Replacement Non-locking Nut In Locking-nut Slot

[teelguitars]

I have an Ibanez RG 7 string neck that is from a tremolo equipped guitar that I want use on a hardtail. I know I can use the Floyd style nut without the pressure pads but I want something a little more aesthetically pleasing. So here's what happened...I saw an Ebanol replacement nut for 6 strings at AllParts and got inspired, so I looked at Graphtech and none of their materials are big enough. So I ordered a piece of graphite stock from McMasterCarr and I'm looking at it and writing on paper with it thinking it's not what I need. Any suggestions? Maybe Brass?

[RAI6]

Or Corian.

[teelguitars]

Or Corian.

Cool, where can I get some Corian? Is the Graphite I bought unusable?

[RAI6]

Head to your nearest kitchen remodeling business, and you should be able to pick up scraps for free.

And the choice of colors is virtually endless...

[zyonsdream]

woodcraft sells it for pen blanks and they have a ton of different colors and marbles. When I use Corian for a nut that's where I go.

Edit: you can also go to the DuPont website and get samples for 1.00-2.00 that are big enough for nuts ..just pay shipping. Go here for samples

Edited August 14, 2008 by zyonsdream

[westhemann]

He he...I bought a kitchen cutting board of corian to use for nuts and such...but I liked it so much,it's still a cutting board.

[Prostheta]

What are you doing cutting kitchens Wes?

I acquired some scraps of black and yellow Corian for nuts, and I have to say that it's very forgiving and a dream to polish back up. The strings glide through well-cut slots if you use old strings to cut them in the first place. Graphite is a very good material also. I've had bad experiences with brass as I find it a little too resonant and a pain to work good slots into. That and I don't have sufficient machining capability to work it as well as i'd like.

[zyonsdream]

I did a search on Ebay for Corian and you can get a ton of assorted colors on there at a great price and most are cut into pen blank sizes were are great for several nuts each.

Anyone know what the long term wear is on these? I'm sure it depends on the amount of string changes but I'm sure they don't last as long as bone does. I've used it several times and so far no one has brought one back for repair. I have one I built for myself but I rarely play the guitar so I'm sure that nut will last forever. I'd just think that it would wear out quicker than Bone or tsuq

[soapbarstrat]

All the common nut materials wear down. That's just how it is, when you want to use a material that's not an ultimate bitch to work with.

I like corian just fine. Use a little synthetic lube (teflon, moly, graphite, or mixture of all 3) and the wear goes way down, tuning instability goes way down.

The scraps are the best thing going for anyone learning how to make nuts from scratch.

If you are finding that the "Corian" you're working with seems soft, you might not have genuine Corian.

I always get a kick out of Rick Turner saying how much Corian sucks for guitar nuts. The truth is, it doesn't suck, and Rick has bad feelings about the stuff, because he had a period where he was doing kitchen counter work, using Corian, and apparently didn't like being in that line of work, so the Corian gets associated with it.

Kind of like me never going to a certain department store ever since I worked there. People are funny that way.

[Prostheta]

Similar to how I had a bad childhood experience involving resonance with brass.

[teelguitars]

What are you doing cutting kitchens Wes?

I acquired some scraps of black and yellow Corian for nuts, and I have to say that it's very forgiving and a dream to polish back up. The strings glide through well-cut slots if you use old strings to cut them in the first place. Graphite is a very good material also. I've had bad experiences with brass as I find it a little too resonant and a pain to work good slots into. That and I don't have sufficient machining capability to work it as well as i'd like.

Cool, so is the graphite I bought good? I thought maybe not since I could write on paper with it, it's like the best stuff McMaster had and listed some pretty heavy duty applications with it. I also ordered a 4 x 4 Corian sample from Dupont to make sure I got the real stuff.

[Prostheta]

Graphite will be good for string movement through the slots so they are unlikely to bind. I don't think you'll have issues with wear either since as you're not useing a trem, the string will only move in the slot when you're tuning, or to a degree bending strings or stretching new ones in.

By all means A/B both materials to get a feel for which one you prefer the sound/looks of.

[foil1more]

Anybody ever use ebony? Its supposed to be hard to work with but also almost indestructible. I've heard of it being used before. I'm thinking of buying some ebony (when I have the money, gaboon is expensive) and making a nut and saddle for my acoustic. Anyone ever do this?

[Prostheta]

Considered it, but never tried it. Cracking was my only concern as ebony is strong but like any grained material can crack and seperate. Can't see it being too problematic in practice, and generally you'll have spare ebony if you need to make a new one anyway!

[fookgub]

Just thought I'd chime in here. I've made these types of conversion nuts in Corian and brass before. See this thread for pictures: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=21451. Corian is fairly easy to work with, and is probably the best choice if you don't have access to a milling machine. I've found it to be a bit sticky, though, so I use a little bit of graphite (the kind sold for lubricating locks) in the slots every time I change the strings. Unfortunately, I messed up the slotting on the brass nut I did, so I never got to try it out. I am planning to make a pair out of Delrin later this week, and I'll post back with my experiences.

I couple words of advice: make sure that the actual nut part isn't too wide, and that the back side of the nut (the part towards the headstock) is low enough that the strings don't rub on it. Also, you can buy small bits of Corian for cheap at http://www.coriansamples.com.

[j. pierce]

fookgub -

Out of curiosity, where are you getting Delrin pieces from? I haven't even looked too hard, but I'm curious what your supplier was.

[soapbarstrat]

You get that stuff from the bad, mean industrial supply places (I call them bad and mean, because you can easily blow a huge wad of dough on stuff you're not even sure is the right thing you need)

I'm fairly sure Ron Thorn has said he prefers the "glass filled" delrin over regular Delrin, because he thinks the regular is too soft.

Stew-Mac's "slip stone" is delrin with teflon added. Don't know if it's "glass filled" too. Kind of doubt it (I have one blank of it on stand-by).

What I go back and forth with is : should I use a material thats slippery from top to bottom, or just add lubrication to another (cheaper) material right where the strings sit against.

A little Tri-Flo teflon lube quickly makes a corian nut act like a delrin nut, in my experience, so far. But I'm not 100% sold on any of these options (maybe just because there *are* options)

[fookgub]

I got the Delrin at work, actually (don't tell anyone ). I ordered it from McMaster-Carr for an experiment that ended up not working out, so I don't feel too bad about taking some. Otherwise, it would just sit unused in my growing scrap bin. I think I paid around $38 for a 12" x 12" x 3/8" piece.

Anyway, I machined up a blank yesterday that's long enough to make 3 nuts. The Delrin seems a little soft compared to Corian, so I'm not sure how well it's going to work. I've seen softer nuts on guitars, though, especially the import guitars with plastic nuts.

Here's the blank: