Some basses have an unwieldy long string length. As you can’t simply move the bridge, the only real way to change this is by fitting a new neck – or by using what is known (in Germany) as an ‘English nut’.
The English nut shortens the playable string length from the pegbox. To achieve this, the fingerboard is shortened so that the upper nut is moved downwards.
This bass actually already had a comfortable string length of 104 cm – but the customer wanted 101 cm. To achieve this, I didn’t shorten the fingerboard completely, but instead cut out a step on which the new nut sits.
Naturally, the English saddle and the shortened scale length have also changed the position of all the notes on the fingerboard. So, to restore a D scale length, I also carved away a bit of wood at the base of the neck and rounded everything off nicely: now the D note played on the G string is once again opposite my ‘locked-in’ thumb.
