asking about nut file gauges and strings

[walidantar]

hello, i want to learn if it's possible to use/swap 10-46 & 12-52 strings on the same guitar without changing in the nut slots .. and what nut file sizes should i have?  is it possible to finish all the nut with only one or two files? or i have to buy all the sizes i need? 

 

.010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046

 .012, .016, .024, .032, 044, .056

[ScottR]

If you are going to be building, a good set of nut files is a good investment. If you just want to change out the strings on this one guitar, it can be done with a quality fine triangle file or even sandpaper if you take great care. You just want to slightly increase the width of the slots, not the depth.

Do you by any chance have files already, say that match the first set of strings?

SR

[walidantar]

no, i didn't buy any yet. i understand it's possible to buy one with gauge for the thinnest slot and buy it make the others, right? is it possible? i am making one from scratch, i don't even own a guitar or know how to play it but i'm interested in it and want to make one by myself with simple/cheap tools .. to reduce the cost and avoid precision errors i've got from stewmac a pre-slotted fretbord as i don't have any thin kerf saw and didn't got notice to the trick of adjusting the kerf of a hacksaw blade and i got a u-channel truss-rod and i have a cheap ~3$ 12mm chisel and a dremel 3000 and a cheap cross-cut hand saw and i will try use a hex hand screw driver to twist 10mm & 19mm brad-point and spade hex impact driver bits as these sizes are not available for dremel with 1/8" shank .. and from local store i got red hard wood a little over 1.5" thick blanks for the body and the neck got these for about 13.25$ .. i believe it's meranti

i will make the plans myself , print on thick paper and buy hand saw and dremel and sanding try to shape the body https://www.espguitars.com/walidantar

https://imgur.com/GYJ2v6Q

https://imgur.com/BAauy1x

still trying drawing the body and take a final decision about the shape of style .. and also i got free plan on the net https://www.electricherald.com/msk-guitars-mk1hh24-templates/

[curtisa]

43 minutes ago, walidantar said:

i understand it's possible to buy one with gauge for the thinnest slot and buy it make the others, right? is it possible?

You can get a slot lightly wider than the file width by rocking the file side to side as you work it in the slot, but the diffference will only be a handful of thousandths of an inch. It's a handy trick for turning a 0.010" slot into a 0.012" slot, but it won't make a B-string fit into an E-string. For that you'll need a full set of files.

I've used a cheap set of double-edged files in the past that worked OK. You get three files in the set with red, yellow and blue handles, but each file has two cutting edges for different sized strings for about 20 dollars.

If you want to go even cheaper, I've seen reports that welder tip cleaning files can also be used.

[walidantar]

5 hours ago, curtisa said:

If you want to go even cheaper, I've seen reports that welder tip cleaning files can also be used.

thanks dear

[ScottR]

I've seen very nice nuts made with a single triangle file--jeweler's size.

SR

[walidantar]

2 hours ago, ScottR said:

I've seen very nice nuts made with a single triangle file--jeweler's size.

SR

thanks, it's a needle file / triangular

 

[walidantar]

like this?