# compensated nut for electric



## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

does anyone have a completed electric set up with a shelf style(or otherwise) compensated nut for standard 10 guage?
I am hoping for a picture of your saddle positioning after installing the new nut.
My work is on a tele at the moment as an experiment.
pm me please and thanks


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Ebmm has them I believe. . Chat soon AS. SH


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)




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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)




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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)




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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Last one:


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Of course they all look different. Is that because of string gauge?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

tomee2 said:


> Of course they all look different. Is that because of string gauge?


In theory, yes, but jeez how _different_ is the string gauge? I suppose another part of it is the arc subtended by the string at the saddle. Bear in mind that if the neck width at the nut is much less than the string spacing at the bridge, then the outer 2 high and low strings are at more of an angle. Then there's also the matter of neck/fretboard radius. All those aspects have an impact on the actual length of the string from nut to saddle, requiring different amounts of compensation.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Wouldn't that compensation be negated once the strings are fretted?


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

laristotle said:


> Wouldn't that compensation be negated once the strings are fretted?


That's what I thought, but reading a bit more on it it looks like the string tension is changed by the nut compensation so it does effect the string when fretted.
And it seems wound strings act differently from unwound so the compensation is different.
There's a lot of blogs and websites on this stuff out there...I've got more reading to do.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Another consideration is pretty much anytime we hear an electric guitar it is with a standard nut. A different system may be better in theory but it may not actually sound better because it's not what we are used to hearing.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

"Normal" fretboards have all frets parallel to each other. That assumes they are all dividing equivalent string lengths equivalently. Since the nut width is not the same as the bridge width, that slight angle of the outer strings means that the frets do not actually divide the string lengths equivalently. Close, certainly, but not precisely equally. Fanned fretboards are predicated on dividing up the string lengths according to the actual length of that string.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

mhammer said:


> "Normal" fretboards have all frets parallel to each other. That assumes they are all dividing equivalent string lengths equivalently. Since the nut width is not the same as the bridge width, that slight angle of the outer strings means that the frets do not actually divide the string lengths equivalently. Close, certainly, but not precisely equally. Fanned fretboards are predicated on dividing up the string lengths according to the actual length of that string.


I never thought of that.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

There's a whole lot about guitars that can make instant sense if one views it through the lens of physics. I don't mean that in a disparaging way. Rather, I find it can help to shed light on a number of aspects of how the instrument behaves, and what might make it behave better. I think a perfect example is the Babicz bridge and his acoustic guitars. Jeff reasoned that anchoring the strings in the traditional bridge placed a form of pressure on the guitar top that impeded its ability to vibrate. In response, he moved the anchor points out to the outside rim of the guitar body where there was less flex in the top anyway. I chatted with Jeff at the former Montreal Guitar Expo some years back, and Jeff is all about the physics.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

That certainly distributes the forces on the top away from bridge and out to edges. Cool idea.


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