Corian Floyd Rose Conversion Nut

[fookgub]

Corian seems to be gaining popularity, but I haven't seen anyone do this yet.

I originally bought one of the Allparts conversion nuts for this, but it was defective (the holes for the nut didn't line up with the supplied baseplate ). Since it was cheap looking anyway, I decided to make my own instead of exchanging it. I bought some 2"x2" corian samples online (only $1 each), and got started. Corian machines very easily, and takes on a nice shine when sanded to 600 grit. So, this is what I was able to do using only my incredibly cheap miter saw, a dremel, a triangular needle file, and 60 grit sandpaper for shaping. The holes are tapped to accept the same screws that the original locking nut used, so I can always go back if I want to.

You can also see the new ebony truss rod cover I made from laminated pieces of ebony veneer. The old truss rod cover looked very cheesy after I removed the string tree. Also, note the Planet Waves tuners, which are very sweet, not just for the auto-cutting gimmick.

The guitar is an Ibanez RG520.

[soapbarstrat]

Is it just the way it looks in the photo, or are the string slots really a lighter color ?

Not a bad idea. I've been thinking of doing something like that on a floyded neck I have, which is missing the locking nut. Plus, I have also ordered Corian samples (seems I can only get weird colors for free at the counter-top fab shop.)

I did a home-made floyd nut out of aluminum once, a long time ago. I bet I still have it somewhere. I guess it might be funny to take a photo of it. It certainly didn't turn out well enough for me to put it to use.

Oh yeah, and what I also did one time, is press a floyd nut into a block of clay to make a mold, then poured black dyed epoxy into the mold, so then I ended up with an epoxy floyd nut, which actually working for quite a while before a piece of the high E side snapped off.

[fookgub]

Is it just the way it looks in the photo, or are the string slots really a lighter color ?

Not a bad idea. I've been thinking of doing something like that on a floyded neck I have, which is missing the locking nut. Plus, I have also ordered Corian samples (seems I can only get weird colors for free at the counter-top fab shop.)

I did a home-made floyd nut out of aluminum once, a long time ago. I bet I still have it somewhere. I guess it might be funny to take a photo of it. It certainly didn't turn out well enough for me to put it to use.

Oh yeah, and what I also did one time, is press a floyd nut into a block of clay to make a mold, then poured black dyed epoxy into the mold, so then I ended up with an epoxy floyd nut, which actually working for quite a while before a piece of the high E side snapped off.

The string slots are a lighter color. That's what unpolished corian looks like. I would have polished it out, but I had trouble getting the sandpaper in there, and I didn't want to mess up the depth of my slots. That molded epoxy nut is a really neat idea. I'm going to keep that one in mind.

[fookgub]

Just a little bump for v. 2 of the nut. The original had some problems with strings binding in the slots, so I had to make a new one. I ran out of black Corian, so this one is "blackberry ice" -- basically, dark grey with little sparkles. I think it turned out nicely, and I'll be using Corian on future projects for sure. It's really a dream to work with... very forgiving and easy to machine.

Sorry for the bad picture... my camera is a real piece of junk.

[Marzocchi705]

I really like the look of your second nut, it looks very sleek. Good work, i'll have to get my hands on some of this corian.

[woodsman1031]

I have used corian to make nuts as well as a bridge on a solid body. Just let the strings hold it tight to the body and "rough" set the intonation by moving it on the body and then "Tweak" it out with needle files after you set the string height.

I have heard that Martin uses it

Tommy

[Maiden69]

Very nice on the second one! I might steal this idea for my guitar!

[soapbarstrat]

I also like that latest one a lot. Now I'm torn between using the crappy peavey floyd nut a customer let me keep, on my one old neck with the zero fret with floyd nut rout in back of it, or doing the same deal you did here.

Haha, imagine laminating black and yellow corian strips so the nut would look like a warning barrier. I'm talking about this design :

http://www.caloly-safety.com/images/info_p..._tapeosha07.gif

[Maiden69]

Rob, for a moment I thought that you were thinking about a Stryper themed guitar

[soapbarstrat]

NOOOOOOOOO !

Wasn't a Stryper fan when I still remembered them, but thanks sooooo much for REMINDING me of their existance.

" We wish we could play better, because we're playing for Jesus "

They actually once said something pretty much just like that.

[fookgub]

Thanks for all the nice comments. When I was making it, I was worried that is would be too short. It actually ended up being a little too tall. I'll get it right one of these days...

