Guitar Nuts

[GaryDolman]

Hi guys, I'm not sure if this is the right place for this.

If you want to make your own Bone nut for a guitar can you use Cow bone?

Do you have to bake it to dry it out?

I have some bones that my dog has been chewing on for a couple of years, would you use this?

[JPL]

That depends, how big a dog is it? You might just end up using your own finger bone for the nut.

Sorry...

[GregP]

Caveat: I've never done this, and I'm not a pro with a pro recommendation

In an interview with a luthier that I once read, a fellow did exactly that-- used 'cured' beef bone. So it should be doable.

Now, the better question-- given the cheap price of bone blanks, would you truly want to cut the blank yourself and work from that? Not sure if you'd get much precision, and depending on the tools, you could end up with a difficult job. Plus, burning bone (it'll get hot from the cutting tools you use) stinks.

I can understand why you'd want to try... I've seen my dog's bones lying around and have thought the same thing. But then someone said to me what I just said to you, and it changed my mind. It'd be OK for 'bragging rights' if it turned out well ("I made this from nothing but one of ol' Pete's bones, and it sounds GREAT!") but beyond that you're better off getting a bone blank.

Greg

[TGwaH]

This can absolutely be done. I'm actually hoping to be starting this in a month or so on my first build. I just need to locate some good cow bone.

Once you've found this cowbone you'll need to clean out it's marrow. You can do this either via the dog method, or with a straightened coat hanger. Once this bit is done you need to immerse it in some water. You have three options here you can mix in some ammonia, dishwashing detergent or leave the water au naturel. The ammonia method works best, and fastest but in order to do it you'll need a good exhaust hood above your stove.

Once you've decided which method to use bring the liquid to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer. 30-40 minutes if you're using the ammonia/water mixture, 50-90 minutes soap/water mixture or up to two hours if you're using plain old water -- the benefit to this method is you'll end up with a nice soup stock once you're done. The point of the boiling process is to cook away the soft tissue and begin the degreasing process.

Once the amount of time neccessary for your chosen method passes, you'll need to cool the bone to room temperature and then under a stream of running water remove the remaining soft tissue. You can use finger nails, a stiff brush, a child you don't particularly like etc. You can always throw the bone back into the pot and simmer it for a bit if this part is causing a few problems. Once the bone is nice and clean let it dry for a couple days, and then using a band saw cut it up into pieces slightly larger than the nut you intend to use. Then allow this to try for another 48-72 hours longer if you live in a particularly humid area.

Once this is done you must finish degreasing the bone. This step is absolutely crucial and must be done 100% correctly or over time grease will leech from the nut into the wood ruining your guitar.

To properly degrese the bone immerse your oversized blanks into ten volumes of white gas (naptha) for 1-3 weeks. You have to keep in mind that white gas is really flammable (and fun when you're at camp) so the degreasign process should take place outside, in an enclosed glass container in the shade and away from buildings. A greasy bone will discolour the gas in a day or two so you'll have to be changing the gas every few days during the 1-3 weeks. For project guitarists, who are only doing this as a hobby making 1-2 guitars a year, the safest (and easiest) way to get rid of the gas is to let it dissapate into the atmosphere. If you plan on going into full scale production you should contact local athorities to find out the best way to dispose of large amounts of gas.

If after 3 weeks you're still seeing translucent spots on the bone, throw it back into some more gas for a few days till they are all gone. But once you're satisfied the blanks are all good to go, rinse them in some clean white gas and air dry. These bones will dry quite quickly, in under an hour. If it doesn't, there is still some grease in there so back into the bath with it.

You now have a natural bone nut to play with. Enjoy.

[Daniel Sorbera]

I've made a bone saddle for my acoustic out of deer antler.

[SawDust_Junkie]

I started a thread on this subject awhile back. Here is a link to the thread.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...c=11856&hl=deer

[Setch]

A sterilised bone from a pet shop will yield between 6 and 10 nuts if carefully divided. I get them for £1.99 from a shop in Wimbledon. A bone nut blank costs £5 from WD...

...Pretty simple choice.

Sterilised bone needs no further treatment, just chopping to size and turning into nuts/saddles/inlay/whatever.

[GregP]

It's a simple choice only if you're making multiple guitars. Otherwise the bone nut blank, which is only $3.25 for single and as low as $2.20 for bulk orders from LMII, is the simple choice. And since the beef bone blank price comes from the fact that you can make many of them, it's more like the $2.20.

5 quid from WD is definitely a rip-off, but even at THAT price, if I'm only planning on making 1 or 2 guitars that use a bone nut, I'd still personally rather pay it. Time is money, too, as are the tools (or parts for tools such as a diff. blade or whatnot) if you don't already own them. Assuming I DO have the tools, my time is worth enough to me.

That said, I will never argue with people who simply want to do it for no other reason than because they want to do it. Who needs more of a reason than that? If you ask me, it's the best reason of all. When that's your reason, money isn't really a concern anyhow, and the time spent is enjoyable time because you're teaching yourself something new and flexing your creativity and/or skills, which isn't a waste.

But I thought I'd throw my previous post out there anyhow. Just something else to think about.

Greg

[Mattia]

...or, y'know, hit eBay, go with one of the far-east suppliers that sell bone nut/saddle backs, and get them for about 50 cents each. Yeah, they need a bit of work to true up, not every piece is great quality (though the majority are just fine) but for 50 cents you can afford to be picky about which piece in particular you use. I got my buffalo bone blanks from Taiwan, some eBay seller I can't remember the name of, and I'm perfectly happy with them.

[erikbojerik]

I got mine from this guy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bone-nut-10-pieces-sad...6QQcmdZViewItem

Even the saddle blanks are beefy enough for nuts. Some are cut not quite straight, but there's plenty of material to re-do it in the event of screw-ups (I almost always mess up at least one nut before I get one I'm happy with).

[Mattia]

I got mine from this guy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bone-nut-10-pieces-sad...6QQcmdZViewItem

Even the saddle blanks are beefy enough for nuts.  Some are cut not quite straight, but there's plenty of material to re-do it in the event of screw-ups (I almost always mess up at least one nut before I get one I'm happy with).

←

Yep, that's the same guy I ordered from. Great to deal with, quick (arrived within a week) and nice and cheap.