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Post subject: What is the Maximum string thickness for a Jazz Bass neck?
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:12 pm
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With the narrow nut on the 1.5" Jazz necks I am worried about the nut not being beefy enough for heavier than normal bass strings.

Do any of you know what is the heaviest string you can safely use on a Jazz neck without compromising the nut and causing the ends of nut to break prematurely?


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Post subject: Re: What is the Maximum string thickness for a Jazz Bass nec
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:56 pm
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All that will be offered are opinions for this question,First what is more important than the nut is the actual neck,strings that are heavier in gauge put alot of tension on a neck(any neck)making the truss rod work harder to compensate for them,ruining my neck with strings with too much tension would be my number one priority especially on a new bass that has'nt had time for especially the neck to "settle in" and allow the wood to cure/dry ETC...
The nut should be able to handle a gauge of 105 for the E string MAYBE 110(not on mine) without poping the end of the nut off,I would never go any higher than a 105 on my jazzbasses E string(and I worked on them for a living) and prefer to use the 40,60,80,100 gauges myself,whenever I go to a 105 I got to pull out the tools and re-set my neck for the heavier gauge,You will need to set the neck relief usually when going up or down in gauges if not the bass will not play like it did before if it was set-up to begin with.
You can take the bass to a repairman to widen the nut if you dont know how and you plain on using the heavier strings,once the nut is modified there's no re-adding the material taken off,though some people add crazy glue little by little to re-build the nut slot to original size,this is even done on older basses that have been just been plain old worn down.
Theres a few things to consider,the new-ness of the bass,the original string size that the nut was slotted for,the overall thickness of the neck(not the nut width)and neck adjustments and intonation setting with different string gauges,if you go with the larger strings I advise learning some basic setup skills if you plan on experimenting with different string gauges. :mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: What is the Maximum string thickness for a Jazz Bass nec
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:15 pm
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Thank you for the great tips. It is hard to remember all those variables when you haven't had the experience like you have. I'll save the heavier strings for my Precision neck and try to find a something in between for the Jazz neck.

When you say widen the nut I don't know what you mean by that?


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Post subject: Re: What is the Maximum string thickness for a Jazz Bass nec
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:49 pm
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I've used .110 on my younger days. Now I'm happy with .105. With either E strings, I've never had an issue with the nut. Good luck!

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