"Zero fret"

Lango-Django

I have one guitar whose first fret is fret #1, and I also have a couple of other guitars which have a "zero" fret that the strings pass over on their way from the tuners to the fingerboard.

It seems that the ones with the "zero fret" have slightly lower action in the lower register and perhaps due to that fact, play a little bit easier.

Just wondering if this perception is shared among my fellow guitarists, or is it just unique to my particular instruments?

I'm thinking perhaps of having a guitar tech add a "zero fret" to that guitar.

Would this be a "Cunning Plan", or an "Idiot's Folly"?

Your opinion is earnestly solicited... especially the opinions of those of experienced guitar techs or luthiers

Will

Bob Holo

If you're just talking about the amount of energy your left hand has to exert when you play - then it wouldn't make a difference from a playability standpoint because the string doesn't care whether it is terminated by a nut or a zero fret, it only cares how high it is above the fret-line and therefore how much you have to bend it down to fret a note.

However, a lot of people tend to set nuts too high, so it's perhaps more common to find guitars with nuts vs. zero frets that have playability issues in the first couple of frets. The effect is exacerbated by the fact that fretting and bending get harder the closer you are to the terminus, because there isn't much string to stretch between your finger and the terminus. Stretching at the 12th fret is easiest because both sides are equally and maximally stretchy, but as you move away from the center, one end starts to stiffen up significantly relative to your finger. Suffice it to say, fretting a string involves first "bending" it down to the fret, and then anything else you do with it from there (pitch-bending / vibrato) requires even more pressure. So, playability and height of the zero fret and/or nut go hand in hand. I've seen high nuts and high zero frets and they both tank the playability of the first couple of frets and that's probably what's happening on your rig.

So, if you trust your setup guy, just have him lower the slots in the nut - or better yet - keep the original nut and have him make you a new one with lower slots encase you don't like it with the lower feel. You'll know if they're too low because you'll get "back buzz" which is an odd Sitar-like rattle when you're chording up the neck which only manifests with certain combinations of strings at certain frets where you hit some sympathetic resonance that causes the string to vibrate between the nut/zerofret and your hand.

pickitjohn

@Lango-Django
Hey Will,
You could put a capo on the first fret and retune and reposition your playing, save yourself a bunch of time, & money, and if you don't like it your still where you were originally. Should definitely give you that Fretted string
SOUND

pick on
pickitjohn :peace:

pickitjohn

$15.00 Zero Fret
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H7GT510?psc=1

pick on
pickitjohn :peace:

Lango-Django

8-}

Actually, I do use a capo occasionally, John, when I'm playing in my 1920's group, to try to ape some of those lovely first position fills that Eddie Lang used to do so well.

Some of his greatest stuff, ie Bix's "I'm Coming Virginia" and "Singin' the Blues" was played in "guitar" keys like E, A and D despite the band being in F, Bb or Eb.

Whether he used a capo, or just tuned his guitar up a half tone, is one of those questions that will probably be lost forever in the mists of time...

Will

Lango-Django

...and by the way, thanks to the esteemed Mr. Holo for that detailed answer, yes, I think I will seek out a second nut for that guitar

(BTW, how did that silly name "nut" ever get decided upon? I think I'd call it a "Maidenform", because it lifts and separates!) :mouth:

HotTinRoof

Bob's post was so informative it was essentially a thread killer. haha!

Bob Holo

oops ;-)