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Anyone know where I can get a 12" radius 7 string non locking nut? I have an IB-7 and I bought a graphtech nut and everything seemed fine till I measured the radius and the graphtech one is 14" radius and I cant seem to find a 12" radius 7 string nut online. Ideally, I'd get DB to make one but atm, I lack the funds to do so. All suggestions welcome (including any on how to change the nut radius.) Thanks!
Ultpanzi presuming its a bone nut you could get some stick on sandpaper and stick it to the fingerboard 0-1st fret and rub the bottom of the nut on the paper to achieve the same 12" radius. If the sandpaper is wider than the fingerboard you shouldn't do any damage.
This is not an x-rated comment either hahah
If you want to reshape the top of the nut to a 12" radius then it's easy enough to do, but you will then need to re-cut/deepen some of the string slots. This is assuming the nut is tall enough to allow re-radiusing. Just use a 12" radius sanding block with care to ensure a balanced taper on each end of the nut, or failing that (if you're game)...
Download some radius gauge templates, print out a 12" radius one (make sure it's 100% scale) and use that to mark out and cut the new radius on your nut (see below).
Or...
Get yourself some masking tape and put a couple of strips on a table. Tie a piece of string to the tip of a pencil, measure 12" from the tip and mark it on the string. Put the pencil tip on your masking tape, hold the string at the 12" mark and scribe an arc on the masking tape... you now have a 12" radius guide. Trim the tape on the outside of the arcs then stick it on the fretboard side of your nut with the arc level with the peak of the nut (in the centre) and an equal taper to each end. Repeat on the other side of the nut so you have a guide on each side. File the nut down close to the arc line, then clean up with sandpaper and do final shaping. You'll then need to tweak your string slot depths etc.
An alternative is to use the pencil/string method to drawn an arc on some thin cardboard or plastic, cut that out and then use it as a template to draw/scribe 12" lines onto the nut, but the tape option allows repositioning and may end up being easier to manage (and easier to see on a black TUSQ nut).
Its a flat bottom nut, so that part is fine, its more the string height from the fretboard. I've gotten out the dremel and some sacrificial feeler gauges and matched the radius on the thinnest 4 strings but there aren't any feeler gauges fat enough to do the last 3 strings slot depths.
Use combos of gauges to get the right thickness, or rough up some old wound strings with some sand paper and use them to saw the slot deeper.
Combo gauges works for a second then the slip out of line and theres cursing and close to a scratch on the desk. I'll try the string method.
This is what I would do.
Set your nut in position temporarily. Take a carpenters pencil and split it in half or sand it down flat so you can run it flat along the frets to mark the radius.
Here's a random pic from google so you can see what I'm talking about.
I've always wanted to do that but I've never come up with a good way to sand down the pencil cos I dont have a disc sander, I only have a random orbital and it often takes off too much or too little.
You could even whittle a normal pencil down with a knife, that would do the trick
Ill save that idea. Thanks for the tip! I just found a bendy ruler with a decent thickness and used it to check the height from the bottom of each slot to the top of the ruler.