Nut Help

[Matt Simmons]

I am putting a new neck on an old Tele body to revitalise it. The neck is from WD and has a 1 5/8" nut width - it really does, I measured it just to be sure ;-)

Being a lazy git, I wondered if I could get away with using a Graphtec Tusc nut as it was preslotted. Now I know that I will have to tweak the slots for height, but at least they'll be spaced.

However, the preslotted nuts only come as 1 11/16 spacing althought they say they are a unviersal fit for Fenders. By my reckoning, if I use this nut, I will loose 1/32" each side by filing to size but my E strings will then be 3/32" from the edge of the fretboard as opposed to the more normal 4/32" (again I measured this and its seems to be standard on all my guitars). Is this going to be a problem? I had major probs with Strats in the 70s with strings too close to the edge and I just wondered how close you can go.

Or should I bite the bullet and buy the proper width nut and slot it - I'll also need to buy a string spacing rule from good ole Stewmac at $20 plus shipping to the uk.

Or does anyone know a good preslotted nut that is available at 1 5/8" for a Tele neck.

Any thoughts anyone?

Matt

[frank falbo]

It all depends on your fret height, and the way they're dressed IMO. If you have jumbo frets that are rounded over, then you're more likely to slip off. If you have a sharp angle on the fret ends, or a big round-over on the shoulders, that decreases your playing surface too.

Those 70's strat necks were really narrow AND overrounded AND overdressed. I haven't seen WD necks in a long time. I don't know how yours is, but if it looks like you have a lot of fret top surface in the remaining 3/32" on either side, then don't worry about it. It's just a nut. You could work the slots before you glue it in to get them close, and play it a little to see. If you don't like it, start over with something else.

[Setch]

Unless you're ordering something else anyway, forget the nut spacing ruler. It's a luxury, not a necessity, and you can produce perfectly good nuts without one. I'd be far more concerned about getting some good nut files or saws - rockinger in Germany have decent gauged saws for nut slotting on a budget.

[Mickguard]

I have a problem with the preslotted Graph Tech nuts I bought for my tele copies --they don't fit either neck. They're just too wide...which makes the strings fall off the edges...

[thedoctor]

3/32" sounds good to me. That is right close to what I go for when I make a nut from scratch.

[frank falbo]

Right. When I'm doing a guitar from scratch, or a refret, I usually have a really wide playing surface, with a hard break angle right at the corner of the fretwire. It takes a little longer to get a good fret dress that feels unobtrusive, and I still have a good bit of rounded shoulder to the neck wood itself. But I prefer a string spacing that's wide vs. the neck width, so I'm more likely to be around 3/32". But again, the distance to the edge of the neck is irrelevant. It's all about the distance to where the fret starts to break.

Edit: So if he's got jumbo fretwire on that thing, and WD angled it at 40 degrees, plus it's a vintage "V" shaped neck with rounded shoulders that angle back inward even before the fret tang, then he has to go narrower. That's where I agree with Setch, and say just take your time and space it yourself, without a ruler. I don't like those rules, anyway. Some compensate for the string thickness so you're equidistant between the strings, while others are linear. I just like doing it on a per guitar basis, so you can have the freedom to compensate for the fret bevel/neck shape.

Edited June 29, 2005 by frank falbo

[thedoctor]

I did not catch where he had Jumbo frets. Not unlike me to miss a few things. I order nut blanks whenever I am building with a premade neck. They(Warmoth) always send me a preslotted instead and I have to say, they are always REALLY close to right. Never NOT used em. If I were building something with a trem unit, I would get a Graphtech blank and start from there. If you got a nut that is preslotted and just a little too wide, file the ends and go. The only exception would be with them Jumbo frets. Gonna do a little neck-slithering, are we? You may want to get a blank nut, throw the ruler away, and make a nice template of paper off of an axe you like, transfer it to the new nut with soapstone and start filing.

[frank falbo]

Yeah he didn't say he had jumbos, I was just saying "if" because those are all the kinds of variables I can think of that could affect whether the 1 11/16" nut would work on his guitar.

[thedoctor]

Frank, figure this one out!! I just talked about transfering nut slots to the new nut with soapstone and what is the next topic about? A damned SOAPSTONE NUT!! Where is Mulder when you need him?

[Guitarfrenzy]

Making a properly setup nut slot can be one of the most dreaded parts of building a guitar. I personally used to hate it, but have grown to enjoy the process now. The standard distance from outside E strings to edge of fingerboard is 1/8", but that's taking into account that your bevel is a certain angle. It's like Frank said, you need to really measure the distance of the bevel from edge, then add a minimum of 1/16" for string clearance, and that's how you get your outside E string measurements. It really depends on the beveled frets. I do have to disagree though about the string spacing ruler, I think it's a very very handy tool that will help you scribe your marks fast and accurate. You probably don't need it if your only doing a couple of guitars, but it really comes in handy if you plan on building or repairing a lot in the years to come. Personally though, I agree with Setch and Frank, you don't need one if your only going to use it a couple of times. You do however need some good nut slotting files, you could get by with only a couple of them if you need to save money, you can move the nut file side to side slowly to make the slot wider. When slotting the nut, you will learn tricks to make a better contact so the string doesn't buzz in the nut slot, that was one of the first headaches I had with making a nut for a flat headstock guitar, the little E and sometimes B string wouldn't produce a clear tone, until I figured out what I was doing wrong. I think you should buy a bunch of bone blanks and go for it. Just don't use too much CA glue in case you want to take it out!!! lol

[Matt Simmons]

Hi, and wow! So much useful information - thanks a bunch.

Just to answer some of the questions -- the neck is not a vintage profile - its a really nice 12" radius medium shallow C shaped profile (very like my ESP series 400 strat) and the frets are not jumbo in the say Charvel mould. I would say they are medium and very similar size to what I recollect from a genuinely crap Fender 70s Strat I once had. The fret bevels are quite sharp (in terms of angle) and I'll tickle the frets to get a nice feel overall. Last info which i have taken in to the equation is that I use 9 gauge strings which have a tendency to slip about.

I think what I am going to do here is to get a preslotted Tusq and a bunch of blanks. That way its a win/win. I will invest in the slotting files and the spacer as I will be doing a few of these in future and will be splitting the cost with a mate - he's a brilliant woodworker and I do the electrics and set ups.

What do you guys think of the special nut shaping files from Stewmac ($$$!) or will I do better at the local hardware store - in which case what should I be looking for?

Best regards and thanks again - terrific forum.

Matt