This isn't right is it?

[pops1]

For reference: 0.060-0.070" clearance at the twelfth fret for the E string is good action if everything else is where it belongs. You can get it lower but sound becomes pinched and you lose volume IME.

I respectively disagree, my mandolin is E-.030 and G-.045 and I have lots of volume and sustain. Ask any one across the room at a jam when I am playing, I don't have to play hard. I have been playing for decades and I wouldn't play with that high of an action.

[larten27]

So I have successfully acquired a set of luthier's files for working on the nut, these are the 5 smallest. God knows if they're any good. I now only need the feeler gauges and some finer sandpaper and I can begin work.