String spacing at nut opinions

[Greg Miller]

Hope all are doing well.  I recently was working on an acoustic guitar where the desire was to put a Gold Tone zero glide/fret nut in.  The neck width at the nut is 1.69" (43mm).  Two stock options were available, one with 1.358" and another with 1.406" outer string spacing.  The original nut slots fell slightly in between but the low E slot appeared to be worn towards a narrower spacing indicating some kind of inward pull which was weird as the line between the bridge and tuner would have pulled more outward.  Maybe somebody used a round file to adjust a misaligned slot.  Granted that variables like how the fret ends are angled/dressed, board radius, etc. are factors but what is the groups opinion on outer string spacing as compared to neck width?  I've read that 1/8" to outer string edge is the general rule but I thought I'd ask.  Thanks, Greg

[Mike Kolb]

I don't do much differently than what you've mentioned.  I'll use .125" or .130" inboard from the fb edges to set the outer string marks on the nut.  The only variance from that would be (as you mentioned) to accommodate severe fret-end angles or some other mitigating factors.... or by specific request

Then I break-out the trusty StewMac string-spacing rule, use a mechanical pencil with a small-diameter lead (0.3mm) to get into the slots of the ruler cleanly, mark the nut blank and away we go.