String height at nut
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 11:55 amI'm completely new to steel guitar so apologies if this is a daft question. I have searched the forum but not found much so maybe this is something too obvious to ask about.
I've just bought my first lap steel guitar, an Epiphone Electar. I also bought new strings and hit an issue that several reviews had mentioned: thicker strings would tend to come out of the notches in the nut. I found that the 4th string would not stay in place at all: as soon as I put any tension on it, out it popped, well before it was in tune. I filed the groove until I got it to the point where the string stayed in place both during tuning and playing, but that made it lower than the others and the bar more-or-less missed that string at the lower frets. I ended up filing all the grooves in the nut so that the tops of the strings are at the same height, which seems "sensible" to me.
However, I've looked at pictures of other guitars and nuts, and the majority seem to be set up so that the string notches in the nut are all the same, ie the bottom of the strings would be at the same height, but not the top. Is either way the correct way, or does it just come down to personal preference? A nut like the Certano roller nut looks like all the notches are the same and you would not be able to modify it because of the rollers, so I'm a bit concerned that I've set my guitar up incorrectly - but there's no going back.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I've just bought my first lap steel guitar, an Epiphone Electar. I also bought new strings and hit an issue that several reviews had mentioned: thicker strings would tend to come out of the notches in the nut. I found that the 4th string would not stay in place at all: as soon as I put any tension on it, out it popped, well before it was in tune. I filed the groove until I got it to the point where the string stayed in place both during tuning and playing, but that made it lower than the others and the bar more-or-less missed that string at the lower frets. I ended up filing all the grooves in the nut so that the tops of the strings are at the same height, which seems "sensible" to me.
However, I've looked at pictures of other guitars and nuts, and the majority seem to be set up so that the string notches in the nut are all the same, ie the bottom of the strings would be at the same height, but not the top. Is either way the correct way, or does it just come down to personal preference? A nut like the Certano roller nut looks like all the notches are the same and you would not be able to modify it because of the rollers, so I'm a bit concerned that I've set my guitar up incorrectly - but there's no going back.
Thanks in advance for any help.