Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut

 Inspiration can ebb and flow. It can also be selective. 

I finished the nut two days ago. I was super excited to dig into it, and encouraged by Mr. Guitarchaeology's reminder that with the zero fret, the nut doesn't have to be absolutely perfect, just filed slightly lower than the zero fret but high enough to hold and guide the strings to the tuners.

What I was less inspired to do was take the time to write this post, partly because when I sit down to type I hear the drums next to my desk calling, and partly because several of my fingertips are cracked and bloody from the dry weather. All the filing and sanding didn't help!

One thing I do draw a lot of inspiration from is all the instructional videos on the Youtube. I'm no fan of most thing interwebs. Never been on Facebook. I never bother to erase emails. Currenty have 3,719 in my inbox.

Ok. I'm back. Sweet Home Chicago came up on Spotify and the drums called again. 

So yeah, Youtube and Spotify good. Blah to the rest. I guess what I'm blabbering on about is that if you ever need to do your own guitar work, the folks from my home state of Ohio at Stewmac have some great instructional videos. But first, I have to string this thing up to help me figure out string spacing and all that.


First, as I learned from the new Jazzmaster I bought last year, the string vibrations can cause these types of bridges to lower on their own. A little Loctite and you're golden.



The zero fret worked great to do a rough trace of the radius. I did double check with a gauge.


So stoked to have this (loosely) strung up again!



Rye gave some suggestions on string spacing. Stewmac does sell a spacing rule. Rye said there was no room in the budget for new tools AND cans of tuna.

Since I'm going on about Stewmac again, here's the video on making a nut. I don't expect that everyone will want to watch a 13 minute video on shaping a guitar nut, but if you want to see something heart-warming, at the 6 minute mark my future 3rd wife's inability to hide her affection for old Dan Erlewine just about restores my faith in humanity.

https://youtu.be/im1Qw2CI8BQ

Stewmac also has some pricey but good quality nut files. I have two I have used on my Peavey Bass, for the D and G strings. The G string file worked for the low E on the guitar, but for the rest I found a hack. You can use a set of feeler gauges and file a few notches in the ones that correspond to your string gauge.


Here's one notched, checking for space between the zero fret and the strings. 


Blank and shaped.


Not as polished as the pros, but I'm pretty stoked. Had to borrow glue from my neighbor Noel. Then we drank some Japanese whisky. 

It's glued in, I'm tuned one step down just to let everything settle under string tension for a bit.


I know these posts keep getting longer and longer, but the weather keeps getting colder and colder.

Next Up: Pickguard Hell



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