MoH
Oud Maniac
Posts: 50
Registered: 7-22-2018
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Can/Should this Nut be Lowered?
Hi everyone,
I had a new nut installed on my oud a few months ago. The luthier (who had worked with Godin MultiOuds previously) said he leaves a 1 mm gap between
the strings and fingerboard at the nut in order to avoid buzzing, but I'm wondering now if it could be any lower, maybe by 1/2 mm. The action at the
neck joint seems good, but I'm wondering if the nut could be lowered to make the oud even easier to play. I've seen some other posts similar to this,
but there didn't seem to be any definitive answers besides that it shouldn't be completely flush. Here are some photos:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmybBhAp
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2949
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Mood: Stringish
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Yes, that nut can and probably should be lowered. With a fretless instrument, it's not necessary to have that much height. As long as the open string
isn't buzzing you're fine.
Also, you don't have to lower it uniformly. Having a little extra height on the lowest string is often desirable.
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MoH
Oud Maniac
Posts: 50
Registered: 7-22-2018
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Thanks for the reply! So, is it a matter of filling the base at an angle or filing each slot a different depth? Do you have any measurements for each
slot or should I just leave it to the luthier's discretion?
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2949
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Member Is Offline
Mood: Stringish
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The slots should not be deep. It's a common mistake by luthiers who primarily work on guitars; the slots should just be deep enough for the strings
to stay in place. This is usually about 1/2-3/4 the diameter of the string in my experience (some of the luthiers here will have more specific advice
I'm sure). The depth of the slots as they are look good (though I can't really see all the strings).
The typical thing to do is to file down the bottom of the nut until it is the desired height. If it's filed down too far, it's easy to shim the nut
using a piece of index card (you can also shim just one side in order to make the bass side a bit higher).
The overall action looks a bit high, so I'd expect you could take the nut down a fair amount. You may need the neck reset if the action is too
high.
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