Official Luthiers Forum!

I am working on building a short scale bass guitar. It is the first bass I have built from scratch and have a question about the nut placement.

I see that Fender has their fretboard extend above the nut as shown in the picture below.

I have built a couple of other guitars but the fretboard stops at the nut position (it doesn't extend past the nut).

Can someone tell me the advantage/dis-advantage of having the fretboard extend past the nut?

I am getting ready to cut the slots in my fretboard and am not sure of the pro's and con's of each method.

Thanks in advanced,
Bob

It's more a matter of style than anything else. There is no advantage in either method.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thanks Chris, I designed this bass to be very similar to a Fender using the same neck design. I like the look of the extended FB, and it seems it would add some additional stiffness where it is needed but wasn't sure if somehow it would be a detriment at some point.

I have done setups on a few Fender bass's but have never needed to replace a nut.

Thanks,
Bob