Hi all,
I bought an old Cort Strat for cheap on e-bay. It was falling apart and needed much work but I love this guitar and the way it sounds.
The guy I bought it from had all the strings wound backwards on the tuners, pulling the strings on an angle and he broke off the end of the nut for the low E.
This guitar plays well and I only have a slight buzz on the low E when hit hard but more likely due to my bad habit of putting strings that are too light on a guitar that was set up for heavier strings.
Anyway......I want to change the nut and I learned at Nils' website that I should not be doing this but I am going to anyway because I do all my work on everything myself.
Yes I will wait for a day when patience is abundant for this surgery.
I ordered a graphite nut from Carvin (along with a twin blade pickup) and will get my hands on a decent set of nut files........
*My question here is how do I get the old nut off the guitar?????? Will a heat gun do it???? I want to get it out of the slot in one piece.
Also, what kind of glue is recommended for the new nut?
I will buy everything I need to do this right. Worst case, I get aggravated and pay someone to do it after I screw it up. But the nuts are cheap enough if I screw it up the first time, I can try again. I have spare guitars, so I will not rush through this.
Thanks for your wisdom and experience.
If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing.
Getting the old nut off usually isn't to bad of a process. Take a sharp knife like an exacto and score a line where the nut touches the headstock and where it hits the fretboard. This ensures there is not a coating also holding it in place. Then take something like a center punch with a flat tip and tap it lightly on one side like you were trying to slide it left or right. Do not try to lift it or your can chip or split the wood. Tap going one way and if it does not move tap the other way and eventually it will move.
Hide glue is the best but hard to find in small quantities so just a dab of wood glue will work. Just enough to hold it in place since you may want to remove it again at some time.
Will do. Thanks Nil's. :D
If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing.
One more tip - after you've scored the line where the nut joins the peghead, place masking tape on both sides of the nut (one piece on the peghead, one on the fingerboard). If there should happen to be a strong glue line bonding the nut to either the veneer or the fingerboard, the masking tape will help (a little bit, anyway) to prevent cracking... and if either side does crack, it'll keep the pieces in place so the repair will be easier.
Inexpensive guitars often glued those nuts in pretty good, because doing so was cheap and fast, even if it wasn't good guitar construction.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Thanks guys.......
Been home for 3 days with bronchitis (first time and it hurts), so a good time to tinker with projects and hide in the air conditioning....
I got the old nut out no problem but it did break in half, came out in 2 pieces. Only the tinyest blem to the fretboard finish at the tape line. This is a very old guitar and I can see the finish is yellowed and brittle. No problem, I like working on a guitar that is well weathered and used, no fear taking them apart and trying different things.
I used a new graphite nut from Carvin for 3 bucks and it was twice the size all around (except width of course), so I put my belt sander in a vise (I know, very CRUDE) and carefully ground it down to just the size to fit perfectly.
I eyeballed the height as I wanted it just a little higher than the old one to cure a low E buzz from me liking to use lighter strings and did not glue it in place because they are too fragile to get back out for adjustments.
Tuned up and can't believe it works like a charm the first time around!!! :D
Seems a lot of string buzzing going around on the site here. I think this is much easier to do than going messing around with the truss rod and throwing the whole guitar out of whack chasing a buzzing when the cause is usually US playing around and experimenting with different strings. Works for me. :)
Now waiting on a custom pickguard and the rest of my electronics so I can tear into it again!
Thanks for the advice to help see this through. 8)
If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing.
Hey, sounds great :!: . Glad the operation was a success. :D
Keep us up to date on the next steps
Hide glue is the best but hard to find in small quantities so just a dab of wood glue will work. Just enough to hold it in place since you may want to remove it again at some time.
Nils
I've used Titebond Liquid Hide Glue in some furniture restoration situations where adequate clamping was next to impossible. The results were amazing. In some tests I did before using it (totally non-scientific) using just a rub joint, the glue joint was stronger than the wood itself. The beauty of course is the reversability and no need for heated glue pots.
http://www.titebond.com/IntroPageTB.ASP?UserType=1&ProdSel=ProductCategoryTB.asp?prodcat=1
Michael
Playing an instrument is good for your soul
Thanks I will have to pick some up. Stuff lasts forever.
