Alternatively, you can shim the nut slot (in the fretboard) to raise the existing nut.I did nothing to the nut out of the packet. Unfortunately it seems that the nut is too low (short).
I tested the by holding down the 3rd fret and it hits the first fret. Looks like I will need to replace the nut which is a pain as I have not modified anything but to be fair I didn’t pick anything up until now.
A new nut should fix the height in front and behind and hopefully the buzz.
When I need to do this, I use timber veneer. The good things about using veneer is, one, it's real wood; and two, it's available in all kinds of colours (timber types). Jarrah & Blackwood can be a really close match to rosewood, and Pine works pretty well with Maple (I haven't found Maple veneer locally). Of course it can stained or coloured to match too.
I have a local joinery that gives me off-cuts of veneer for free (they refuse to take my money or even coffee!) so I have a range of different colours. They come in different thicknesses too. Most of the hardwood veneer I have is around .7mm which is usually perfect.
Cut your shim so it fits snuggly width-wise leaving the length just a smidge long (.5mm each end). The width can adjusted with a few swipes of 400 sandpaper. Glue it in with a small amount of wood glue making sure it's sitting flat in the slot. I clamp it using the nut, but making sure the nut isn't also getting glued in (yet).
After it's set use a jeweler's file or tiny sanding block to trim the ends flush with the slot. Now proceed with gluing in the nut and adjusting you individual string slot depths/string height.
Cutting nuts and filing string slots is a whole other topic, but happy to help with that too if/when you get to it!
Keep us posted on what you do and of course the result.
NOTE: There is the option of filling the offending low string slot doing the CA & baking soda trick, but that is more a temporary solution in my opinion. Using bone dust instead of baking soda is better, but I still feel raising the nut and re-cutting the string slots is the best method, short of replacing the nut.






Reply With Quote