First of nails pulled from gift fixed earlier (6)
I believe the answer is:
preset
'fixed earlier' is the definition.
'first of nails pulled from gift' is the wordplay.
'first of nails' becomes 'n' (1st letter of 'nails').
'pulled from' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'gift' becomes 'present' (synonyms).
'present' with 'n' taken out is 'PRESET'.
(Other definitions for preset that I've seen before include "Arranged in advance" , "Fixed in advance" , "Initially adjust" , "Initially fixed value or control" , "ready to go off when required" .)