Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm curious, on which surface do you place the nut and why. Is it just extra work to sand the headstock angle in the bottom of the nut to locate it on the headplate surface (ala Martin) or is there another reason for this? If you place the nut on the fingerboard surface, do you make the headplate shorter or do you need the same length to keep the tuners in the same position? If you leave the tuners in the same postion, seems seems locating the nut on the fingerboard surface makes the neck longer, correct?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I only do it because I prefer the look. It's not much trouble - I have a 15° angle block that I use to set the table on a disc sander to sand the bottom of the nut. Takes a couple minutes.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Fingerboard surface for me. Headstock surface just looks a little odd to my eye, plus seems like more work shaping the nut.

One point I can think of in favor of headstock surface is that depending on the nut size, thickness of the headplate, and headstock angle... you may be able to get the headplate edge to be right at or below the plane of the neck surface. That would make some of the neck work before gluing the fingerboard a bit easier, not having that edge sticking up.

If you're compensating the nut, life is easier if you don't have the headstock angle to deal with too.
If you swap nuts about (some of my customers do when they play different string sets in altered tunings) sitting the nut on a ledge on the end of the fretboard gives a harder surface to seat on than neck wood, and so it is less prone to damage as the various nuts are swapped in and out.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Fingerboard surface, it's European tradition.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I've done it both ways and like them both for there own aesthetic. I don't find angling the nut to be to difficult. You can eyeball it real close just right on a sanding board, fit it right then take off material from the top to get the right height. You still have to spend some time on the sanding board for the flat bottom ones anyway so it's not a whole lot of extra skill or work IMHO. What does get tricky is when you need to carve the edges of the bone nut to flow with the angle of the headstock as it slopes away from the end of the fretboard. But I really like that look and that's easiest done before finishing the neck.

I like it on the fingerboard surface because it moves your hand away from the headstock. I also just like the look.

Thanks for those replies gentlemen.

So sounds like I was correct that if the nut is located on the fingerboard, the neck length is increased by the width of the nut. Doesn't change the playing position but could affect balance. Good point brought up that your hand is further from the headstock if the nut is located on the fingerboard......hadn't thought of that.

Help me clear one point up that was mentioned earlier. Do some of you cut a shoulder on the end of the fingerboard where the nut is positioned? Sounded like the nut was sitting on fingerboard material......not just against the end of the fingerboard.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Mine sits right on the neck. When I glue on the fingerboard, I sandwich a final sized nut (around .180") between the fingerboard and the veneer. Perfect nut slot every time LOL....gawd, I'm sooo lazy.