Official Luthiers Forum!

Right then,

Im a luthier and i want to know how to create these compensated nuts. Who knows how? Its just the increments that you have to use is what im puzzled.

There's no way I'm going to bother getting trained by buzz feiten. is my best bet to obtain one from Earvana or old buzz and just copy it?

Im guessing that its never going to be that simple - every guitar's different and all that.

Any thoughts on this?
Never made one so far but i'd love to try. and out of bone of course


Cheers in advance,
Jack

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Stringed instrument Set up and Repair based in Manchester - UK
http://www.jacksinstrumenservices.com

Here you go:

http://www.mimf.com/nutcomp/

Some folks simply figure out what works for them, and it tends to be anything from .5 to 1 mm shaved off the nut end of the fingerboard for accebtable global adjustment.

Hey there,

I am a certified Buzz Feiten installer( http://www.buzzfeiten.com/dealers/canada/canadask.htm )for all stringed instruments and, in my humble opinion, it was worth every penny of the training. There is science behind the ratio of compensation and the consideration of string tension and scale length. There is also a different method of setting the intonation based on Buzz's design. I know there are all sorts of interesting ways that folks try and improve a flawed system...Buzz Feiten is just one that happens to be a patent. I am, by no means, a master builder but I HEAR the difference.

Good luck.

Why the nut? Won't the very first fret cancel out all of that? I can only see this benefiting open strings.

I have no idea what buzz fieten is. However, perhaps you should check out the video showing how to properly setup an acoustic guitar. If your neck isn't properly set, you will have problems. If your neck isn't properly tensioned, you will have problems. However if you manage to get those two things right, it is fairly simple, although time consuming, to get proper intonation on the guitar.

Basically you
1. adjust your neck proper tension
2. adjust saddle to proper height
3. adjust intonation with a digital tuner by comparing 12th fret harmonics to the open string. Compensate the saddle by lengthening or shortening the string accordingly until the 12th fret harmonic and open string are the same. Wider saddles help.

this can be done on any guitar at any time. there is no set formula for nailing intonation exactly each time that I have ever heard of. Every guitar is different and there are too many variables, this is simply a proper set up. I wouldn't attempt to adjust the nut to compensate. At most, you might change the nut angle on a multiscale, but that's it.

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=26946

Compensating the nut only helps to eleviate the tendancy of the first few frets to be sharp due to the extra tension from pulling the string down from the nut height above the frets. This only affects open chords because open strings are being played with fretted strings. The rest of the Buzz Feiten system is just a method of temper tuning the intonation at the 12th fret to make each fret be as close to in tune as possible. I am an authorized Buzz Feiten installer/builder for electrics, but I quit using it mainly because even though his system works pretty good, it seemed to still be a general solution. Every guitar is different, and there are a lot of factors that go into wheter or not a note is in tune, including fretting technique. If you set up your nut slots to be lower, you don't need as much nut compensation, so a set formula for every guitar does not work. Also, to say that every gutiars g string needs to be intonated a few cents sharp or flat doesn't take into account the string guage, or action height. I have found that I prefer to just use a nice tuner and play each note on a string, and set the intonation based on all of them, not just the 12th fret.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com