First attempt at making a nut for my Strat.

[DrNomis_44]

Hi everyone,


Not sure if this is the most appropriate place for this thread, but anyway, I've been having some trouble with trying to get a bone nut to work properly on my Strat ever since I replaced the stock plastic one with a bone one I ordered a couple of fortnights or so ago, the main issue was that the slots seemed a bit too narrow for the 42-09 gauge strings I was using at the time, so I tried using my set of 42-09 gauge nut-slot files to try and fix the issue with limited success, I ended up with a few strings buzzing like a sitar, so, thinking that I needed to start again with a new bone nut, I ordered a couple more, they arrived in the post this morning, unfortunately I couldn't install one of them because they were for a left-handed guitar, and I'm right-handed, I tried to adapt one of the nuts but it just didn't work, so, I did some thinking and then remembered I had a spare white Tusq XL nut that was designed to fit a Gibson Les Paul, so I though that since both my Strat and my LP Studio had a 12 inch radius neck, I would try fashioning a nut for my Strat out of the white Tusq XL nut, and I think I have finally had a win, I tried the nut out on my Strat and all the strings sounded cleanly with no sitar-buzzing, here's a pic of the nut I made:





It seems to fit pretty well in the nut trench on the neck of my strat, I think I must have fluked it given that nuts are very difficult to get right, or so it seems to me, I think I managed to get the back and bottom of the nut reasonably square too, while I was trying to get the replacement bone nut working I managed to break one of the strings of the only spare set of 42-09 gauge strings I had, after some rather colourful language followed by a fit resembling tourettes, i calmed down and then remembered that I had a set of 46-10 gauge strings, I decided to put them on my strat and do a full re-setup on it, I'm going to pop down to the service station shortly to buy some super glue to glue the white Tusq xL nut into place.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


The white Tusq XL nut is now glued into position and the guitar is tuned to pitch, all I need to do now is tweak the action at the 17th fret cause it's a bit high, fortunately it only needs to come down about .5mm and she'll be fine, I'll probably need to tweak the intonation a bit but it shouldn't be to hard a job, after that the trem springs will be adjusted and then the guitar will be ready to play again.


Here's a pic of the white Tusq XL nut glued into place:

[DrNomis_44]

And the Strat is back up and running, if my ears weren't deceiving me I think my Strat seems to sound better with 46-10s on it, I dunno, might just be my imagination.

[andrewdosborne]

Hey Doc long time no follow up. Your Strat looks and sounds awesome. Nut looks good. I use 10s on all my Fender guitars (7.25 & 9.5 radius fretboards). To my ears it contributes positively to the overall tone.

[DrNomis_44]

Hey Doc long time no follow up. Your Strat looks and sounds awesome. Nut looks good. I use 10s on all my Fender guitars (7.25 & 9.5 radius fretboards). To my ears it contributes positively to the overall tone.

Cheers mate, I reckon that putting 10s on Strats tends to mellow them out a little bit so that they're not so ice-picky like they are with 09s, plus 10's seem to produce more output.

[kimball492]

Well done Doc great skill to learn fitting a new nut. If you can keep the gap between the first fret and the underside of the string,while holding string down at 3rd fret. These feeler gauge measurements should put you in the right area. .020" depending on your preferences.
Here's some favourite setups.

[DrNomis_44]

Well done Doc great skill to learn fitting a new nut. If you can keep the gap between the first fret and the underside of the string,while holding string down at 3rd fret. These feeler gauge measurements should put you in the right area. .020" depending on your preferences.
Here's some favourite setups.

Cheers Kimball, I tend to aim for a 1st fret action of .020 of an inch, the first fret action on my Strat is just a tad less than .018 of an inch, I wouldn't go any lower than that, or risk fret-buzzing at the 1st fret.


While I was sorting out the nut on my Strat it really made me appreciate how hard it was to get it right because it doesn't take much to ruin things.

[kimball492]

The nut is probably hardest to get feeling and sounding right. So always file a little at a time. As DB will tell you it can make or break a guitar.

[DrNomis_44]

As it just so happens, I trained as a Fitter and Machinist while doing an Apprenticeship with my dad back in the late 90's so I'm pretty used to working on things with my hands, I actually find it strangely relaxing while working on something that involves a hands-on approach plus I feel that I learn things easier that way.

[dingobass]

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.