[crafty]

NOOOOOOOOO !

Wasn't a Stryper fan when I still remembered them, but thanks sooooo much for REMINDING me of their existance.

" We wish we could play better, because we're playing for Jesus "

They actually once said something pretty much just like that.

OT, but one time at church camp, one of the counselors brought a Stryper bible. You know, the ones they threw out into their throngs of screaming, sexually-repressed fans.

[marksound]

but one time at church camp

Man, I thought for a second you were gonna go into an "American Pie" story ...

[fookgub]

Made a new one. Brass this time. It's for a seven string I'm putting together.

I know it's a bit too narrow, but it was the largest piece of brass scrap I had around. I made the actual "nut" part of this one narrower (.120") and taller than my last one, so that should help keep the strings from binding. It shined up really nicely with a little buffing compound, which made it very hard to photograph.

[soapbarstrat]

Looks pretty nice. Do you have a milling machine, or doing it by hand ?

[fookgub]

Looks pretty nice. Do you have a milling machine, or doing it by hand ?

I roughed it out on a milling machine. That's why you can see some tooling marks on the top. Once it's slotted I'm going to come back and radius the top, so I didn't see any point polishing those marks out just yet. I did the curve with a belt sander. I may go back and flow that into the top a little better, but I'm slightly too lazy to do it right now.

Also, I don't own a milling machine, but I have access to one at work, and nobody seems to mind if I use it after hours. I've been using it to cut router templates in 3/16" aluminium lately, too... it's pretty satisfying to know you've got a template that's square to within 1/1000th of an inch.

[fizzlebottom]

I just put one of the Ebonite replacement nuts from Allparts on my guitar, and mine was also misaligned. It was a hair off with the screwholes. So instead of trying to make my own nut, I actually decided to just glue the baseplate to the neck, then glue the nut to the baseplace. I used vices to assure straightness, and to get the closest bond between the few pieces as I could. It looks perfectly straight now. I'm going to take it to get shaped to my fretboard, though, because it's a 10" radius nut on a 17" radius neck. Plus, the slots aren't exactly ideal for 11gauge strings.

[Razbo]

Hm, do you really make the nuts with just a triangle file for slotting? Not a pocket full of specially sized files? Reason I ask is so I know if I can also get away with that or if I ought to plan on that expense (set of files) for my next build. TIA!

[fookgub]

I did the first one with a triangle file because I didn't hadn't bought the slotting files yet. A triangle file will work, but it's pretty ugly and it increases the risk of strings binding in the slot. Real nut files are the way to go if you plan to do this more than a couple times. I bought the files that Warmoth sells. They're ok, but if I could do it over again, I would get the Ibanez ones from Allied Lutherie.

[soapbarstrat]

You could have also put a "zero fret" right there at the end of the fret-board, and then a string spacer somewhere behind that.

I'm sure glad the older members get paid royalties whenever these old threads get brought back from the dead.

[guitar_player]

I did the first one with a triangle file because I didn't hadn't bought the slotting files yet. A triangle file will work, but it's pretty ugly and it increases the risk of strings binding in the slot. Real nut files are the way to go if you plan to do this more than a couple times. I bought the files that Warmoth sells. They're ok, but if I could do it over again, I would get the Ibanez ones from Allied Lutherie.

I have the warmoth one's too and think there great, if your repairing guitars and use them often you may want something better (more durability) but they work great.

[SwedishLuthier]

Triangular files can be used for slotting without problem. I used a file like that for several years until I cashed out on a set from Stewmac. Actually I have an Ibanez artist (one of their late 80s/early 90s high end models) and the not on this one have for sure been cut with a triangular file. It works like a charm, especially with a tremolo. You need to leave the nut a tiny bit higher when doing the final shaping thou. Or else there is a risk that the strings will jump out of the slots

And I would never ever use my nut files on brass. If I had to make a brass nut I would use a triangular nedle file again. The nut files are way to expensive to dull on brass.

[Prostheta]

I love Corian....I make all of my nuts out of it! Both "normal" and guiding nuts for zero frets.

[Razbo]

I'm sure glad the older members get paid royalties whenever these old threads get brought back from the dead.

Glad I could help somebody out!

Most forums seem to have this 'search before you ask' idea on things. Not pointing a finger at this one in any way, it just gets to be habit.

[djhollowman]

I'm having minor trouble getting some corian samples in UK - any pointers?

Ta

DJ