar a good cleanup.

It is a good idea to slacken the strings before you cut them off. This will help reduce any stress or potential damage to the headstock from the sudden loss of tension.

Now with the old strings off you want to clean up the guitar before we put the new strings on.

I like to polish up the frets and clean and oil the fretboard, if made of a hardwood other than maple, first. You can use 0000 steel wool or a 320 grit Klingspor pad to polish the frets and break up any dirt that might be on the fingerboard.

I also like to tighten up any loose screws or nuts at this point, especially on the tuning pegs which can cause tuning issues if they are not secure.

And make sure the strap pegs and neck screws are nice and secure.

After everything is secure and cleaned up we can throw on the new strings!

New Strings and Neck Adjustment

New Strings

Ok, now with the guitar all cleaned up we can restring it with a fresh set of strings.

Traditional Strat bridges are strung through the back body and up through the block of the tremolo. There is a hole drilled out in the block for each string and pops up out of the baseplate on the top side of the bridge in the middle of the saddles.

Pull the string to the tuner. Then you want to cut off some of the end of the string in order to get it wound around the tuner posts correctly.

For the low E and A string you want to cut the string about 2 & 1/2″ behind the tuner. Take the end of string and put it down into the hole of the tuner and bend it over to the right and manually wrap the string once around the tuner like the pictures show below and tune the string up.

Do this for the rest of the strings cutting about 3 & 1/2″ behind the tuner of the D and G strings. Don’t cut the B and high E, but just use the whole string to make sure you have the correct string break behind the nut for them since they are smaller in diameter than the wound ones.

Put on all the strings and tune up to pitch. Grab each string individually and pull it gently up and around in a small circular motion near the middle of the fretboard to “stretch” the string and make sure the wraps around the posts are tight and are not going to move or constrict later causing tuning issues.

Be sure to hold the strings behind the nut with your fretting hand to make sure they don’t pop out of the nut when you are stretching them.

Then retune the string to pitch. Do this a couple of times for each string.

Adjust Neck

Stratocaster Nut Slot Height Weight Chart

With the new strings on and stretched, we can adjust the neck. We did this step already in the evaluation so most of the time the neck is already straight and ready to go, but if not, repeat the process we went through above until the neck is straight and there is a .005″ gap of relief between the bottom of the E strings and the top of the 7th fret.

String Action

With the neck straight we can adjust the height of the strings which is called the string action.

Adjusting the Saddles

Adjusting the string action on a Stratocaster is pretty straightforward. Using the proper screwdriver or allen wrench, rotate the small height adjustment screws that are threaded into the saddle to raise or lower them.

Using a ruler or a string action gauge card and holding the guitar in playing position, measure from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the string. This is how you get the string action measurement. A good place to start for the action on a Strat is 4/64″ on all the strings.

Depending on the guitar and playing style, the action can be adjusted slightly lower or higher from this starting point to get a comfortable action without buzzing.

String Action at Nut

A critical adjustment that is easily overlooked is the string height at the nut. A correctly adjusted nut can help improve playability and intonation on the first couple of frets especially for barred or open chords.

To measure the height of the strings at the nut, measure from the top of the first fret to the bottom of the string. We then will use the proper nut files for the string gauges used to cut each slot in the nut to the proper depth. It is best to start slow and a little higher to make sure you don’t go too low and cause the string to buzz on top of the first fret when played open.

It is also important to cut the nut slot in a slight downward angle. If the nut slot is flat, then the string will rattle and buzz when played open.

A good place to start is at the factory heights which are 1.5/64″ or .022″ for the Low E, A, D, and G strings, and 1/64″ or .018″ for the B and high E strings.

Guitar Nut Slot Height

From here you can lower each slot until you feel each string is low and comfortable enough for your playing style. I wouldn’t go any lower than just above the 1/64″ mark for all the strings except the B and high E strings. These two strings can go down slightly further and still play and ring out normally, but proceed with caution.

After each slot is cut to the right height, clean up any dust or debris. Recheck the action and tuning. Then apply a nut sauce or lubricant to each slot to keep the strings moving freely and prevent any binding.

I also like to throw some lubricant on the areas of the E and B string that rests under the string tree to help prevent any dragging there and keep the string moving freely.

Intonation

The final major adjustment is setting the intonation for each string.

The most common Strat bridge has 6 steel saddles with each one holding a string. They are threaded, with a spring inbetween to keep tension, on to screws located in the back of the bridge that can move the saddle forward or backward to adjust the length of the string in order to set the intonation. This will make the notes below and above the 12th fret as in tune as they can be with each other.

Using a strobe tuner is highly recommended in order to set the intonation as in tune as possible.

First, start by hitting the string open or the harmonic at the 12th fret. Lets say the low E for example and tune it to pitch.

Then fret the low E string at the 12th fret and play the note. If the saddle is in the correct position, the notes should be the same pitch.

If the fretted note is higher or sharper than the open or harmonic note then the saddle needs to be moved back. Use a small screwdriver to adjust the saddle. Retune the open note and check the fretted note again. Adjust until the 2 notes are the same.

If the fretted note is lower or flatter, then the saddle needs to move forward. Adjust the saddle and repeat the steps above until the notes are the same.

Repeat for all the strings until each strings saddle is in the correct position and proper intonation point.

After the intonation is set, apply some of that nut sauce or lubricant to each strings notch in the saddle to help reduce friction at this contact point for better tuning stability.

Pickup Height Adjustment

Pickup height adjustment is usually a pretty simple task on a Stratocaster. The pickups are attached to the pickguard by 2 height adjustment screws on either side of each pickup. These screws are used to change the height of the pickup higher or lower in relation to the strings to achieve the best tone.

You want to make sure that the pickups are evenly matched volume wise when you are adjusting them. Do this through your amp with the volume and tone all the way up and wide open. You want the notes to ring loud and clear without any distortion or warbling, which can happen if the pickups are too close to the strings.

Acoustic Guitar Nut Slot Height

Pickup height is measured by fretting the outer two E strings at the last fret and measuring from the top of the pole piece directly under that string to the bottom of the depressed string. You can .do this with an action gauge card, ruler in 64ths of an inch or mm, or feeler gauges.

Stratocaster String Height At Nut

Conclusion

And that wraps up our Fender Strat setup article. If you followed all these steps, your Strat should be playing and sounding better than it ever has!!!