Official Luthiers Forum!

This is related to another thread.
How do you carve nut slots..ie angle
1. I understand that you set an angle back to the headstock, but is it
steeper so only the fingerboard edge of the nut slot makes contact with the
string?
2. Do you have it at the same angle as the headstock so the string is in
contact with the entire nut slot?
3. For a 0.12 string, do you use a 0.12 nut file and just make the slot a bit
bigger?
Andy

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

The StewMac video or DVD explains this in extreme detail.
1) I follow the same angle as the ehadstock.
2) Yes
3) Yes, you use a .012 file and then rock it ever so slightly from side to side to give the slot a bit of relief. After the nut slots are cut to the proper depth then you will need to file the top of the nut down so only about half of the diamemter of the string sets in the slot and half of the string sets above the slot.Tim McKnight38651.496087963

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Hi Andy -
I use THESE Stewmac nut files - If you plan to continue to build, invest in them - they are well worth the money.

I set my angle the same as the headstock, and you DO want the string to "break" at the fretboard side of the nut. By break, I don’t mean that literally, but rather, that is the point in which the string should stop length wise, if your string is breaking further into the nut slot, at least two things will happen, one you get a buzzing, and two your intonation will be off.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Has anybody had any experience with these Ibanez files? I bought them a while ago but Since I just bent the sides of my first guitar I have yet to use them. Are the stewmac ones much better? These are not double edged and are not diamond shaped in cross section. Interested to here comments!

Thanks

Shane

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Canada

I'm under the impression that the top of the nut and the nut slots should be at half the angle of the peghead to ensure full contact with the bottom of the slot.
Nelson

i have had a set of the ibanez files from lmi for about 9 or ten years and the work well, though mine do have two cutting edges.

I like to cut my slots at a shallower angle than the peghead with the theory that this will keep the string in good contact with the bottom of the slot at both the front and back edge of the nut.

I just angle 'em down and hope for the best!
Of course, you can hear if you're not quite there yet, as Lance says--the string buzzes.
As for the gauges, I use a file that's about 3 thousandths wider than the intended string. My set was made up from LMI, StewMac, and Martin. Everybody seems to offer slightly differing sizes.

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I have a guitar I built last summer that has just started doing this so am going to need to redo the nut slots. The intonation has also gone out quite bad so I'll need to redo that as well. Sometimes though, just switching strings is all that is needed.

I've set the not on both the headstock surface and on the fingerboard surface. The advantage of doing it on the fingerboard surface is that you don't have to carve the angle into the bottom of the nut. But you do have to recalculate the length of your entire neck by the width of the nut. I've lately been doing them on the headstock surface with a 17? bevel in the bottom. I like the looks of that a little better. When I file the slots, I do just as Frank F suggests and split the angle. My theory on this is that the string will still be in contact with the whole width of the nut but the high point is the front so that will be it's break.
Arvey: I'm confused by the intonation issue you are having. I'm guessing that your action has raised enough that you have to pull the string sharp to fret it. That's the only thing that makes any sense because I doubt that your guitar got any longer or shorter (which is what intonation is measuring) over the course of it's life.

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] Now for a question (related) of my own. I understand that 1/3 to 1/2 of the string should be above the slot or plane of the top of the nut. What do you folks do to lower the nut top file the nut (carefully) on the guitar or remove it and file it off the guitar?[/QUOTE]

I do it off the guitar, the nut isn't glued in yet so it's easier to do this in a nut holder fixture off the guitar and not having to worry about messing up the finish or anything. You also have to sand and polish after you are done filing and this is much easier if it's not on the guitar yet. I have shaped the headstock with the nut in place to insure that their widths mach up exactly, Frank Ford said that's also how they used to do it Martin. It's a good idea, at least if you're making the "trapezoid style" nut a la Martin.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

i polish the nut before gluing it in and cutting the slots. then when finished with slotting, sand down the top with a drum in the dremel, fine sand with wet and dry and repolish the top surface with a polishing wheel and compound using the dremel again. filing slots on a loose nut is a pain in the proverbial posterior anatomical region.

I think some people are going to get confused here about nut slot depth. The WOUND strings, especially the bottom three (E, A, D), should have one-half of their diameter proud of the finished nut slot. The UNWOUND strings (e, b) should sit completely (but not TOO tightly--no pinching!) in their slots for two practical reasons: 1. Less chance of them popping out of the slot during vigorous picking/strumming/bending; and 2. Have YOU ever tried to measure .006 or .008 from the top of a nut (lasers? microscopes?)? The "g" string should be somewhat proud of the slot, and half of its diameter is good, but not critical.

The above process is gleaned from the advice of others, and not from a lot of personal building experience, so I hope that others will set me straight if I'm wrong. I have reshaped the nuts on some personal low-end guitars to the above specs, though, and they did seem to work better. Also, I've examined some high-end instruments specifically to see how their nuts were done, and they pretty much seem to follow the above system.

Thanks Michael, I feel better now

Shane

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Canada

why would one want to measure from the top of the nut?

[QUOTE=crazymanmichael] i polish the nut before gluing it in and cutting the slots. then when finished with slotting, sand down the top with a drum in the dremel, fine sand with wet and dry and repolish the top surface with a polishing wheel and compound using the dremel again. filing slots on a loose nut is a pain in the proverbial posterior anatomical region.[/QUOTE]

Michael, I'd have to look them up to understand all those words, but I get the idea! And I agree, I also cut the slots when the nut is on the guitar. However, I do the shaping and polishing up to that point OFF the guitar. Just draw a line parallell to the frets on the face of the nut and file according to that; higher on the bass side, lower on the treble side.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

i cut the slots without any arch in them and have no problems with buzzes resulting.