Bone Nut for IB-5

[Paul_H]

I'm just getting started on my new IB-5, and bought a bone nut to install as part of the build.

The plastic nut came off easily enough with a little block of wood and a gentle mallet tap.

Left behind on the neck is a thin dark layer where the nut was glued, but I can't tell is this is glue residue or perhaps a shim.

So, my questions:

1 should I clean up the nut location back to the underlying maple?
2 what adhesive is recommended to attach the nut?
3 is adhesive applied only on the base of the nut?

Thanks for your guidance!

I'm a forum newb, by the way, but I've left a gidday post in the relevant forum area.

Cheers, Paul

[wokkaboy]

welcome to the forum Paul. Great kit to start on. As long as the bone nut sits on a flat surface you should be right. Give it a sand with some sandpaper wrapped around a flat piece of wood.
Is it a bone blank or pre-slotted and does it have a flat bottom ?
I use a few drops of superglue to glue the nut in place. Just put the glue on the slot and clamp it and let dry. Make sure you are happy with the string height at the 1st fret before you glue it.

[Simon Barden]

Hi Paul. I use a little PVA glue for sticking nuts on. Superglue is fine as long as you only use a little. You only really need the glue there to hold the nut in place with no strings on. It's string tension that mainly holds it in place, so anything that

As Wokkaboy said, it's important that both the bottom of the nut and the wood it's resting on are flat, so they make maximum contact. There will probably be glue traces left from the old one, so you want to remove those first. If you haven't got any nut files to cut the nut slots deeper if necessary, then it's best to sand the bottom of the nut down to get the nut slots lower. This means that it's one of the last things you should do and you need to be able to string the guitar up with all the hardware fixed in place.

So unless you have, or have access to nut files, then I'd leave the nut off until the guitar is 99% complete. For now, I'd either use tape to mask off the nut area to avoid getting any finish in that area, or simply glue the original one back on. Then once all the hardware is on the guitar, just use string tension to keep the nut in place. Then get the neck relief sorted, set the bridge height for the required action, then work on the nut height. You could probably use some feeler gauges to work out by how much you need to lower it by to get the strings just clearing the first fret without buzzing. But once the bulk of the height has been reduced, it's then a question of removing, a gentle sanding and then refitting the nut several times until it's just right. A gap of somewhere around 0.3mm between the string and the 1st fret on the high E and 0.5mm on the low E should be about it.

[Paul_H]

Thank you both for your practical advice.

The bone nut I have was supplied by Pitbull and is hand-shaped by Dingobass specifically for the IB-5. One might be forgiven for assuming that the nut should be fit for purpose right "out of the bag", but I've learned not to assume too much over the years!

Cheers, Paul

[wazkelly]

Hi Paul, if it is a DB Bone Nut I reckon there is a fair chance it should be ready to go as is. The one he did on my EX-1 was perfect and did not require any work or adjustments at all from me when setting up the action.

Only thing you may need to do is smooth off the glue dags left behind from the removed plastic nut and possibly a small amount of sanding to the bottom of the new nut if it appears to be sitting too high.

[Paul_H]

Only thing you may need to do is smooth off the glue dags left behind from the removed plastic nut and possibly a small amount of sanding to the bottom of the new nut if it appears to be sitting too high.

I cleaned up the nut seat area until I could just see clean maple underneath. I probably won't commit to final glue until the bass until the final set-up stage.

[FrankenWashie]

I cleaned up the nut seat area until I could just see clean maple underneath. I probably won't commit to final glue until the bass until the final set-up stage.

That's probably the best plan until you've got your action sorted out.