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Nut slot height on new Les Paul (Murphy)-are you expected to cut it lower?

FregGarvinMP

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Aug 16, 2021
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Is the answer to just carve the nut slots deeper? Here are the details:

One Les Paul, a G0, has a perfect nut slot height. Its action is set low, the nut slot is low, and it feels slinky and easy to play. I'd like to get my new Murphy Les Paul to be as nice feeling. I've set its action/relief the same. So it's low. It's not as slinky feeling as the other and I think it's due to the nut slot being almost 1mm higher.
  • The G0's nut slots are deeper. Therefore, only a bit of the low E string is sitting above the nut. There is about 1mm at the nut between bottom of the low E string and the fret board.
  • The Murphy's nut slots are not as deep. Much more of the low E string sits above the nut. The same measurement is about 2mm.
Can a tech simply cut the nut slots a bit lower? Is this expected? That is, are new Gibsons set this way intentionally, knowing it's safer to let the user choose to cut them lower, which is easier than wanting them higher. Do most people (who like low action and players) cut the slots lower automatically?

I bought it in the Nashville Guitar Center. I didn't have my G0 with me to compare. It was great to me there and still is. Once you get it home, some euphoria is gone and you are realizing your old one plays better!!! LOL. This Murphy thought has a light resonate body/neck that just is so loud acoustically. Not sure why, but it's special. So I want to get it to be smooth.

I'm 3 hrs away, so going to back there to get it done is a pain, but I will if I could trust they'd make it good. They'd probably charge me $80 though.

My G0 is a 2007 model. I bought it used. That owner installed nice Fralins and that nut slot was cut perfect. It plays great!

By the way, my 335 63' Reissue is a great guitar and its nut is cut a bit higher too. I bought it new in 2014. I thought about cutting that slot a bit too.

Thanks
 

El Gringo

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Find your self a good competent tech that knows his business and don't trust it to GC . A new guitar always has to have a proper setup as each individual is different and the setup from the factory is just a mid road setup . Just like the chef doesn't spice up the food too much as it is left up to the individual to salt to taste . Best Wishes !
 

mdubya

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thread-without-pics-gif.5814
 

WillyW

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Y’all being trolled, no way that’s a serious post…


“my $10,000 guitar wasn’t set up, is that normal?”
 

TM1

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I've had to cut the ones on my Murphy Lab and on my `64 reissue ES-335 to get them where I wanted them. I think Gibson cuts them higher than most folks like them.. I've worked on guitars for years and every new Gibson I've had to adjust the Nut slot height..
 

El Gringo

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Isn't it better to have a higher nut action and cut it to taste rather than replacing a blown nut?
Correct , and the unsightly scar from removing the factory nut is ugly . Gibson Custom uses 6/6 nylon just like in the golden era which is a self lubricating nut and works very well 99.9 % of the time .
 
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jrgtr42

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Agreed. |It's done that way at the factory intentionally, to allow the final buyer to tailor the guitar to his / her own tastes.
Like you said, it's easier to cut the slots deeper for someone who likes it that way than to make it higher for someone who likes it that way.
Find a good tech (Nashville should be full of them - even GC should be ab;e to get someone good) who will go over it with you and set it up just how you like it.
I know GC doesn't get much - any- love or even respect around here, but some of their techs are pretty good. Some of them don't know one end of a guitar from the other, of course, too.
 

El Gringo

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Agreed. |It's done that way at the factory intentionally, to allow the final buyer to tailor the guitar to his / her own tastes.
Like you said, it's easier to cut the slots deeper for someone who likes it that way than to make it higher for someone who likes it that way.
Find a good tech (Nashville should be full of them - even GC should be ab;e to get someone good) who will go over it with you and set it up just how you like it.
I know GC doesn't get much - any- love or even respect around here, but some of their techs are pretty good. Some of them don't know one end of a guitar from the other, of course, too.
But for a high end Gibson Custom Shop instrument ? Really ? That is just blind faith and trust and IF they muck it up what then ? Oh sorry for the ding , or sorry I drilled right thru your headstock with a power drill versus a phillips screwdriver (true story ) to unscrew the top screw to remove your truss rod cover in order to set up your Gibson . Are you going to take your Beenz or Beamer to Jiffy Lube ?
 

