My answer: this is a great question for a Luthier, who should answer it with…depends.
The one fretless I had was an A/E so no height adjustment possible, which meant that nut height was the key to low action, which, as my luthier explained it to me, is all dependent on how good/flat/non-warped the neck is, which limits how low you can go before you get fretboard (vs. fret) buzz.
1 Like
I’ve never used any adhesive on any of the nuts that I have made for either my guitars or bass’s. I just spend a ton of time sanding and fitting them until they are within “German Tolerances” - “Gooten Tite”…
. Before final installation I do wipe the neck groove with a bit of tung oil though. I’ve never had one move or fall out when I’ve changed strings. I have however screwed up a bunch though….
3 Likes
You make your own nuts? That’s impressive!
1 Like
All us fellas do, at least the first two…. 
1 Like
Ba Dum Tsh!
1 Like
That begs the question… what kind of adhesive do you use on them?
Yup @PamPurrs - always have…. I lived in the Alaskan bush for 13 years and had to use whatever worked…
2 Likes
Yep, that’s the way i’d do it too. You want to isolate the nut and first fret from the rest of the neck. Before I had a good feeler gauge set I used a piece of paper for that and a business card for setting neck relief.
The D string slot is high on my Yamaha, i dont care enough to fix it 
Another question regarding nuts: Does the depth of the string in the nut have any effect on the tone? What I mean is, can the slots (for the strings) in the nut be too deep or too shallow? I’m really curious about nuts now (no funny remarks @John_E ).
Super glue is very common, just a dab or two on the side where it touches the neck. Never glue the bottom or it will rip the wood out when you remove the nut. Use a small block of wood with the mallet/hammer, that lets you apply the force low down on the nut right above the fret board and it spreads the force out.
Check out the YT channel Twoodfrd, he does some amazing work! Lots of nut replacements, neck resets and of course, Gibson head stock repairs
1 Like
Yeah, I made the mistake of putting the glue on the bottom of the nut. When I hit the little block of wood with my rubber mallet, the nut went flying, but left a big chunk in the bottom of the channel. I’ve been working on filing it down to get rid of that chunk of the nut that’s stuck in there.
1 Like
Well, I don’t know but … maybe? ESP on bigger strings.
I see people on YouTube that know what they are doing file the top “away” from the string a little so you have the “takeoff point” be the front bottom edge of the nut. If you have too much sidewall of the slot as part of the takeoff point perhaps it will but no idea really. I see some of the G stings I have are pretty low in the slot but I don’t hear any issues.
1 Like
