Mica: Epic turned fretless

[Adriaan Simons (adriaan)]

Hi Mica,
 
Went to the local luthier to pick up my defretted Epic. I think he's done a fine job - and the Epic tone certainly did not get lost - but there's one thing I'm not entirely sure about.
 
In order to bring the strings closer to the fingerboard at the nut, he removed the brass base plate. This leaves the nut itself suspended, with a bit of space between the bottom of the nut and the wood. He did use the three allen screws to put the nut back in place, and it looks as if it was done properly, but would it be better to restore the base plate and deepen the slots in the nut?
 
Thanks!
Adriaan

[mica]

If you never change the height of the nut, you shouldn't have any problem with the way your luthier did the modification. If you attmept to raise the nut without a baseplate, you will be putting force directly on the finish (and wood) of the peghead. I don't think structurally this will have a negative effect, but I can imagine the possibility of starting a finish crack under  one of the nut's pivot points.
 
How we would lower the nut is the leave the base plate intact and grind the bottom of the string nut so the slots in the top don't have to be excessively deep. Then fine adjustments can be made to the setup by slightly deepening the slots for the strings.
 
Glad to hear your newly defretted Epic is otherwise healty and making good sounds for you.

[Adriaan Simons (adriaan)]

Thanks Mica for the response. Great suggestion! I probably won't ever change the nut height, but I will ask the luthier to modify accordingly.