jrgtr42

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But for a high end Gibson Custom Shop instrument ? Really ? That is just blind faith and trust and IF they muck it up what then ? Oh sorry for the ding , or sorry I drilled right thru your headstock with a power drill versus a phillips screwdriver (true story ) to unscrew the top screw to remove your truss rod cover in order to set up your Gibson . Are you going to take your Beenz or Beamer to Jiffy Lube ?
You could say that about any tech, if you don't vet them first. Same with the GC ones. I wouldn't leave any of my guitars with them blind, much less a Custom Shop. But, if I'd seen the work firsthand, or had reports from people I trust, then I'd be OK with it. Some - many? GC guys I wouldn't trust to restring my kid's toy ukelele, but like I said, some of them are good.
 

El Gringo

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You could say that about any tech, if you don't vet them first. Same with the GC ones. I wouldn't leave any of my guitars with them blind, much less a Custom Shop. But, if I'd seen the work firsthand, or had reports from people I trust, then I'd be OK with it. Some - many? GC guys I wouldn't trust to restring my kid's toy ukelele, but like I said, some of them are good.
Exactly , first verify before you entrust them with your prized 6 string of course . I have been pretty lucky in life with having 2 great techs that have cared for my herd . Now both times it was blind faith or blind trust coming from the shops . In the old days when I was a kid I got lucky when I didn't know any better and just went on word of mouth from the employees from the mom and pop shop in my neck of the woods , until unbeknownst to me the tech in question was no longer employed there . Then I had to hunt him down about a hundred miles south of me and we had a good working relationship thru 2003 . Then I was left to fend for myself (yuke and puke on me ) until 2016 when I accidentally stumbled on a super tech also about a hundred and fifty miles from me and that has worked gloriously to today . What I would do is UPS the instruments to him and as much as I am anal about the smallest thing this gent has me beat by a mile at least . The Pandemic kind of wrecked it though , until this past May when I paid to have him come to me for a weekend and he took great care of 12 of my 21 instruments which did cost and I took him and his wife to dinner at a fine place and we socialized and talked shop and got to know each other much better and we have a solid working relationship for years to come . I told him early on in 2017 or 2018 that if he was working out of the international Space Station I would find a way to get my instruments to him . I have told this story many times that I got a call from him on December 2018 given me the "dad" talk about my Gibson chainsaw case not being secure enough for transit with UPS and I responded that it was a flight case , to which he replied "what if it feel out of the back of the truck and got run over ? " to which I told him that's what the insurance is for , to which he replied "you will never be made whole again " as it was my childhood Les Paul Custom which is my very first electric as a kid which I still have and play today . So then I got an Anvil case and everything is all good and safe . The Anvil will crush and destroy anything that gets in it's way I tell you . Also it costs more to ship as it has more weight than regular cases , but the beauty part is that it negates me from having to insure it thru UPS .
 

Big Daddy Class

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I took a vintage acoustic to Guitar Center looking for strings (was a Sunday, my normal places were closed--ended up with silk and steel) and the techs there could not have possibly been more knowledgeable or nice to me. They gave me tips on stringing it and ended up stringing it for me, for free. Long story but it was a slot head and the guitar was made in a bit of an interesting way so there was a learning curve to stringing it up. Granted it was the Nashville Guitar center--where even the security guard played my guitar (swear to God, and she was great) but I left there impressed. Actually the only time I have had any need for service at GC but the dude knew his stuff! I have read other's experiences but that was my only time, and I was very happy.
 

FregGarvinMP

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Aug 16, 2021
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44
OP here. I took it to a luthier and the nut slots are lower and is great. He had to "establish" the saddle grooves a bit more too.
 
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