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Topic: National Squareneck Tricone Nut Height? |
Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 19 May 2022 9:11 am |
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I have one more (maybe two more) nut question/s?
While evening out the string height by my nut (the high C# and E strings where quite a bit lower than the others), I was actually able to finesse the string spacing into being more uniform (string spacing was the topic of my last post here). Unfortunately, a trade off to getting all the string level and playable, was that the string height at the nut is obviously lower than it was prior. The bottoms of both the low A and high E strings are both a hair over 4mm from the fret board. Does anyone see this as being an issue?
If it is an issue, I do have some extra bone scraps lying around. So, I supposed that could make a shim. Unfortunately, none of the bone is long enough. So, I would have to glue together two pieces. Then, I’d have to glue the two pieces to the bottom of the nut. I do not think that I have ever glued bone together before. Would a good quality super glue work best for this?
Thanks!
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Jeff Highland
From:
New South Wales, Australia
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Posted 19 May 2022 1:15 pm
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Superglue works fine for bone, but your clearance at the moment will be fine as long as you are not heavy handed with the bar and as long as you don't use a capo.
The slightly lessend break angle at the nut will have no effect on tone,but may make tuning slightly easier due to less friction.
_________________
Duesenberg Fairytale
1949 Supro Supreme
1950 National New Yorker
2008 Highland Baritone Weissenborn
2020 Highland New Yorker.
2020 Highland Mohan Veena
2021 Highland Weissencone |
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JB Bobbitt
From:
California, USA
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Posted 19 May 2022 2:13 pm
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You can buy bone blanks at lot's of places, e.g. stewmac.com
_________________
"Time is an enemy"
-Bob Dylan |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 19 May 2022 2:35 pm
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| Jeff Highland wrote: |
Superglue works fine for bone, but your clearance at the moment will be fine as long as you are not heavy handed with the bar and as long as you don't use a capo.
The slightly lessend break angle at the nut will have no effect on tone,but may make tuning slightly easier due to less friction. |
Thanks for your input. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 19 May 2022 2:41 pm
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| JB Bobbitt wrote: |
| You can buy bone blanks at lot's of places, e.g. stewmac.com |
Thanks. I am aware. Although, I am not 100% sure they sell blanks that would be long enough for a vintage square neck Tricone. I know that the two shops that made nuts for me, made them too short. They told me that the blanks that they ordered were not quit long enough. I am not really interested in making a new nut at the moment anyway. I was just thinking that if the nut was too low, that I could just shim it with some scrap bone. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 19 May 2022 7:38 pm
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It might be worth getting in touch with Marc Schoenberger to see if he’ll make you a nut if you think you might need it.
http://www.nationalguitarrepair.com/
Down the neck is where you start to feel the effects of low action because of the string tension is much lower. It may not be that bad if you aren’t too heavy handed with the bar. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 19 May 2022 9:08 pm
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| Mike Neer wrote: |
It might be worth getting in touch with Marc Schoenberger to see if he’ll make you a nut if you think you might need it.
http://www.nationalguitarrepair.com/
Down the neck is where you start to feel the effects of low action because of the string tension is much lower. It may not be that bad if you aren’t too heavy handed with the bar. |
Thanks, I’ll shoot him an email.
I was able to shim the current nut with bone scraps that I had lying around. I did most of the work with my non-dominant hand. It was very slow going! I brought the bottoms of the two outside strings up to a hair over 6mm from the fretboard. This is the same distance from the bottom of the same strings to the fretboard at the end of the fretboard. This should work for me until I am able to get a new nut made.
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 20 May 2022 2:41 pm
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| Mike Neer wrote: |
It might be worth getting in touch with Marc Schoenberger to see if he’ll make you a nut if you think you might need it.
http://www.nationalguitarrepair.com/
Down the neck is where you start to feel the effects of low action because of the string tension is much lower. It may not be that bad if you aren’t too heavy handed with the bar. |
Thanks again for recommending Marc. I gave him a call today. He seemed open to making me a nut without me shipping my guitar to him. I would just have to send him the specs and then do the final fitting myself. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2022 7:33 pm
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Just in case anyone else is looking for the average string height at the nut for a square neck Tricone. I was informed by Marc Schoenberger that although the string height at the nut will vary a bit, it should be at least 1/4”.
