Get yer nuts out

[202dy]

CyanoAcrylate. Super glue.

Available in several viscosities. Liquid thin is appropriate for this repair.

Buy good product. Use when fresh. We put the purchase date on the bottle if the date of manufacture is not available. Toss in six months.

 

[Tone Meister]

Sounds to me like you need a professional setup. I can all but guarantee it'll take a fraction of the time and cost significantly less in the long run.

 

[sugarlou]

Liquid thin CA

heres a capo on fret 5.

all strings are on fret 1 but the low E

 

[202dy]

Checking nut slot depth:

• Capo at F3.
• Clearance at F1 should be approximately .003" or roughly one sheet of notebook paper.

Pictures are useless. Unless you can see the difference of one or two thousandths of an inch, that is.

 

[sugarlou]

I just tried capo 3rd...the only strings that allow a piece of paper beneath them is low E and tightly A... the rest no

 

[202dy]

What does that tell you?

 

[sugarlou]

well I guess the question now is fill with glue or remove the nut and shim or replace.


anyone have experience with these?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...iQXu7-HGMnwP3ouw9Ikz-maHuK3MID7hAAxoCaP_w_wcB

 

[202dy]

Maybe. If the neck is correctly adjusted before taking measurements and the paper used is ~.003", then yes. If not, set up the guitar correctly and measure again with the right instruments.

Graphtech nuts work just fine.

 

[sugarlou]

Thanks everyone!

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

You realize you'll have to cut the slots on that nut to match your guitar (rather, have it done), and my experience with graphtech pre-slotted nuts is that the slots often give too wide a string spacing for the neck. When I used graphtech I used blanks about 95% of the time because the pre-slotted ones were hardly ever 'right for the guitar'.

Like I said, fill and cut. I wouldn't replace a nut for the issue you describe unless there were an additional reason to do so (strings too close the edge, nut material doesn't play well with a trem, etc.)

 

[walterw]

all strings are on fret 1 but the low E

yeah, that nut needs to come out.

doing a fill on more than one string is silly, the whole thing needs to be removed and either shimmed up from the bottom or replaced.

 

[202dy]

You realize you'll have to cut the slots on that nut to match your guitar (rather, have it done), and my experience with graphtech pre-slotted nuts is that the slots often give too wide a string spacing for the neck. When I used graphtech I used blanks about 95% of the time because the pre-slotted ones were hardly ever 'right for the guitar'.

Like I said, fill and cut. I wouldn't replace a nut for the issue you describe unless there were an additional reason to do so (strings too close the edge, nut material doesn't play well with a trem, etc.)

yeah, that nut needs to come out.

doing a fill on more than one string is silly, the whole thing needs to be removed and either shimmed up from the bottom or replaced.

It's like you guys are mind readers.

Pre-slotted means: Might be the right spacing. Or not. It also means that the slots will have to be finished to depth if the spacing is right. One size fits (almost) none.

That is why we always use unslotted blanks. Saves grinding.

 

[walterw]

Pre-slotted means: Might be the right spacing. Or not. It also means that the slots will have to be finished to depth if the spacing is right. One size fits (almost) none.

That is why we always use unslotted blanks. Saves grinding.

i will admit to actually using the pre-slotted stuff fairly often, i see enough of the same kinds of guitars that stocking pre-mades that are close enough to speed up the install make sense.

i really like the new pre-cut bone blanks from allparts, their martin and especially gibson nuts and saddles are well-done and come out beautifully in a short amount of time. (the strat nuts are kinda weird, they don't fit anything as well.)

i had been using graph-tech tusq blanks for folks who didn't want the expense of getting bone made, but now the bone nut blanks are way cheaper than the graph-tech ones and every bit as "pre-started", so i've stopped bothering with the tusq. (i still think bone is the better, harder, longer-lasting material anyway).

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

yeah, that nut needs to come out.

doing a fill on more than one string is silly, the whole thing needs to be removed and either shimmed up from the bottom or replaced.

Ok let me put it this way: I have nuts on some of my guitars that are 20 or more years old. They have trems that see unkind abuse. I've filled and recut slots a few times over those 20 years; they work, they stay in tune.

IMO would be a waste of money/time to replace the nut for that unless, as I noted earlier, there is another reason to replace it.

 

[sugarlou]

*Update*

Sam Ash had the Graphtech nut in stock so I took a chance on it as it is indeed pre slotted. The slots in the Graphtech nut were identicle to the nut installed on the guitar when I placed them side by side. Luck was on my side.

Installed the new nut. Was able to take the extra relief out with the t-rod. Playing / sounding good. I might want to deepen the slots a hair tomorrow but for now its working pretty good.

 

[walterw]

Installed the new nut. Was able to take the extra relief out with the t-rod. Playing / sounding good. I might want to deepen the slots a hair tomorrow but for now its working pretty good.

so the old one came out cleanly?

assuming the material itself was decent quality, a thin shim of cardstock under the old nut would have likely taken care of things, after which you would file any too-high slots to ideal heights again. (judging by the pic, they would probably all have been fine except for the low E)

it's very likely that the graph-tech slots are all now too high, so they'll need to be filed as well.

 

[sugarlou]

Don't ask about the old nut.

I have the file set. I agree they are a bit high. Tomorrow I'll make adjustments

 

[walterw]

Don't ask about the old nut.

ha

I have the file set. I agree they are a bit high. Tomorrow I'll make adjustments

if you're not doing the erlewine-style stacked feeler gauge method, then your visual check is to hold the string at the third fret (so against the other side of the second fret) and look at the gap over the first fret.

that gap needs to be vanishingly small without disappearing, like "sheet of notebook paper thickness" small.

 

[sugarlou]

Thanks!!!!

 

[Tone_Terrific]

Graphtec lists the specs for their nuts on the web.
Specs include E to E spacing.
There is a variety of choice.
Remember that if the string spacing is suitably in spec for you, the nut width can be over spec and then trimmed back to size.