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I have always found it a bit of a challenge to get a really tight fit on the bottom of the nut. There is always a tiny bit of squeeze out or whatever in the slot, and its a bit of a trick cleaning it out while keeping everything perfectly flat and square.

In another post there is talk of knocking off the inside edge of your binding to help get a tight fit. I just tried lightly kissing the bottom edge of a nut with 220 and it really helped get things in. I then tried the same thing on the saddle and it went down a few thousands more than it had before. I would emphasize you just want to hit the corner lightly, you do not want to round over the bottom.

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David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

I tape off my nut slot along with the fingerboard before finishing!
Then after pulling the tape there is NO slag in there!
I make all my slots 5mm wide -steels & nylons-and I have a bone to wood surface that holds those buggars great!
I like a bit of a tight fit!!!!!!!
Don't go there!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

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Mike Collins

I do the same.

But when fitting it to the slot, I do it backwards. I take the piece of bone and cut it to size, except I leave it overly tall and long. If it's to sit on the headstock plane, angled at 15°, I use a 15° setup block to set the table on the disc sander. Then I butt the nut up against the end of the FB, and push my 15° block up against the nut good and tight and clamp it. Remove the nut and use a small Japanese style saw. Place the saw against the face of the 15° block that was in contact with the nut before the nut was removed. Hold the saw in good contact with that block and cut off the excess headstock overlay, taking care to not cut into the neck wood. Remove the cutoff, clean up with a narrow chisel and sand the bottom of the slot flat using an old nut of the same dimensions that has a piece of 180 or so glued to the bottom.

I've cut the slot to fit the nut, rather than fitting the nut to the slot. I'm placing one side of the saw blade against a surface that mimics exactly where the nut will be. Hard to visualize, but it's near foolproof. This approach is used with setup blocks in machine work, as taught to me by a machinist who did all the custom parts for our machines.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I do what my friend Dave does and it does indeed help to seat the nut.

I also polish my nuts..... using micro-mesh and I have learned that it's all to easy to polish your nut to the point that it no longer "snaps" into place. My goal is to have my nuts lightly snap into place with a slight amount of pressure.

Also, I have a surface plate and use it with some 220 on it to flatten the nut face and the 15 degree angled nut bottom.

Something else that helps me when making a nut is a good way to avoid having your nut file migrate toward the end of the nut when cutting the Low and high E slots is to first make a shallow/pilot cut where you want the slot with something like a 42 TPI Zona razor saw.

I don't know from your post where you put the glue, but I prefer to glue it lightly to the end of the fingerboard. If you glue it to the bottom of the slot, there is a chance that you will pull up splinters from the neck if you remove the nut.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

You may be right Arnt, but I've always just glued to the neck, a small drop of CA in the middle of the nut.

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David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

I have been doing a very small drop of Titebond, applied with a tooth pick the amount is so very small, to the fret board end and the neck. If the nut friction fits well it requires very little glue to hold it in place.

Also in terms of future serviceability you want the nut to be able to be easily "tonked" loose for future replacement.

I use some of the same techniques as the others here. It is so important
to get the nut tightly fitted with no gaps whatsoever.Take your time
and get it perfect! I'll Set the disc sander to 15 * and sand the nut And the
headstock overlay so the overlay will slide right up and but against the back
of the nut.Very easy and quick.
I also like to thin my titebond with a drop of water when I glue the nut in.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I use a very slightly tapered nut and slot. Wedges right in. Easy to remove with the tap of a hammer. Taper only needs to be about .001".

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Waddy

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Waddy, I also use a tapered nut slot. I make the bass side about .005 to .010" wider than the treble. If you want a tight fitting nut, this will give it to you. I often don't even use glue to secure the nut.

Yeah, Barry, I don't use any glue either. You can't even tell it's tapered, but as I said, it takes a hammer to get it out of the slot. I do use a wooden dowel instead of hitting it directly. My aim is not that good.

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Waddy

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