How to Fill a Guitar Nut | Guitar Tech Tips | Ep. 33 | Thomann
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- čas přidán 13. 07. 2024
- Save the nut of your guitar! If you have fret buzz when playing open strings, you need to fill the nut slot or swap the whole nut. Today we walk you through the process of filling the nut.
Enjoy Guitar Tech Tips! :)
How to set up and file the nut: • How to check your guit...
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Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Introduction
0:45 Prepare the nut
1:30 Which filler to use
2:05 Let's fill the slots
3:44 Final steps
4:20 Time for a test ride
4:50 Outtakes
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I found this method extremely easy. My Gibson LP low E and A strings were a tad too deep out of the box. Rather than actually fix it, I was afraid to thinking I would destroy it somehow and continued to play daily. The other day, I used a piece of 400 grit dry sandpaper on a flat surface and sanded an old bone nut I had laying around into fine powder. Used a plastic soldering probe (one side like a flathead and the other shaped like a pencil tip. Taped off parts adjacent to the nut to prevent messes. Used flat end of tool to gather the dust, sprinkle it on, and pack it in by pressing your finger across the grain of the slots, use pencil tip end to pack in the circular space.
I’d put a tiny drop of gorilla superglue over the slot. I then tried to pack the glue a tad to soak into bone dust, and immediately got another small toke of dust and added to the slot, which was barely beginning to cure. It seems to want to mold/pack perfectly this way.
Had a very fine and tiny file that made the job ridiculously easy. Even without intonation, my barre chords 1 sounded better and 2 felt far smoother and easier to play. Also, playing single string 16th notes, transitioning up or down a string is sooo easy. The radius is now fixed, I sound better, it feels easier to play..
……will say I felt like I was scraping up lines of blow for the first time in 15 years with that bone sand collecting. Lol
Great video! The G string on my Start was way to low and would buzz on the first fret. Took it in to the shop and paid $100 for a new nut... To only find out that they literally did the same thing with the new nut and made it too low. This worked perfectly!
Thank you! I changed it up a little and used ABS plastic dust. Just sanded it with 180 grit. Very solid after the glue. Perfect match on the black. Used a plumbing coupler I got for $0.98. ESP has molded plastic in the specs on the EC-401, so figured I’d match it as close as possible. No loss in clarity or sustain. Thank you again.
First time I saw it done was by a Guitar Center guitar tech named Richard, from Jacksonville. He filed a piece of bone down to gather some bone dust and also use superglue like in this video. Very nice to repair your bone nut with bone.
Absolutely fantastic video! Thank you
Cool tip! Thanks Kris! 😊👍
Great video. Thanks.
So helpful, thanks
Pretty interesting thx !!!
Regarding the price of a new nut, I prefer starting with a new piece because when your strings used it so deep, it is time for a new one. This tip is just fine during the expedition time :-)
I agree, I would only use this to get me through the time it takes to have a new one.
Thank you for this great video. I have recently purchased a Hamer custom shop Newport Pro 12 string electric. It is around 20 years old, but never been played. The setup seems really good, but was made using the lower string/higher string setup on strings 3,4,5,6 instead of the inverse. If I decide to change to the higher string/lower string order, would you advise filling the nut, then refiling for the proper string guage? I'm leaning away from replacing the nut because the neck binding continues along the sides of the nut.
Thanks!
Muito bom
good job, ...well done
Thanks! //Kris
Thanks! Just got a guitar with the very same problem.
Kris face seems connected to the amp while playing! 😆
While this is a handy and classic tip for a quick fix, I'd recommend just getting a new nut. Bone is not the same as bone dust mixed with superglue. And you will end up with an inconsistent nut regarding the density on each slot. Also: You should be careful when filing that mixture down, as the fibers that it forms can get under the skin of your fingers, much like fiberglass or carbon.
Which isn't dangerous, just annoying, but you DEFINITELY do NOT want to breathe that stuff in.
And for those that don't feel like filing at all: Just get a pre-slotted nut for 10 bucks.
Feeling you nuts 😂👍 good vid
Thank you very much, very helpful :)
Maybe you can help me I have to remove a potentiometer from a Hollow-body guitar HB 35 and maybe you a trick to remove the buzz when you don’t touch the string :)
Good information, l needs repair my acoustic guitar, l living in Brooklyn NY
I always file the slots until I get a perfect semitone from open string to 1st fret. I've found that if I go with "standard measures" my 1st fret notes are always sharp so I really need file deep into the nut. Is that expected? I've never seen a video explaining that.
Nice Over the Hills and Far Away cover at the end jajajajaja
That's all I have in terms of lyrics :D
//cheers, Kris
How to fill a guitar nut; take me to Golden Corral!................ I'm sorry, I HAD to!!!!!
