High E String too close to edge of neck?

[Voxman360C63]

Hello Everyone
Just received a new Fender Classic 50's Telecaster neck and am concerned about the position of the high E string in what looks like it is too close to the edge of the neck. My other Telly and strats are not that close. Since this is supposedly a new neck (and not cheap) I'm disappointed that this is going to be problem. The neck hasn't been installed onto a Telly body I'm building. And you can see that the slots haven't been slotted yet. But even if I stay to the left of the initial cut, I'm afraid it will still be too close. I guess I have the option of returning neck and finding another hopefully cut correctly OR just removing this nut and replacing it with a Graphtec nut or other nut manufacture.

Anyways I'm looking for advice one way or the other. I'm going to do some further checks on the neck just to make sure this isn't some 2nd branded one.
Thanks for your assessment of the neck!
Gary

 

[fenderchamp]

string it up and see what's up?

 

[Boreas]

Welcome aboard!

Probably going to need a new nut. Neck is likely fine. Contact the manufacturer and show them the pix. They will likely send out a replacement nut. You can either have them pre-slot it, or just send a nut blank. If you don't know how to do it, have a professional install one.

 

[AAT65]

I don’t think the high e is that much nearer than the outside of the low E slot. Hard to be sure from one photograph. But if you put it on the guitar body and string up the high and low Es — or even use bits of fishing-line or something just for alignment — you’ll have a better idea.

 

[schmee]

Hello Everyone
Just received a new Fender Classic 50's Telecaster neck and am concerned about the position of the high E string in what looks like it is too close to the edge of the neck. My other Telly and strats are not that close. Since this is supposedly a new neck (and not cheap) I'm disappointed that this is going to be problem. The neck hasn't been installed onto a Telly body I'm building. And you can see that the slots haven't been slotted yet. But even if I stay to the left of the initial cut, I'm afraid it will still be too close. I guess I have the option of returning neck and finding another hopefully cut correctly OR just removing this nut and replacing it with a Graphtec nut or other nut manufacture.

Anyways I'm looking for advice one way or the other. I'm going to do some further checks on the neck just to make sure this isn't some 2nd branded one.
Thanks for your assessment of the neck!
Gary

That nut seems off a bit. But really, you might correct any edge margin issue further up by loosening the neck screws and tilting the neck a bit toward the bass side.
Also, from the black marks in the nut slots, some of your strings are not riding at the fretboard edge of the nut as they should be and are riding toward the headstock.
I'd go for a new nut.

 

[Tom Grattan]

What gauge strings are you going to use?

 

[msalama]

String 'er up and see how she behaves first, but as Schmee said, you'll probably want a new nut. And yeah, nudging the neck towards the bass side may help as well, at least as a temporary solution before nut replacement.

 

[Fenderbaum]

Can say right away that the nut is a crapcut.
High E is way to far to the edge.

 

[goonie]

Yep no ifs or buts, that high E slot is in the wrong spot.

 

[57joonya]

Fenders are tough for my hands . The 1-5/8” neck is already a hair too skinny at the nut , so if the nut is cut poorly, or too close to edge . I have to get a new one cut. I cannot stand my string popping off the edge of fretboard. On the other hand you only have 1-5/8” bringing them in too far can be terrible too . It’s a fine line.

 

[Muckman]

Hello Everyone
Just received a new Fender Classic 50's Telecaster neck and am concerned about the position of the high E string in what looks like it is too close to the edge of the neck. My other Telly and strats are not that close. Since this is supposedly a new neck (and not cheap) I'm disappointed that this is going to be problem. The neck hasn't been installed onto a Telly body I'm building. And you can see that the slots haven't been slotted yet. But even if I stay to the left of the initial cut, I'm afraid it will still be too close. I guess I have the option of returning neck and finding another hopefully cut correctly OR just removing this nut and replacing it with a Graphtec nut or other nut manufacture.

