My new (to me) BT6!

[Michele Caramazza]

Played the bass all day long today. What a beautiful instrument it is!
The feeling of it is immense. You could feel what a labor of love and exquisite musical instrument it is. It's not easy to put into words but it feels like holding into the hands something that has been done just right, with a lot of love and passion put into it!

[Michele Caramazza]

I have a question for Ken. I could have asked by email but I thought this could be of general interest here...
I checked the setup on my bass. I noticed that the bridge saddles on my bass are almost all the way down to the bridge plate. I firstly suspected that this was done to accomodate a front bow in the neck but I was wrong..
I checked the relief (capo at first fret, B string fretted at 15th fret) and to my surprise the neck is pretty straight: it reads 0.35 mm (0.013") at 7th/8th fret.
The action at 2.25 mm or 0.088 in imperial (measured both at 12th and 24th fret) is a little higher than the crazy low I was accustomed to (1.5mm).
That's good to me as I've recently found that with an action not that crazy low my playing is cleaner and the tone improved as well.
I noticed however that the bass is a little hard to play in the first four/five frets.
At first I tried to go back to my old setup, flatten the neck even more to lower the action but, while this eased things for my left hand, I hated the general feel of the instrument, not mentioning that the tone immediately deteriorated. I could have probably go on raising the bridge saddles and lowering the pickups but didn't want to mess with it and preferred to bring the bass back where it was.
Then I noticed that the nut is probably a little high. Fretting at 3rd fret reveal a gap of about 0.45 mm (0.017") between the bottom of B string and the top of the first fret. Isn't that a little high? Maybe the nut could have been slotted deeper?
Thoughts? Opinions?
Please see the attached pics...

[Ken Smith]

It looks like someone shimmied the nut from that first pic and not how we make things here. The Nut should be seated all the way down to the wood. Possibly he last player had a heavy touch and wanted the strings higher so it got shimmed somehow.

Without having the bass here in my hands or on my bench, I cant say for sure what needs to be done. I, personally do not use measurements in the set-up. Only feel.

[Michele Caramazza]

Nut shim... please look at the first pic, Ken. Doesn't it look like there's a veneer of some sort at the bottom of the nut?

Also, look at the second picture. At the B string side, the nut is about 1 mm inside from the edge of the fingerboard (sorry, can't explain that any better in English..) On the C string side the edge of the nut is perfectly aligned with the edge of the fingerboard. So looks like someone messed with the nut and sanded 1 mm off that side of the nut (???). I already imagined the bass didn't left the factory that way 30 years ago...

Anyway, if I was in the States, even on the Pacific Coast, I wouldn't wait a minute to send the bass to you. But shipping costs from Europe to the States have gone crazy, not to mention the mess with customs..

Is purchasing a new nut from you a possibility? I have a local luthier/repairman which is pretty good and I would trust him replacing the nut.

[Ken Smith]

Making a Nut is like fitting a tooth or crown in your mouth. We need the mouth! Nut's are made from a small block of brass. No way to make one without the bass.

Making a new Nut TO a bass on the bench is a 3-4 hour job with the set-up included. Good work takes time and cutting, fitting and polishing brass is an art.

[Michele Caramazza]

Looks like I had to live with it. At least for now. Or until my next trip to the East Cost of USA..
Anyway, not a big issue... the bass is absolutely functional, just a little hard in the 1-4 frets region.
I guess the raised nut explains the fact that the bridge saddles are slammed down. Otherwise the overall action would be very high. Fortunately the neck is straight, very stable and trussrod works perfectly.
Anyway, just for information.. how much would approximately be the cost of a shipment back to Italy from the States? I guess I could send the bass to you with UPS for about 150 euros...
Just in case I get the itch for a full setup, new nut and the such

[Michele Caramazza]

... what about taking off the existing nut and getting rid of that shim? Doesn't that looks to you like there's a wood veneer of some sort in there (first pic)..