Fretless - String height at the nut?

[spiltmilk_2000]

Hi guys, I have purchased a cheap squire VM fretless p bass and it feels a little high at the nut. On a fretted bass I'd measure distance from the first fret with feeler gauges and simply file the slots down a little. With no frets I have no idea how to measure or how far to file. Any advice??
Thanks
Russ

[mybass]

best to file the nut slots down little by little until it feels right, that's how my double bass tech did my bass, including how I liked the fingerboard camber.

[MoonBassAlpha]

File the nut down gradually until it buzzes unredeamably on open strings. Then unfile a couple of stokes.

[Twigman]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1448975201' post='2919696']
File the nut down gradually until it buzzes unredeamably on open strings. Then unfile a couple of stokes.
[/quote]

That made me smile.

[Twigman]

Seriously

Butt a feeler gauge of the desired height up against the nut on the fingerboard side.
File the nut until the file makes contact with the feeler gauge.

[MoonBassAlpha]

Also seriously, you can take the nut slot lower than you might think on a fretless - pretty much flat to the fingerboard. On some basses you may need to watch the break angle over the nut as you get low. Pay attention to winding the strings low on the tuner post.

[hubrad]

On my own, I aim for zero. That's the height off the board when I 'fret' a note.

[brensabre79]

You can go pretty low on a fretless, as you don't have frets further up to get in the way. Close to level with the board is good, but I always try to file at a slight angle down away from the board (toward the tuners) so you don't get a 'hump' on the string.

It depends how hard you play though, and how the neck is set up, you might want to start with a bit of a step up from the board (.5mm - 1mm).

[Andyjr1515]

I'm like hubrad- I aim for zero. Nowadays I use the Warwick Just-a-nuts so I can tweak it until it's spot on.

[iiipopes]

"Rule of thumb" on a double bass is about the thickness of a standard business card. I would think that might work on a fretless as well. Another thing to do is, on a good fretted bass that does not buzz, measure the distance between the top of the first fret and the bottom of the string. That should be a similar measurement to help determine what is close to the fingerboard for good action without buzzing.

[neilp]

If your neck relief is right, you ought to be able to get it to zero, or almost zero. Bear in mind that the "amplitude" of the open string's vibration is zero at the nut, and very very small close to it, so if you've got the relief right, that should do it. That's what the relief is there for, after all!

[spiltmilk_2000]

Thanks so much guys! Playing much better in the first position now!