Anyways I'm looking for advice one way or the other. I'm going to do some further checks on the neck just to make sure this isn't some 2nd branded one.
Thanks for your assessment of the neck!
Gary

Tone Ninja nuts are basically the same as tusq, and cheaper-not that the tusq is expensive. Never hurts to have a spare, anyway. I’d get a nut and do a direct comparison

 

[Boreas]

Tone Ninja nuts are basically the same as tusq, and cheaper-not that the tusq is expensive. Never hurts to have a spare, anyway. I’d get a nut and do a direct comparison

Agree. To me, the pre-slots look OK WRT spacing, but are simply shifted to the treble side. I would get the manufacturer to send out a better nut, or just get a Tusq or have a bone nut made properly. Life is too short to live with defective nuts.

 

[Rosewoodtele]

Unfortunately, this seems like a common problem across the board. When I bought my AVII tele and my Pro2 strat, I looked at a bunch online and a ton of them had the high E way too close to the edge, especially on the higher frets.

In your case I would suggest just getting a new nut professionally cut and installed. Worth it in the long run.

 

[longbow]

Simple fix for this. Very slightly loosen the neck bolts. Put the guitar in your lap and press gently down on the neck to slightly move the neck and then tighten the neck bolts up and voila your high E string will move and center the other strings a bit better too. Look on YouTube to see demo's of this. Works like a charm and super easy to do. Your welcome.

 

[58Bassman]

That nut looks like the top of end at the high E is chipped. Aside form that, the spacing and distance to the edge of the neck look fine. Have you measured the distance from the strings to the edge? Looks to be about 1/8", or .125"

 

[H. Mac]

The above posts offer good advice, and it may be wise to put it on your body, string it up, and play it before deciding.

Although an e string can appear to be too close to the edge of the fretboard, the amount of roll of the fretboard edge can be the factor that determines whether the string slips off the neck when you play it.

Hopefully you won’t have a problem, but if you do, a new nut may be the way to go.

 

[Freeman Keller]

There is another thread running right now that pretty much covers this.

E string nut slots too close to the edges, or is the bridge mounted too close to the neck?

I have mentioned that the high E string on my Offset Tele slides off of the fretboard and when I went to a Music Go Round to look for a possible replacement speaker, I decided to check out a couple of Fender Tele setups. The nuts on both were cut farther from the edge of the neck and if I were...

www.tdpri.com

 

[Wrighty]

Hello Everyone
Just received a new Fender Classic 50's Telecaster neck and am concerned about the position of the high E string in what looks like it is too close to the edge of the neck. My other Telly and strats are not that close. Since this is supposedly a new neck (and not cheap) I'm disappointed that this is going to be problem. The neck hasn't been installed onto a Telly body I'm building. And you can see that the slots haven't been slotted yet. But even if I stay to the left of the initial cut, I'm afraid it will still be too close. I guess I have the option of returning neck and finding another hopefully cut correctly OR just removing this nut and replacing it with a Graphtec nut or other nut manufacture.

Anyways I'm looking for advice one way or the other. I'm going to do some further checks on the neck just to make sure this isn't some 2nd branded one.
Thanks for your assessment of the neck!
Gary

Might be missing something but on just a neck, tge strings are ‘nowhere’. It’s partly the nut slots that decide but, mostly, the angle of the in relation to the body?

 

[Judas68fr]

Simple fix for this. Very slightly loosen the neck bolts. Put the guitar in your lap and press gently down on the neck to slightly move the neck and then tighten the neck bolts up and voila your high E string will move and center the other strings a bit better too. Look on YouTube to see demo's of this. Works like a charm and super easy to do. Your welcome.

This is great advice, done that on multiple bolt on neck guitars. It might be that there’s a wee bit of play in the neck pocket and the neck is slightly shifted towards the low E string.

 

[Oscar Stern]

What gauge strings are you going to use?

A Zero glide nut might help. What I do is instead of raising the action is I shave the frets down almost flush w/ the fretboard.