Changing the Plastic Nut

[dingobass]

Mmmm, not sure what you mean by non critical bitz but just so long as you have the correct profile- you will notice the nut slopes downwards from the bottom e, following the 12 inch radius of the PBG neck- you can get as artistic and funky as you like

[Gavin1393]

No, shaping the nut is a bit of an art form....well, it can be!
The first time you make a nut can take a fair amount of time, but as you become used to it and have made plenty of them it is a task that can be completed very quickly.
Because the PBG guitars are all 12" radiused, you will want the top of your nut to follow this radius. The base of the nut needs to be dead level. A straight edge or flat piece of wood will help achieve this. the back and front also need to be very straight so that the nut fits flush in the grove, or flush up against the fretboard. The top of the nut is important, easy to do if you have a 12' radius block, and you sand down rom the top towards the tuners. This should provide a good rounded finish to the top. I use 180 - 220 grit to achieve a reasonable finish befor polishing with 6000 or higher grit.

[Rohan]

Thanks again for your responses gentlemen.

I have ordered some nut blanks (and perhaps a couple other little tools and consumables...)

After reading this thread last night and doing a fair bit of research via our friend Google I think I might have some idea of what I am doing.

There are some good examples of workflows here:

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Nuts...es/a-nuts.html

http://www.lenaweelutherie.info/page...26/page26.html

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luth...t/newnut1.html

They all have their different little techniques.

I am definitely going to try the Gavin technique with the radius sanding block though as that sounds like a good idea to me.

I will hopefully document the process.. which you probably won't get to see if I fail miserably. Good luck to me!

Cheers,
Rohan.

[Gavin1393]

I'm sure you will be fine!

Don't buy bone nuts off e-bay from unknown sources because they tend to sell you the cracked and damaged stuff you don't see in the pictures!!

[Rohan]

That sounds very scary.

I will stick with my synthentics (went with a TUSQ nut :P)