Have I done anything wrong?

[sunshine#1]

I have a Alvaraz Artist Moder AJ60 N guitar that I traded for a couple of years ago, I really love the little guitar, but when I got it it seemed to sound better than it did before I made some adjustments. Someone had raised the strings at the top nut by placing a piece of credit card under the nut and raising the strings, which to me was uncomfortable to play, from about 1 fret thru #4 fret.

 

I took the piece of credit card out and put it back where I think it should be. Before I made this adjustment at this point, the bridge nut was seated all the way down as it probably should of been, but by lowering it at the top, and it already being as low as possible in the back, well you guessed it, the strings hit the frets at about 8 thru 12 frets, so I had to take the bridge nut out and put 2 toothpicks the flat kind, running at different angles, so as to get what I consider a good fit, it worked out great, raising the strings at the rear just the right amount, and giving me a much nicer fretting on the 1 thru 6 frets.

 

My question, even though I haven't put a new set of strings on this since I first got it, which may be all there is wrong with it, but do you think since the bridge nut is not solid against the wood as it was when I got it, would this have anything to do with the sound, or maybe the toothpicks cutting down on the loud tone a bit, as it seems to have the original bridge nut, its not bone, but seems to be somekind of hard plastic.

 

The neck is one of the best playing neck's I have had in a long time, no warp, just really plays good, but it doesn't have the basey sound my suzuki has, but than the suzie has an adjustible bridge that is steel, so I really don't see how the bridge nut would make that much didfference, now I did put a set of used elixers I took off of my suzie and they were light strings, and I bet maybe the ones that were on it were medium, just remembered that.

 

Probably if I put a set of new Mediums on it, it will sound somewhat louder again, oh well, I will try this first, if no change, let me know another alternative, if there is one. P.S. I am still working on the epiphone, and it's a slow process. Respectfully Sunshine#1

[Bilbo]

Try putting a very thin piece of shim material under the bridge nut. That's probably the most direct adjustment to be made. You're top nut doesn't sound like it's too low.

[hempomatic]

Sunshine,
I'm not that familiar with your guitar, but there are a couple of things to note here that will definitely affect the tone. One, the nut (what you refer to as the top nut) should be glued in. Second, yes the toothpicks shimming up the saddle (what you refer to as the bridge nut) are preventing the vibration from the strings from getting to the soundboard. Ideally, a qualified luthier could set the guitar up for you, however you can also go to FRETS.COM This site is a wealth of information about guitars and set-ups. Your truss rod may just need a little tweek. Regardless, nut and saddle blanks are inexpensive, as are new strings. Bone and nut blanks can be made out of several different materials, like plastic, Tusq (made made bone basically), bone, and ivory. There are many other issues that could also be affecting both the tone and playability, and a decent set up guy can give you better advice than I as far as the specifics.

ken

[Tony Burns]

I would not glue the top nut in -if the nut is made correctly it should be snug in the first place- cut a shim out of a business card and put it under the nut - see if this makes a difference , its been argued to death wether or not the top nut is that important to the guitars sound , i think it is - but the shim is just to see if this improves the playability and its an easy thing to do - the bridge saddle is another matter , placing a shim under that will definitely change the guitars sound - if you try it and you like the action ( to your liking ) Id have a new bone saddle put in -- this kind of stuff is not exspensive to have a qualified Luthier handle ( if you dont want to do it your self )-- by the way by changing the string size if definitely will change the guitars sound action etc- and as strings age etc, their intonation will change- especially on Classical guitars - sometimes by just changing the strings it will sound better - I change mine at the worse every three months - you can sometimes have the intonation changed by removing a small amount from the front of the saddle or the back of the saddle -there is more to it than this and this is a fun thing to experiment with -

[WaveRay]

You're playing with rubber bands.
Strings before anything else.

[Freeman Keller]

Sunshine, run thru the measurements in the "Is My Guitar Sick" sticky, and if you have to change anything there is a link at the end to "What to do with my Sick Guitar). The nut is usually glued in with one tiny drop of ether CA or white glue - it should sit snuggly in the slot but the glue holes in during string changes, etc. The sticky tells what the clearance sound be at the first fret with a correctly set up nut.

The order of setting up a guitar is (1) neck angle, (2) nut, (3) relief (4) saddle. Doing it out of sequence will only give problems.