Nut slot ?

[Born2Blues67]

I have a guitar where the high E slot is just a little higher than the
rest. The nut material is graphite. Is there a D.I.Y. solution? Could
i buy a product at my local hardware store without either investing
in a set of nut files or taking it to a tech? Any help at all would be
greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[OlAndrew]

Look in a large hobby/crafts shop or if you have one near, a jeweler's supply house. Look at so called needle files. Try to find a very fine cut tapered round or 'rat tail'. That'll work. What I use when I'm just doing a quick adjustment and don't want to bother digging out my nut files. For some things, the rat tail actually does a better job, and easier too. Trick is to find one with a fine enough cut, a lot of the hobby files out there just too rough.

[walterw]

a rat tail will be way too wide. while you're in that same hobby shop, look for an x-acto saw that's a little wider than the string, say .012" or .015" for a .010" E.

be careful, because one good swipe and you'll be too low and buzzing against the first fret! go slow, and check often.

[Soapbarstrat]

And you wouldn't even need the handle that the x-acto blade fits onto.

A more expensive option is a Japanese Feather-edge file. Not easy to find locally, except for some high end woodworker supply places.

When I was 16 and needed to attempt my first guitar repair task (filing a high nut slot), I happened to live a couple blocks from a place that had the feather-edge file.

[Rosewood]

You can use a feeler gauge of the right size by dragging it sideways across coarse sandpaper creating small teeth good enough to cut the slot.

[walterw]

You can use a feeler gauge of the right size by dragging it sideways across coarse sandpaper creating small teeth good enough to cut the slot.
now that's cheating! (i like it)
i assume it needs to be a steel, rather than brass feeler gauge.

[Soapbarstrat]

That does sound promising. I once put teeth into feeler-gauges, but I used a thin Dremel wheel. Those "files" got dull after doing a few nuts. But I suppose with sandpaper cut "teeth", a "resharpening" would be real easy.
Actually, once just for an experiment, I roughed up a small nail with a file, making scratches in the nail in all different directions with the little file. The roughed-up nail worked fairly well at filing a round notch into a scrap nut blank.

[UMT]

You might want to try a set of 'welding nozzle cleaners'.... Round, different sizes and they work pretty good.....

[jakeddy]

You might want to try a set of 'welding nozzle cleaners'.... Round, different sizes and they work pretty good.....

They call that a cutting torch tip cleaner. You can find them any place that carry welding supplies.

Good suggestion by the way.

The wound strings can be used in the same way.

[Terry McInturff]

You can use a feeler gauge of the right size by dragging it sideways across coarse sandpaper creating small teeth good enough to cut the slot.

Dig it! Now, that's clever!

Polish the bottom of the slot afterwards with a bit of 600G and you are ready to rock.

Cool idea.

[57special]

Stew Mac carries some "nut floss" which operates on the same principle as dental floss. if it were me, however, I'd just get some 4-600 grit sandpaper, fold it over with a sharp crease, and gradually bring it down by drawing it back and forth in the nut slot.

[Born2Blues67]

Thank you gentlemen for all of the kind replies.

[testing1two]

nut floss...because brushing just isn't enough

[57special]

also prevents nut disease.:crazyguy

[Born2Blues67]

57special,

One ? Just where the hell is the pancake making capital of the world.

[Rosewood]

There's something about the words "nut floss" that aint right.

[Soapbarstrat]

Took a piece of steel venetian blind slat (.009" thick), made a rounded edge with something like 220 grit, going length-wise and rocking from side to side. Then went cross-wise on what I guess was a piece of cloth-backed 60 grit. Cut a nut slot in scrap Corian with no problem.

[57special]

Fargo, ND.

[2leod]

There's something about the words "nut floss" that ain't right.
I'm with you on this, brother.

Cool idea about the feeler guage though!