How to clean your dirty nuts

[Hardtail]

Now, if that title doesn't catch you, nothing will.

 

Some of you may remember that I had a buzzing problem on one of my strings and it was due to crud in the nut slot.

 

Last night before putting on a new set of strings, I cleaned the nut slots with dental floss. It worked great.

 

So all, if your nuts are dirty, grab the dental floss.

 

Seriously, it worked great.

[NMcGuitar]

Sounds like a great idea!

 

Small tangent - Can anyone tell me how hard it is to replace a nut on a strat? Mine cracked, and a piece came off at the low E...

[Ol Boy Rivers]

Didnt your mother ever show you how to clean your nuts? ( This isnt right... ) When i want to get mine sparkling i used tissue paper and some finger ease. When i change strings, though: I rub some pencil lead into the slots and then run my strings through it.

[Ol Boy Rivers]

Originally posted by NMcGuitar:

Sounds like a great idea!

 

Small tangent - How hard is it to replace a nut on a strat? Mine cracked, and a piece came off at the low E...

Simple task of removing the old one, Fitting the new one, Glueing the newone, And then filing its slots. If your lazy, Dont try it. I replaced one nut, Took me an hour of really P/O Labor.

[Hardtail]

Originally posted by Ol' Boy Rivers:

Didnt your mother ever show you how to clean your nuts? ( This isnt right... ) When i want to get mine sparkling i used tissue paper and some finger ease. When i change strings, though: I rub some pencil lead into the slots and then run my strings through it.

Naw. My mother never showed me. Like everything else, I had to figure it out for myself.

 

I used waxed floss and am wondering if that'll serve a similar purpose as you using pencil lead.

 

Actually, I was kind of freaked out at first. When I was running the floss through one of the grooves, I noticed this whitish residue and thought "NO WAY AM I CUTTING INTO THE GROOVE WITH FREAKING DENTAL FLOSS".... then I realized it was just the wax.

[Ricochet]

Using Finger Ease on your nuts doesn't sound right at all...

[NMcGuitar]

Originally posted by Ol' Boy Rivers:

Originally posted by NMcGuitar:

Sounds like a great idea!

 

Small tangent - How hard is it to replace a nut on a strat? Mine cracked, and a piece came off at the low E...

Simple task of removing the old one, Fitting the new one, Glueing the newone, And then filing its slots. If your lazy, Dont try it. I replaced one nut, Took me an hour of really P/O Labor.

Not so much lazy as afraid I'll screw it up.

I guess I'll try to scrape up some $$ and have the guy I usually have do repairs (etc.) for me take a look at it.

[The Geoff]

Originally posted by NMcGuitar:

Originally posted by Ol' Boy Rivers:

Originally posted by NMcGuitar:

Sounds like a great idea!

 

Small tangent - How hard is it to replace a nut on a strat? Mine cracked, and a piece came off at the low E...

Simple task of removing the old one, Fitting the new one, Glueing the newone, And then filing its slots. If your lazy, Dont try it. I replaced one nut, Took me an hour of really P/O Labor.

Not so much lazy as afraid I'll screw it up.

I guess I'll try to scrape up some $$ and have the guy I usually have do repairs (etc.) for me take a look at it.

Neil, this is dead easy.

 

First, get a Graphtec nut. Make sure you get the right one for your Strat. Some have flat bases, some have curved.

 

To find out which, after taking all the strings off, put the tip of a small electrician's screwdriver at the point where the nut sits on the neck, at the side. Give it a *light* tap with a small hammer and it should just spring out.

 

At this point check if you need a flat or curved bottomed nut. Go out & get appropriate nut.

 

Using small files, clean the old glue out of the nut slot, but don't make it bigger in any way.

 

Drop the new nut in BUT DON'T GLUE IT YET.

 

Put some old strings back on and see how much adjustment you'll need. If it's a Graphtech, you will not need a lot.

 

Once you are happy with the fit of the nut in the slot, put a line of Superglue on the base & each side and carefully position the nut back to where you were happy with it. The old strings will give it some tension and hold it down fast in the right position until the glue goes off.

 

Now you need to file down the slots to the right height. This is best done with nut files, but these are bloody expensive for the set (StewMac) so I use jewellers files. As you cut into the slot ( only 2 strokes at a time ) remember to slant down *VERY SLIGHTLY* from the fretboard to the head - between 5 and 10 degrees will do.

 

When you fret the string between the 2nd and 3rd frets, it should *ONLY JUST* clear the 1st fret - as in being able to slip a cigarette paper between the fret and the string.

 

I test by tapping - you can hear the string tap on the first fret. If you can't - you've gone too far - new nut!! And everyone who's cut nuts has done that.

 

Go slowly and stop when you're frightened to go any further. Cutting a nut is about when you lose your nerve

 

Good luck.

 

Geoff

[Ol Boy Rivers]

Originally posted by Ricochet:

Using Finger Ease on your nuts doesn't sound right at all...

Works well for me actually. AND i dunno about putting wax in those slots...It might actually Deaden the strings, And its not very Lubeful. Common sence to me, Mabye im wrong, I unno. But rico, Yeah. Ill put a light spray of FingerEase on my tissue, Run it through the slot a bit and then over it. Gets all nice and shiney.

[NMcGuitar]

Thanks, Geoff.

It doesn't sound so bad when it's all spelled out.

[The Geoff]

Of course, Neil, probably the best way of getting the correct string height is not to file the slots, but to sand the base of the nut.

 

This has some risk of introducing an angle if the pressure is not flat overall, but at least if you overdo it, you can build up a few layers of glue underneath to compensate.

 

Geoff

[King Kamehameha]

My D string was making a buzzing noise. I changed strings, cleaned out the nut, and everything. I took it to Guitar Center and my friend fixed it. What he did was just fill the slot in a little bit to raise the string up. I don't know why it helped, but it did.

 

Now I have to go put the bridge back on my bass.

[The Geoff]

That's because the roundwound strings have worn the slot till it was too deep.

 

Told you roundwounds are dangerous

 

G.

[King Kamehameha]

It was on my Strat.

 

[The Geoff]

Yeah, well they are roundwounds too!!!!

 

[Tone Taster]

Don't use Camay, because if you wash your nuts with it; the old lady 'll think there's another woman