Last edited by Ryan Matzen on 6 Jun 2022 10:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 6 Jun 2022 10:25 am
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Not being that happy with the height of the nut that I received from Marc (my nut slot must have been cut lower than usual). I decided to remove the nut he made me in order to shim it. Unfortunately, while removing the nut, I accidentally dropped it on a tile floor where it fractured and shattered. My heart sank as I came to the conclusion that I just destroyed a $75 nut. And, that it would be some time before I would be able to get a replacement made. Later that day, I received a nut blank in the mail. I had totally forgotten that I had ordered it back when I had been thinking about cutting a nut for the guitar myself. I thought a while about sending it to Marc and asking him to make a higher nut. Then, I decided that I would attempt to cut the nut myself. Not having the ideal nut making tools on hand (I used a razor blade, torch tip cleaners and some fine great sandpaper), it took me a whole evening to make a nut (It would have gone a lot quicker if I had some coarser sandpaper on hand). But, it came out great. And, it saved me some $$. I was able to fit it perfectly to the guitar. I got the string height at the nut that I wanted. And, I was able to get the strings perfectly level at the nut (As long as you get the string heights of the two outside strings were you want them first. Then, add (and adjust) one string at a time. It is fairly easy to get the strings perfectly level). So, after many months of waiting, I am very excited to finally have a playable Tricone! I have a doctors appointment later this week. I am thinking and hoping that the tendons in my arm have healed enough where I will get the go ahead to use it more. And, finally be able to start on the journey to learn some great prewar Hawaiian guitar!
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 6 Jun 2022 11:08 am
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Your nut looks great; congratulations! As the old adage goes: If you want the job done to your satisfaction, do it yourself.
Careful, tricones are addicting. When I got mine, my D-10 went in the closet for the better part of two decades (big mistake). |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 7 Jun 2022 11:11 am
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| Jack Hanson wrote: |
Your nut looks great; congratulations! As the old adage goes: If you want the job done to your satisfaction, do it yourself.
Careful, tricones are addicting. When I got mine, my D-10 went in the closet for the better part of two decades (big mistake). |
Thanks. I sold my beloved Collings C10-35SB in order to fund my Tricone. I purchased it at the beginning of February. I am happy that I will finally be able to play it very soon!
What is a D-10? Is it a Martin Dreadnought? And, why was it a big mistake? |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 8 Jun 2022 7:22 am
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| Ryan Matzen wrote: |
| What is a D-10? And, why was it a big mistake? |
In my case, it was (and still is) a 1973 double-neck (= D) 10-string (= 10) 8-pedal, 6-knee lever, fatback, rosewood 'mica, pedal steel guitar. Big mistake because I've yet to regain the chops I had when I put it in hibernation for years and years. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 8 Jun 2022 7:27 am
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| Jack Hanson wrote: |
| Big mistake because I've yet to regain the chops I had when I put it in hibernation for years and years. |
Jack, my chops have left the station without me but it makes me find new ways to play. When I played tricone, I was a completely different player. A lot of that I had to abandon when I started playing electric, especially the heavy hand. I played hundreds of gigs in loud clubs on tricone and it had a certain effect on my finesse, but I had stamina!
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 8 Jun 2022 9:02 am
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| Jack Hanson wrote: |
| Ryan Matzen wrote: |
| What is a D-10? And, why was it a big mistake? |
In my case, it was (and still is) a 1973 double-neck (= D) 10-string (= 10) 8-pedal, 6-knee lever, fatback, rosewood 'mica, pedal steel guitar. Big mistake because I've yet to regain the chops I had when I put it in hibernation for years and years. |
Thanks for the clarification. I know absolutely nothing when it comes to pedal steel guitars. However, I do know what you mean about chops. Because of an injury, I hadn’t been able to play Spanish style acoustic for a number of years. Thus, I totally forgot how to play many songs that were previously on autopilot. I couldn’t even remember songs that I had written and had played thousands of times! |
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Paul Seager
From:
Augsburg, Germany
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Posted 18 Jun 2022 10:47 am
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| Mike Neer wrote: |
| When I played tricone, I was a completely different player. A lot of that I had to abandon when I started playing electric, especially the heavy hand. |
Mike, could you explain what you mean with the "heavy hand"? I ask because, as a tricone newbie, I've began to notice that attacking the thing brings out a rich tone. At first I was scared of the volume that a tricone produces and played quite meekly but now as I grow bolder, playing it hard seems to bring out all that is great about these instruments. Its almost like getting a tube amp to break-up!
Of course the downside is I can't hear a darn thing my bandmates are playing! 😁
\paul |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 18 Jun 2022 12:04 pm
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| Paul Seager wrote: |
| Mike Neer wrote: |
| When I played tricone, I was a completely different player. A lot of that I had to abandon when I started playing electric, especially the heavy hand. |
Mike, could you explain what you mean with the "heavy hand"? I ask because, as a tricone newbie, I've began to notice that attacking the thing brings out a rich tone. At first I was scared of the volume that a tricone produces and played quite meekly but now as I grow bolder, playing it hard seems to bring out all that is great about these instruments. Its almost like getting a tube amp to break-up!
Of course the downside is I can't hear a darn thing my bandmates are playing! 😁
\paul |
Hopefully Mike will chime in. But, based on the context, I believe he was talking about the amount of weight he applied on the slide with his slide hand. |
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