Spacing of Slots in the Nut of a Stringed Instrument
Copyright ©1999 Howard Coleman
The problem
The strings at the nut can be either be spaced equally or, as
some players prefer, with slightly increasing spacing toward the
bass side. Marking the positions for the slots can be more time
consuming than you would think, especially for this graduated
version. You try it! For mass production, no doubt a machine is
set up to cut them all at the same time - but what about the
one-instrument-at-a-time maker or repairer? And what about
someone who deals with all sizes of instrument from mandolin to
double bass? One solution is make a special ruler with graduated
spacing of markings, line it up with the markings for the first
and sixth string slots then read off the positions for the inner
strings. An excellent description of this is given by Frank
Ford. My method is less glorious but there is nothing to make
as I have already done it for you!
My solution
First draw on paper, or print out, a fan of equally
spaced lines. Here is an accurately
drawn version to print out and, in case you are troubled by
zig-zags, here is an alternative
"text" version. The diagrams I have given below were
drawn to illustrate the method. They are not accurate enough to
use.
For equal spacing
Mark your nut with the positions of the first and sixth string
slots then simply place it horizontally across this fan, lining
up these marks with the outer two lines on the fan and mark where
the other lines intersect the nut.
For graduated spacing
This is a similar process but with the line slanted slightly from
horizontal. You will need to place a ruler across the fan first
to check the graduation because it can be varied with the angle
of the slant. Increments of about 0.1mm from string spacing to
string spacing are recommended so you need to look for a 0.5mm
difference between the spacings at either end.
Last revised: May 22, 2003.
