Nut Height and different string choices (Long Read) But may help some with problems

[Owdkasd]

Greetings: Thanks again to Luke for the Strings.

I am putting them on today but I noticed (What I Thought Was) a slight problem with My $$ Streamer 5(2005).

No Problem with the Bass at all just differences in string design.

With the EB Slinkies on>>>When I fret the 1st fret of the B string it goes just a tiny bit sharp. It's better on up the Fret board.
The problem is, as I can see it, The lack of taper on the Ernie ball strings where they cross over the nut and bridge saddles.
It's also harder to push down the strings and to play my bass in General. Mind you I'm not being a puss about it but....

I'm not going to do an entire setup with EB's just to have to undo it for the EMP Strings.

Warwick strings have Tapers on both ends where they "Ride" on the Nut & saddles where-as the EB's are just Fat at those points.

Hope that makes sense and just wanted to make people aware of the MAJOR affects strings can have on your setup.

I honestly can't give a review on the EB Slinkies because I never gave my Streamer a proper setup to accommodate them.

 

[jester]

Did you press down on the string as much as possible near the nut and bridge? That should help it form a sharper angle and intonate more properly.

 

[Owdkasd]

Did you press down on the string as much as possible near the nut and bridge? That should help it form a sharper angle and intonate more properly.

Thanks for the tip Yanni. I did not remember to do that with the Slinkies. I now have the EMP's on and it sounds and plays 100% better. I will definitely "fix" the angle at the nut & bridge and then adjust the nut down just a bit. The Intonation is pretty spot on right now at least to my ear but I'll do a proper setup. Is there a general rule of thumb for the nut height. Like "Push down at the 3rd fret and check with a business card" or something like that???? I don't really have any way to measure string height other than an automotive feeler gauge.

 

[jester]

What I personally do is press down on the third fret and raise the nut until you can hear the string make a sound against the frets when you tap it lightly. I think it is pretty low with that setting and there could be slight intonation issues like flat notes on first few frets. I guess you should see it as minimum height and raise a bit more to suit your preference/intonation.

 

[Owdkasd]

That sounds great! I won't need to go that low but I'm glad I could get away with it. I jammed for about 2 hours with The EMP's and they are Fantastic.

 

[Rehan]

What I personally do is press down on the third fret and raise the nut until you can hear the string make a sound against the frets when you tap it lightly. I think it is pretty low with that setting and there could be slight intonation issues like flat notes on first few frets. I guess you should see it as minimum height and raise a bit more to suit your preference/intonation.

That's exactly what I do for my set up Jester. I learned this from an article on set up by Roger Sadowsky in an issue of Bass Player magazine in the early 90's. I remember he said that a business card should barely slide between the string and the fret at the 1st position.

 

[golem]

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I do something similar ... no measurement, just individual setting.
But I just lower the nut as far as possible short of getting a buzz
on the open string. After all, once you're fretting that string, the
nut height is no longer an issue, unless it's so freakin high that it
sharpens the fretted low notes, but who would set it there ? ?

To some degree, nut height is a personal choice, or is influenced
by your personal choice of another parameter: neck relief. If you
play a really flat neck [almost no relief] you'll hafta raise the nut
more to avoid buzzing your open strings. Make sense ? [Hope so]



`

 

[Owdkasd]

Great point about the flat neck. I keep a real flat neck. I tried the business card at the first fret and that worked great. I like my action as low as possible but like to dig in hard so It's always a compromise for me.



I do something similar ... no measurement, just individual setting.
But I just lower the nut as far as possible short of getting a buzz
on the open string. After all, once you're fretting that string, the
nut height is no longer an issue, unless it's so freakin high that it
sharpens the fretted low notes, but who would set it there ? ?

To some degree, nut height is a personal choice, or is influenced
by your personal choice of another parameter: neck relief. If you
play a really flat neck [almost no relief] you'll hafta raise the nut
more to avoid buzzing your open strings. Make sense ? [Hope so]



`