Lefty Nuts?

[blakeish]

Sorry if any of my questions have been answered. It's not as though many left-handed people ask questions on this board, which sort of negates the use of the search engine in most specific cases....

I have a neck from Warmoth that when I ordered....apparently was specified without a nut. I know that I specified a nut width....otherwise there'd be no way for them to know what width to make my fretboard....and before I go into a rant about Warmoth's huge margin for error in their over-the-phone ordering....onto the meat of my question.

basically, taking into account the space needed for strings to clearthe first fret....the space on my neck which has been sanded flat before the angled headstock has the following dimensions for a nut to fit into....

Hopefully My Image will upload/link correctly.

So there's the space available.....

Here's the other question....the area is obviously flat from edge to edge, even where the truss rud nut sits. there's a flat piece of metal area too. So would a fender style nut with a curved bottom/flat foot work well enough?> it just seems to me like the flat foot has nothing to sit into?

if anyone could shed some light on how I could tackle this, I'd appreciate it.

[Southpa]

I think I understand what you are saying, as the Fender style nut is flat on both sides you just want to flip it so you can string for left handed playing. The top of the Fender nut is still bevelled for breaking string angle so you would still need a left-handed nut. That style of fretboard setup requires a left handed, flat-bottomed nut, not that hard to find are they?

Fender style nut is supposed to fit in a precut slot sitting on top of the fingerboard. I don't think it would be high enough for what you are asking and making a solid footing for it would be more trouble than its worth, imo.

Edited November 6, 2005 by Southpa

[blakeish]

Yeah, I assumed that fender style would be finicky and really incompatible to mount, since that little center foot is there....oh well. Just a shot in the dark.

Yeah, the nut that I bought from GraphTech is their 'standard' 6 string electric. It would be a lovely, perfect fit...only needs to be sanded off the bottom for string action height...but it's right handed, and has that radius/bevel on the back to break that angle, as does the fender. In truth I've been all over the net and have yet to see a pre-slotted nut that is squared on the top..... ...it's as though they dont exist....

I could, in theory, flip around the nut I have, but I have an odd feeling it wouldn't be the smartest choice, since that radius for breaking the string angle would be on the front....right?

GraphTech offers a nut that has the same E to e spacing as the standard nut (1 7/16"), only this one is a 'jumbo'...it differs slightly from their standard electric one in the following measurements:

The jumbo nut is 11/32" tall, so it gives me roughly 3/32 to sand off the bottom.

The nut is 1-23/32" side to side, which gives me a slight amount to sand off each side, which I'm thinking I can shape sand it prettyeasy to fit width wise......although my only concern is if I do that....would the E and e strings break out from the sides? I assume no, but I am wary.

The jumbo nut is roughly 1/16 less wide than the standard. So there might need to be some filling/coverup finesse about hiding a 'sliver' of truss rod showing btwn the back of the nut and the bottom of the cover plate......I can deal with that.

So if the jumbo is offered lefty (which it is) and it's giving me 3/32 to sand off the bottom. it's also giving me like 1/64(if my math is correct) to shape by hand off of each side to fit width wise. and to cover the flat area of maple along the bottom of the nut, it needs to be 1/16 bigger, but I'm thinking this is fixable problem I can do with some plexiglass, other type of plastic, maybe even epoky or silicone or such.

So, do I send back my right handed standard with the back curve and trade it in for the Jumbo lefty with some minor mods needed? aye?

thanks again to anyone who could be of any help, notably Southpa for posting a reply.

EDIT: found a nut that's 1-11/16 wide, lefty slotted, just deep enough etc etc, but the 1-11/16 measurement is in the title, yet the length in the descrip. is 1-23/32....so I emailed them about the descrepincy...if it's really 1-11/16, great, but if not, would the jumbo be a modifiable substitute you guys think>?

Edited November 6, 2005 by blakeish

[Southpa]

You want no less than 3/32" extra space on the outsides of E and e strings. If thats possible then go ahead and carve down the jumbo. Another option, for a right-handed nut that is initially too high, is to cut the top bevel down to the bottom of the slots and then recut the slots the other way, making it left handed. This will kill 2 birds with one stone.

Try doing some forum searches about shaping/slotting nuts and you will get some alternate perspectives.

[blakeish]

Yeah, I had given thought to that, and I have no as ofyet ordered any new nuts, but I'm kind of trying to avoid the task of slotting the nut myself, as I'm not very confident, seeing how they should be done.....correctly?

Also, cutting down the nut I have presents the problem of it not being tall enough to have the string clear the 1st fret......At least by eyeballing it it looks to be almost too close for my comfort....

I'm hoping in the back of my mind that the Graphtech nut I found for lefties really is, in fact, 1-11/16"

if I think of any more tedious questions or concerns, I'll bump this post up again.

Thanks though, Southpa, for your assistance. I appreciate it.

[haggardguy]

You want no less than 3/32" extra space on the outsides of E and e strings.  If thats possible then go ahead and carve down the jumbo.  Another option, for a right-handed nut that is initially too high, is to cut the top bevel down to the bottom of the slots and then recut the slots the other way, making it left handed.  This will kill 2 birds with one stone. 

Try doing some forum searches about shaping/slotting nuts and you will get some alternate perspectives.

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Ya, i got a graphtech trem nut a while ago to put on my project and the string spacing was too big, it was way too tall, etc etc. So i just filed it down past the slots and redid it.basically i turned it into a blank nut ahaha. I should've measured before i bought, oh well, leson learned.