I cut my nuts...

[Boggs]

...on all my guitars to .009 fret clearance at the first fret. Play like buttuh with no buzz!

 

[LReese]

It's great to have low clearance at the nut to have the action low as possible and good intonation, but there is a flip side in my little bit of experience. I can dig into the strings a little better when the string height is a little higher at the nut.

 

[bugman]

o no are you ok????????????????

 

[webe123]

o no are you ok????????????????

LOL! I was going to post something similar! Like..."I'll BET THAT HURT!"

 

[5E3]

"I cut my nuts..." that's what John Bobbit said

 

[webe123]

"I cut my nuts..." that's what John Bobbit said

More like...SHE cut my nuts!

 

[Garygtr]

I can dig into the strings a little better when the string height is a little higher at the nut.

I agree, I have a hard time bending notes in the lower registers if the nut is too low, plus I do some agressive chickin' pickin' type stuff that will cause too much rattle. YMMV of course.

 

[phantasm]

Can anyone suggest a good (but cheap) set of files to do this? I'm lousy at it- but, i don't have the proper tools either.

 

[mojocaster.com]

Can anyone suggest a good (but cheap) set of files to do this? I'm lousy at it- but, i don't have the proper tools either.

www.stewmac.com

And to the OP...

Don't. Even. Think. Of. Joking. About. That.

 

[Boggs]

My gift to you... I have no problem bending on lower frets. My hands are like bear paws though from all the woodworking (another unfortunate choice of term...).

 

[Boggs]

Actually, as a lone guitarist in my band, I often find doing covers that I use a capo to free me from having to barre so often and it leaves me free to embellish the root chords with lead fills by transposing. Using a capo with higher string clearance at the nut causes tuning issues in those situations particularly when capoing at the first fret... Low clearance solves that. Intonation is greatly improved. I do not have any buzz issues. If I develop them over time that neck relief cannot solve, I will remove the nut and shim or shave the base of it down a bit more and shim. Not a problem at all for me to do. I like higher clearance for tapping dynamics, but overall the intonation improvement (expecially for someone as ham-fisted as I am) is greatly improved. It is also very impressive to hand the guitar to someone for demonstration purposes and have it so light to touch to play. If I cut one for a customer, of course, it would be to the customer's likeness.