First attempt at making a nut for my Strat.

[DrNomis_44]

Well done Doc.
You are right, nuts can be a bit of a challenge to get right but once you have nailed it, it is a good skill to have.

Cheers mate.

[Andy40]

Doc, Whats the Tusq nut like?

[DrNomis_44]

Doc, Whats the Tusq nut like?

It seems to sound similar to bone, I don't know if it had much effect on the tone of my Strat cause I put 46-10s on my Guitar and I reckon that they mellowed the tone and produced more output.

[kimball492]

The last nut I had DB made I didn't have a big enough piece of bone for the GR-1SF it's massive lol. I've tried Tusq Andy there ok diifferent to bone sometimes the standard ones need shimming as not high enough. Tusq are good on a guitar that is a bit on the tinny side as it seems to cut a little of the high frequencies. Be nice to hear Docs thoughts.

[DrNomis_44]

I just got back home from visiting a mate and helping him out with one of his guitars that needed a replacement toggle switch, anyway, I managed to fix his guitar so that all the pickups were working correctly, while I was out at his place I tried my Strat through his Rock Rig and my Strat sounded really good, so I'm happy with it.


I think that it doesn't matter so much what material the nut is made out of as long as it's hard enough to withstand the amount of downward force exerted by the string on the nut itself, I think what really matters is the way the nut slots are cut, how wide the nut slots are, and the amount of friction between the nut material and the string, you really want some kind of material that's both hard and also offers very little friction, friction is one of the main causes of tuning-instability in a guitar, especially one that has a trem system installed on it, the way the string passes over the nut is important, if it kinks to one side or another then no amount of futzing with the nut-slots is going to cure it, something I've found through experience, a sideways kink is going to create a point of friction that no amount of lubrication is going to cure, so, the string needs to pass over the nut as straight as possible with a downwards break-angle so that the string vibrates cleanly without choking-out, which shortens the sustain, the break-angle ensures enough downwards-force that the string does sustain cleanly.

The nut slots need to be wide enough so that the string doesn't bind in them, but not too wide that the string buzzes against the side of the nut slot, the bottom of the nut slot needs to slope downwards towards the headstock from the front of the nut so that the string rests on the front-most edge closest to the first fret, this ensures that the scale-length starts at the proper zero-point so that the intonation is correct at the 12th fret.

Lastly, there's the string-to-string spacing of the nut-slots, these need to be spaced so that the strings are even and not bunched up.

[dingobass]

Lastly, there's the string-to-string spacing of the nut-slots, these need to be spaced so that the strings are even and not bunched up.[/QUOTE]

Compensated spacings are the way to go as they allow for the different thicknesses thus giving a truly evenly spaced string spread that feels more comfortable to play.

[DrNomis_44]

Compensated spacings are the way to go as they allow for the different thicknesses thus giving a truly evenly spaced string spread that feels more comfortable to play.

Yep, that's exactly what I was getting at when I posted that comment, one day I'm going to have to order a new set of nut-slot files to replace my current ones, one broke and they all got a bit rusted when one of my cats decided to relieve itself on them, I had to wash them under running water, but I'm considering that a blessing in disguise, I've found that the more I've learnt about guitar luthiery, the more I want to learn, pretty exciting times for me.


I can't wait to get round to ordering that TL-51 kit I'm interested in for my next build, my mate reckons I'll have all the bases covered once I have a good Telecaster.


Next time I'm out at my mate's place I'll make sure I take a pic of the guitar I fixed up for him, it is a hollow body guitar, has a Bigsby Trem on it, has a TOM bridge mounted on a wooden archtop-style bridge mount, he's got three pickups in it, one is a Gretch, and you should see the grain-pattern on the body top, the guitar sounds gorgeous through my mate's guitar rig, some of the tones are Fender-ish and would sound even better with a hint of reverb, he calls the guitar "The Bird".

[wokkaboy]

good stuff Doc, so did you turn up the amp so you could (and the neighbors haha) hear it nice and clear ?

[DrNomis_44]

good stuff Doc, so did you turn up the amp so you could (and the neighbors haha) hear it nice and clear ?

Yeah, we had the amp turned up to a reasonable....hahaha...volume level for rock n roll, I tried playing my strat through my Baja Real Tube Overdrive with my Rangemaster acting as a booster and you should have heard what it sounded like, it sounded really good and smooth.


I was playing through my mate's Mesa/Boogie Studio .22 Valve combo amp, he had it connected up to a speaker cab with two 12 inch speakers in it.


My mate has an Italian made Vox Wah pedal that sounded good with my Strat but he reckons my Dunlop Crybaby Wah sounds better.

[wokkaboy]

sounds like a great setup Doc, was it loud enough for the pickups to feedback ? It's only loud enough if there's feedback haha