unclelee
May-26-2006, 8:54pm
My new Eastman 614 has a radiased fingerboard but the nut and bridge are flat. Is this normal? #I would have thought the nut and fingerboard should be radiased also.
John Flynn
May-26-2006, 10:03pm
That doesn't sound right. You should have a luthier take a look at it.
Desert Rose
May-27-2006, 6:38am
Its not right
You are negating the whole point by not having all components working together
Nut slots must be set up to the frets which will make them rdiused and the bridge must match by defination, otherwise playability is compromised
Scott
DryBones
May-27-2006, 7:18am
maybe Steve from Gianna Violins could give us some input. I am sure he has set up many of these through his shop.
sunburst
May-27-2006, 8:57am
The string height over the frets is what really matters. I read that Eastman mandolins have a 10 inch radius, and that's not a lot on a narrow board like a mandolin board. If the strings are set to correct height, but the top surfaces of the nut and bridge were not cut down to the string slots, they would still be flat on top, and the varying depth of the slots would not be very noticable, especially if all the slots are fairly deep.
Check the string height at the nut. Here is a good explanation of how to do that, from Frets.com (http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/GenSetup/NutAction/nutaction.html).
Checking the bridge height simply involves accurately measuring from the strings to the frets. I measure at the 12th fret. The string height should gradually get slightly higher from the E to the G. If the center strings are lower than the G and E, it should be adjusted, unless you are one of those players who prefer the strings to be flat across the bridge. Some people would rather put up with a little bit of extra height on the G and E than play an arched saddle.
If you find the string heights to be good, the bridge and nut are fine. To refine the look of the instrument, you can cut the top surfaces of the nut and saddle down so that the string slots are 1/2 string diameter deep. That's a detail you aren't likely to find on a production instrument, especially in the lower price ranges.
If the string heights are not correct, the slots need to be cut deeper so that they are, and the top surfaces of the nut and saddle can be left as they are, or cut down for 1/2 string diameter deep slots.