Nut shimming

[Pickering_Picker]

Had the action on my Larrivee done by a local guitar shop, since it's a free service with your guitar purchase. The guy cut the B string nut slot much too deep and the first string is marginal (also lowered the saddle too much and removed all bow from the fretboard!). Needless to say I don't plan to take it back there to have this fixed.

Many years ago when I worked in a music store I did this sort of thing myself. So a few weeks ago I did the baking soda + CA thing to fill the slot, which worked fine until I drove with the guitar on a multi-hour trip with me. The constant vibration from the highway seems to have caused the string to cut through the filler, since the buzz is back.

Looking at some on-line videos and tutorials, it looks like the only possible concern is that the nut is glued in place. I'm thinking to tape the join between nut and headstock then score between the two with an Exacto knife. This is to prevent any of the headstock veneer coming away with the nut when I remove it. Then I'll whack the nut gently with a mallet to actually pop it loose. Sound OK?

Also: any suggestions re what to shim with? Preferably some common household material...

Thanks!

[unclrob]

Thats how I remove nut.As for shimming,its not the best solution as at some point you could end up with some non-contact points.As long as its temporary you can put a piece of credit card glued to the bottom.You may need to sand some of the card off the bottom.Best thing to do is replace it with a new onw.If you've got a music store in town they my have parts for replacement.If you want to make one yourself I'm sure someone has bone blanks you can buy.Goodluck and as always any help I can be.

[webberink]

I am not a guitar tech just an incorrigible tinkerer.  That being said, I have used crazy glue and bone filing dust for filler on bone nut slots and it has never failed.  I have used crazy glue and acrylic powder on Tusq and bone nut slots to the same good effect.  The acrylic powder you can get from Walmart's finger nail grooming section.
Dave

[ducktrapper]

Not since my divorce.  

[Pickering_Picker]

Thanks, UnclRob and Webberink/Dave, for replying!

I have used crazy glue and acrylic powder on Tusq and bone nut slots to the same good effect.  The acrylic powder you can get from Walmart's finger nail grooming section.
Dave

Dave: I decided to try acrylic powder fill before going to the trouble of shimming or replacing the nut, since there isn't any downside except the cost of the powder.

I scooped powder into the slots, then dripped C/A onto that, then let sit for 90 min. Maybe that's not a long enough time? Instead of cutting new slots to the correct depth I just re-tuned the strings to see how deep a channel they'd cut for themselves. The answer was: pretty darned deep, but not all the way. Seems to have got the job done so guess I'll leave it at that. Any further feedback greatly appreciated.

[Danny]

  I spent a long time making a bone nut once that I cut the low e too deep on at the last step. It made me sick, because the nut had to be made at special angles and I had spent so much time on it to make it right.
Plus it looked real nice.
   So to repair it I cut a very tiny slice out of a bone blank and shaped it to fill the slot. Crazy glued it in and had a fix.

            I hate shims under nuts. I just think they look and sound cheap. (don't care for them under the saddle either)

[Michael T]

I had a titanium shim put in my DV09 on purpose, with a woolly mammoth nut. the vibration transfer in the neck increased significantly. You can feel the difference and the it rounded out the bass ever so slightly. more whump than boommy twang. I like the diff. I don't know if I would just shim the nut with the same material though. They are cheap enough to use a full piece of bone.

[webberink]

"I scooped powder into the slots, then dripped C/A onto that, then let sit for 90 min."

Hey Pick
Ya, I leave it longer than that, about 4 hours.  I also tamp the acrylic powder into the nut slot as much as I can before dabbing on a drop of c/a.  But hey, if it worked the way you did it I expect it will hold well.
Dave

[Pickering_Picker]

Apologies for the delay in responding and thanks for the further great responses! Truth to tell this thread just slipped my mind after I repaired the nut and went on to other things.

  I spent a long time making a bone nut once that I cut the low e too deep on at the last step. It made me sick, because the nut had to be made at special angles and I had spent so much time on it to make it right.
Plus it looked real nice.
   So to repair it I cut a very tiny slice out of a bone blank and shaped it to fill the slot. Crazy glued it in and had a fix.

            I hate shims under nuts. I just think they look and sound cheap. (don't care for them under the saddle either)

I think I did that slice of bone thing once a long, long time ago. If I had had some bone around I would have done that. Very fussy work, I'm sure.

I had a titanium shim put in my DV09 on purpose, with a woolly mammoth nut. the vibration transfer in the neck increased significantly. You can feel the difference and the it rounded out the bass ever so slightly. more whump than boommy twang. I like the diff. I don't know if I would just shim the nut with the same material though. They are cheap enough to use a full piece of bone.

Titanium, mammoth bone: both new to me! You wouldn't be pulling my tibia would ya? ;)

Hey Pick
Ya, I leave it longer than that, about 4 hours.  I also tamp the acrylic powder into the nut slot as much as I can before dabbing on a drop of c/a.  But hey, if it worked the way you did it I expect it will hold well.
Dave

So far it's holding but if I have to re-do it, I'll definitely follow your recipe to the letter. Will be changing strings soon, which I guess will be one small test.

Thanks!

[bhika]

I put a bone shim under a nut in one of my guitar as a temporary fix. The color matched real well and you could'nt/can't even tell its in there. It's been over a year and although I do plan on making a new nut for it I'm not in any rush.  The CA glue bonded it real well to the nut and I don't really think it effected the tone. It did however give me the little extra action I needed at the nut and was MUCH easier then making a new one.

[eded]

Man, I'm relieved.  I thought this was a vasectomy thread.   

Ed