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 Post subject: replacing a locking nut
PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 12:16 pm 
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Koa
Koa

Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:09 pm
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Location: Cowichan Valley, BC, Canada
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I've got a customer that hates the locking nut on his guitar. He's wondering about replacing it with a Fender roller nut. Provided the dimensions line up, anyone have any reasons not to go that route, or perhaps an alternative suggestion. He's even okay replacing the locking nut with a bone nut and adding a piece of rosewood to the headstock side to make it look more like a traditional fender nut.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 12:37 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:46 pm
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First name: Freeman
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I would suggest taking very careful measurements. There are a bazillion different locking nuts made for about every guitar you can imagine and only a couple of versions of the roller nut. Make sure the width, radius, string spacing and everything else is the same.

I did replace a roller nut for a guy, they are a bit funky to set up. The nut action height is set with shims, I recall it was a bit tricky. You will probably find that mounting holes don't line up and its possible that the break point of the rollers won't be in the right place

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 1:04 pm 
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Contributing Member
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Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:04 am
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First name: Chris
Last Name: Pile
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Not to mention, that Fender rolling nut requires removing wood closer to the first fret to get the breakover point located correctly. I've done it once back when I was a Fender tech, and it was tricky. Later, if the client wants to go back to a normal nut, you have to fill the wood back in that was removed.

Best suggestion - make a very good bone nut, lube it, and install locking tuners. I have that on one of my Strats (Wilkinson equipped whammy), and it stays in tune well. I recommend locking tuners to my clients these days if they don't want full locking systems.

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