I was just about to knock the plastic nut off my gsj-1 and luckily measured it against the bone nut that was supplied with the guitar and it's way too small and the string spacing is out.
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I was just about to knock the plastic nut off my gsj-1 and luckily measured it against the bone nut that was supplied with the guitar and it's way too small and the string spacing is out.
Does it look like a Fender one? Someone else had a Fender one supplied. Much thinner and rectangular, as opposed the the quarter-circle shape of the Gibson style.
Regardless, just email Pitbull with a photo and you should get a refund.
You should need a 43mm wide nut (a lot are 42mm). I just buy mine from Amazon. Loads to chose from if you type in "43mm bone nut". Just double check the dimensions of yours The kit nuts are always a bit high, so you can normally go at least 1mm lower than the kit ones if necessary (but see what you think). And the square-edged ones can be rounded off at the back and sides with a file and sanded smooth. The nuts are all very similar in quality.
You should let Adam know. He can probably send you a new one. The right nut should be slightly too large so that you can sand it down to fit. If you haven't finished the guitar I would wait to get it before finishing, so that you can sand the sides to be flush with the nut in place.
It's not a Fender one, and it's not worth quibbling over the cost and waiting for the post from Oz (sh*t can I say that in these ultra pc times?) sorry, just joking.
It does measure 42mm across which is a mm less than the plastic one but the string spacing centre to centre is 33.5 and the kit one is 35.5 which is a mile out.
If I offer it up to my Gibson les Paul and a couple of other guitars with the 43mm nut the strings don't line up at all. Strange.
Amazon it is then armed with my measurements.
Well, you could cut* your own nut. I am in the US so YMMV, but I got a bunch of blank nuts for very little $$$ on Amazon or eBay. I was surprised that it was not very difficult to cut the nut down to size. I did F nuts and it took about 1-2 hours. G nuts might take less time since they are bigger, so not as much material to sand off. I have been keeping old plastic nuts to use as a model to get the shape and string spacing right.
You'll need to cut slots. I confess that I am about to do my first guitar nut. I have done bass nuts up to this point. I used needle files like these to cut the slots.
Attachment 35726
This worked great on bass. Very easy and quick to get the slot to the right depth and unlike other files the bottom of the slot is round. Also I think these are pretty much the cheapest option. That said, my success with them may be because I was cutting bass nuts. Bass-sized files have more girth than they would for guitar. I worry a bit that when I do my first guitar nut (sometime this month, probably) the files may be a little too skinny to cut well. Will know soon ;-)
*Funny that the process is referred to as "cutting" the nut. My experience is that the actual process is mostly sanding ;-)
That's a shame JR. I've had a few bone nuts supplied by Pitbull in the past and have never had a problem with them
That being said I'm converted like Fender3x and just cut my own from blanks.
The G series kits come from a different factory to the non-G series kits, and I have a feeling that a lot of the rest may have 42mm nuts. I generally get 43mm nuts when replacing them on other guitars and normally have to sand the ends down slightly to fit. But Pitbull need to be made aware of the difference. It's not something you think about much until you get feedback. It won't take much to have two widths available and hopefully the right ones will be supplied. Or else PBG add the nut width to the kit details and have the two width options for the bone nut option so you can actively select the right one.
Thanks guys, one ordered.
I'll email Adam.
I have a similar issue with the bone nut I got, but in a different dimension. The width seems OK, but it's about 1 or 2mm (haven't measured with feeler gauges yet) thinner than the kit plastic nut. Unless they are available in different thicknesses I will have to shim it with something.
It depends as to how specialist a luthier supplier you go to. Some will do a wide variety of nut sizes. Otherwise a get a bone blank and file it to fit.
Or look at Graphtech nuts as they come in a variety of widths, heights and depths.
Thanks Simon. Graphtec or a blank might be the way to go. I have a 12" radius sanding block and a set of needle files. Still, it's a little disappointing to buy a bone nut upgrade and not be able to use it. The variations between all the kits seem to cause a bit of chaos with the nut upgrades.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
It does seem a shame, but you may be able to use it on a future build if you don't end up applying it to this one. Graphtec nuts are great, they take a little patience with sanding to fit, but once they do they perform stellar. I've got them on all my guitars and never had an issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by jugglindan
Note that there is an 'h' on the end of Graphtech, though you'd think they'd be hip and drop it.
https://graphtech.com/
Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination. :p
Although I don't think Mark Twain used emoji.
The Vanson one turned up today and it is pretty much a direct replacement.
But, with the plastic nut knocked off it is easier to see down the neck and it has revealed a slight twist and a warped headstock which is a bit depressing seeing as I am stained up and four coats of tru oil in.
What should I do?
I guess the headstock is just going to be a quirk and won't affect playability.
It's easy to see twists which aren't really there. You then convince yourself it is and you can't un-see one.
I've never really worked out an easy way to measure for a twist easily, especially as the fretboard radius makes it difficult to position anything properly flat across the neck at each end unless you have a couple of flat sticks with a 12" radius curve sanded/filed out in the middle. Even then you'd need to be very careful as any slight deviation from central would indicate a twist that's not there.
Can you get a photo down the neck?
Unless you want to sand the headstock down to level it, then I'd leave it alone. You'd probably want to add a layer or two of veneer to it if there's much sanding at an angle involved, so it doesn't become too thin.
Yeah, kind of what I thought. I will try and get round to doing the photo thing, it's just a bit daunting to one who is not a spring chicken!
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1+Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
I had got an inexpensive, but beautiful neck on eBay only to "discover" that it had a twist...but I wasn't sure. I decided to try to set it up, and if that did not work I'd replace it (F type neck). It set up well and with no problems. It turned out that what I thought was a twist at first was really that the fingerboard was a little thicker on one side than the other. The radius was fine and the neck was otherwise straight.