i remembered that i filed the top of the nut slot, leaving the bottom side intact, phew
Old thread, but in the video DB mentions you can polish the top of the nut...
How do you do this without making the nut slots shallower?
Ultra fine sandpaper / polishing pads - something like: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-Mesh-...YAAOxydlFS6p23
Current builds:
GPB-4B: https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...548#post184548
You don't need the nut slots particularly deep. Especially on the two outer slots where deep slots mean you have two thin pieces of nut sticking up on the outside. If you then catch the edge of the nut on something, the extra depth means extra leverage and the end of the nut is more likely to break off. So file down the top of the nut until the slots are just deep enough.
Some say the nut slots only need to be half the diameter of the string deep. Whilst this might be OK with really heavy gauge strings and a jazz style where you don't bend the strings, for me this doesn't work well on a guitar with 0.009" and 0.010" sets and the strings pop out of the slots, so I try for the full string depth and no more.
It doesn't take much polishing with Micromesh to get the top and the headstock side of the nut bright and shiny. Always mask off all around the nut with a double thickness of tape before doing this. You'll also want to round off the edges (except the fretboard facing edges) with a small file first before polishing. You don't want sharp corners digging into your hands.
You can go a bit further with the polishing and use a metal polish or cutting compound for some extra shine after the 12000 grit Micromesh.
Ashton AB-1505
Ibanez Musician
PBG HB-4 The Hobbit
Godin A5 Ultra SA (fretless)
fEARful 15/6/1-tube with True3way X-over
Ampeg PF-500