Well let's see if this nut can tell you about that. The nut height is not as critical as it would be if it had frets. On freted necks it needs to be just high enough to keep the string from buzzing n the first fret and that would depend on what size and height the frets are. Just thought I would throw that in. If the nut is too high it would make the string have to travel downward further until it frets or pinches off the note. The more it has to travel the more the tension on the string and that would make the string not note properly. It would become sharp. In your case you are actually fretting the note on the wood itself. The scale length of the neck and the guage of strings can make this height vary. The lower and closer to the wood the more buzz you will get against the wood.

You might get it just right and later change tio a different guage string that has more flex and you start getting buzzing beyond what you want. All that is to say that this is a personal preference thing. Some builders would dissagree and tell you it must be exact or it will change the intonation and that is true as I mentioned earlier but you can always re-adjust that at the bridge sadles. Keep in mind also that when you fret a note your finger may not hit exactly right every time. It can be slightly forward or back 5 thousands of one inch and it would not be perfect intonation but in bass playing the human ear could probably not tell that little difference. I prefer a fretless bass myself because I can do these things intentionally . . . buzzes when I want the sap buzz, flat or sharp and beautiful finger slide effects on the notes.

Freted basses lock you down to the definite spot. Therefore I would get a piece of hardwood the size of the nut material and slip it into place as a practice nut. Don't worry about notching the hardwood. We are only searching for the right height of the string for now. Sand down the hardwood strip and slip the strings back onto it and tune it. Play it a little to get the feel of it. The strings will stay in proper alignment as they press on the wood enough they won't slip. What we want to do is to slide the strings off to the side and file down a flat place at each string wider than the string so you can see the flat on each side of the string at each string location. You keep doing this until you have each string where it feels right for you and it does not change the intonation when you press it down.

The good test is hook it up to a tuner and see what the tuner shows you at the 12th fret. You may need to re-adjust the intonation at the bridge saddles a few times as you drop each string height. Once you have found the best height for your particular gauge strings then you have your hardwood strip at each string at the proper height. Now take the hardwood strip out and place it on a hard flat table top. Carve your nut material just a little bit taller than the hardwood. Place the nut flat against the hardwood and align them both together flat on the table top and all ends equal. You may even want to use scotch clear tape and tape them together. The hardwood will show a tiny imprint of each string on each little flat spot you filed. Be sure the spacing is where you like it. Now you can start filing down each slot in the real thing until it matches the height of the flat spot on the hardwood so you know when you are finished you can glue the nut on and you will get the same thing you had on the hardwood. The little amount of taller nut material gives you the extra height to file the slot down into so the strings cannot move sideways. This is the most accurate way and will work well for you. Keeing in mind the glue will raise it up a tiny bit but that will be good for the string wear in your new slots. It is such a tiny difference and with any wear at all it will be exact.

I realize this seems to be very picky like spilitting a frog hair 3 ways but that is what makes custom hand made instrument so much better. Just in case you accidently slot a tiny bit too deep, no worry, you can also after all is done put a tiny drop of supper glue in the slot while will repair and raise the depth for you. That is the best repair for worn nut slots as well and the hard supper glue also will settle in the slot making the smoothest rounded bottom better than you can carve. Makes the strings fit like a glove. To just give you a height measurement of each string would not be helping you because there are so many different style and guage strings. Roller string nuts are good but they do not have height adjustments. I am designing an adjustable nut for each individual string height and spacing for guitar and bass. It is not ready yet but hopefully soon it will be on the market. No slots to carve, no anything just slip it on and adjust the spacing between strings and each string height. No way to mess that up and can be readjusted at any time. It will work on any guitar of any type. For now I hope this will get you where you want to be with your bass.
Rick Andrews, Andrews Guitar

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