Now THAT was funny.
ok and on my acoustic maton, the height at 12.fret is 1,6 and 1,2 mm and I can hear buzzing on the B string at first 3 frets once its hit harder... what to do ? shim the nut or polish the frets ?
How about demonstrating the fix by playing each string open? when you shred, string buzz is indiscernible.
Do you have a video about changing the nut?
for black nuts, how about mixing graphite power with super glue?
Wouldn't it make sense to just replace the nut since you have the strings off anyway? I can't help thinking this will affect the string resinating
Thanks ;) Next episode : Fret leveling > go to pro luthier or Thomann Plek machine ? what's the best solution ??
Mmmm plek
Hey thomman your GTT playlist does not have this video please include it and any other which aren’t in it because I am watching the whole playlist it is amazing and finding this video not in the playlist is odd
So sorry Aaron, I just fixed that. My bad. This doesn't happen normally, so all other GTT episodes should be on the playlist. Cheers and thanks for the kind words! //Kris
What to with a dead fret? Must you level the complete fret board?
Bury it before it starts to smell 🪦
Hey bro can I use floor cuz I dont have baking soda?
1)Why doesnt this fix lest not long? and 2) can i make this fix also on a Ibanez GB with a messing/bone nut
as you won't have the right files or the knowledge to do this, go to a qualified luthier / guitar tech before spoiling your guitar
I appreciate them sharing knowledge on how to do this. I have the right file it wasn't that expensive. Not everyone is going to spoil their guitar.
You can’t spoil your guitar. Worst case, you try something out with items already in your house… get it wrong? Either try again, or give up and take it to a luthier and pay money. No harm, no foul. People need to be emboldened to work on their own guitars as it will further connect you to the instrument.
I did the original but broke. Now I have horrible vibration on all strings like a sitare till 5th fret
Another issue can be if the bridge collapsed.
Not really necessary. A new (preslotted) nut is only a few dollars. A little sanding on the bottom and there you are! An with a lasting result.
If you are going to play guitar your whole life, it is advised that you become a home luthier with a set of the most used tools.
If you do not setup your guitar regularly, it will grow into a more and more bad playing guitar.
At least put on a new set of strings every month.
And use a small gauge like 8's or 9's if you want your hands and fingers to be able to play when you are 64+
PS. You can practice your luthier skills on defect and cheap guitars....
Loosest slots in Vegas, wait what??? Cyano who glue what chu do? I like to use a super slick filler powder made of AlMgB14 with TiB2 , and BAM ( pun intended) super hard and slicker than Teflon!
You smart
HOW DO YOU THIN OUT THE SUPER GLUE?
Let's watch this tutorial where Kris shows how to do temporary fix properly just to conclude that you don't have the right superglue right now and hack it up anyway
Haha! At least now you know what to get in the hardware store next time you're there.😆 Cheers buddy! //Kris
For anybody watching in 2024... As he said, just make some dust out of a similar material as your nut and use the thin flavor of super glue. You can make little spatulas out of a plastic food product lid which the super glue won't stick to as readily and you can do a little preliminary cleanup and pressing the filler into the slot. Away from my tools on vacation, I've actually used a finely serrated knife to begin the slots and then folded 220 grit sandpaper over the edge of a razor blade to file the slots. You have to keep going to a new section of sandpaper but it doesn't take much. Cheers!
string keeps popping when restring help
Look where the break is happening. For me I had a spot on my bridge where the string is dragged across when put into tension that was causing string breaks so it needed to be filed and smoothed a bit.
What if it’s plastic?
It works even better
Hello, what a good cover did you get, I also got a song from Dua Lipa, I hope you like it and the channel has many more covers and I hope you join the channel, there are many bands, friend, thank you thank
The annoying this is trying to find water thin super glue local. If I have to order it in the mail I’ll just order the new nut instead.
Regular Super glue is fine, just don't use the gel
First thing...Not buy a GIBSON 🤪 ! And everything is alright after .
Nggak bisa bahasa inggris 😂
Really not something that anyone other than a luthier should be doing?
Maybe yes, maybe no. It really depends on the person and the guitar. :) If you want to learn these things and don't mind messing up some nuts, why not doing it yourself. If we're talking about an expensive guitar, or - even worse - your favourite instrument, please let a luthier / tech do it for you. Haha!
//cheers, Kris
Some of us want to learn and we learn by doing. I have a cheap guitar I try things on so I don't ruin anything. One thought is how many nuts could you buy vs a trip to the luthier IF you want to learn? For those that get the point of these videos it's fine with us so.....
I did this on my strat and if you screw up you can always easily install a new nut. It's not rocket science
@@mathias5618 Yep!!
No proper luthier would fix a nut like this.
Just get a few nuts, (they're like 2-5 bucks, depending on the quality/colour) if you want to learn it, and try.
There is also pre-slotted ones you can buy, mostly from artificial bone.