Cheap nut files?

gusman2x

So I’m sure I know the answer, however…

I’ve just gone to do a neck swap in my partscaster and when I’m, the nuts way too low. Neck pocket was probably much deeper on whatever it had before, or maybe it was always buggered. 

So, the frets are kinda low, fair amount of sprouting (which I’ve tamed a bit), so at some point I see it getting a refret anyway. So are those cheap ass nut files off Amazon suitable for even a rough amateur job? I’ve never replaced a nut before. 

Also how will I know if I need a flat bottomed or radiused nut? Will it matter, or would I have to do it myself anyway?

Feel free to start the slaying now!

TheMadMick

If you find out, let me know. I'm always getting sticky G string on my acoustic.

elstoof

Those cheap files which are repackaged nozzle cleaners aren’t fit for the job

paulnb57

In my experience there are nut files and cheap nut files, the cheap ones are shite, decent ones are an investment, but worth it

notonlybutalso

The cheapest "worth it" files for me are the double sided hosco ones

BillDL

notonlybutalso said:

The cheapest "worth it" files for me are the double sided hosco ones

I agree.  After decades of improvising I bought a set of those Hosco ones recently and heaved a sigh of relief at how easily and accurately I recut a few replacement nuts on older guitars and original nuts on a couple of new guitars that I hadn't yet done the nuts on.  Beware of Hosco lookalikes on Amazon and eBay.  It's easy to put blue, yellow and red plastic handles on files that are as rough as a badger's arse and not correctly gauged and fool people.  I would suggest buying from a guitar store or guitar parts store if you decide to buy Hosco ones.

My old improvising worked OK, but it was laborious and required lot of tiny passes with frequent checking to inspect the progress.  My previous methods included:

• Short sections of junior hacksaw blades with the tooth "set" flattened and the points dulled for the wound string slots.
• Fine wet & dry sandpaper folded in half or double folded, or wrapped around feeler gauges and held in place with the fingers for the thinner string slots.
• The same sandpaper wrapped around the rounded over flat side of junior hacksaw blades and other thin bits of metal and held with fingers.
• Junior hacksaw handles with small lengths of old wound strings stretched tightly onto them.
• Thin pieces of wood with fine shallow slots cut into their length with old bits of old wound strings embedded 3/4 of their depth into the slots.
• A selection of precision needle files.

I have used those welding torch nozzle cleaners before, but ONLY to pull lightly through slots to help round the bottoms before using folded sandpaper to smooth the slot bottoms. Up close they are like a spiral of scales rather than proper files.  Your strings need to ramp up through the nut slots from the tuners and then have a very clean and sharp break on the fretboard edge.  Using a flexible round "file" it is very hard to get a consistent and accurate angle and clean cliff edge on the slots and if you try to push or pull too hard in one pass they stick in the slot.  Additionally you will not find a set with fine enough ones to cut slots on a nut for the top two strings.

https://hazeguitars.com/blog/cheap-alternative-to-guitar-nut-files

As far as the underside of the nut is concerned, there are some that are curved but have a little protuberance in the middle of the arc that would allow them to sit in a flat rebate.  It would be preferential to buy either flat bottom or curved though, so that you get full contact.  Unless you can ascertain with accuracy whether your particular guitar would have come fitted with a curved bottom nut (for example model number and spare parts listings by the manufacturer), you will most likely have to remove it to check.  Different techs remove them in different ways.  I tend to use a short piece of wood of the same thickness as the nut and use that to tap it from the fingerboard edge with another piece of wood, a screwdriver handle, or something fairly light to break any glue.

Look carefully BEFORE you do this in case there is lacquer build up from the neck and headstock onto the nut.  If there is, you should carefully and accurately score through the lacquer tight in against the nut with a sharp blade using the nut as your guide. If you don't, you could chip out lacquer and possibly also wood.  If you cannot grip the top of the nut with your fingers and lift it out after tapping sideways to loosen it you might have to tap it sideways partly ouf of the rebate and see if you can pull it out that way.

The old adage is relevant here: "if in doubt stop and ask".

gusman2x

@BillDL thank very much for your detailed reply. 

BillDL

You're welcome.  You're up early on a Saturday.  I have an excuse, I'm just off nightshift.

BillDL

I should have mentioned the "little protuberance" on the underside of nuts that are curved.  The intention is that you file that off to use it in a convex rebate, and as long as the radius of the underside matches that of the rebate in the wood you will have good contact.  Look at the images and descriptions of the fender style nuts here:

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/nuts-c105/electric-guitar-t2238

You can choose your dimensions, etc at the left to filter results.

If you ONLY select the "pre-slotted" filter you arrive here:

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/nuts-c105#t2238:t2293

but you will then have to look at the full product descriptions for each to find one that matches.  I would suggest that you do check all the dimensions anyway, regardless of whether the filter option said it would only show specific dimensions.

gusman2x

Ha, I can NEVER sleep in. I’m an early to bed early to riser. 

That’s fantastic info on the curvature as I was just researching that. So I’m fairly sure old Japanese necks have curved nut slots, and will be 7.25. So rather than trying to exactly spec or match profile, do I just slowly reduce the height of the overbuild/nub on the graph tech one?

if I were to get a bone nut, would I need a radiusing block to get the nut underside curved corrrctly?

thanks for your help @BillDL

BillDL

There might be some people who would say that if there was any air space either side of the nub, rather than the entire nut having continuous solid contact with the bottom of the slot for the nut, it might reduce sustain or affect tone.  I suppose it is possible, but I think you would have to be a bat to hear the difference.

I've found that the GraphTech TUSQ nuts (and acoustic saddles) are so similar to bone that nobody including you would be able to hear any difference between the materials, but I find that Tusq is far more consistent than bone and is easier to file and sand.  Bone can have soft porous spots inside that aren't seen from the outside.

Most luthiers making a Fender style nut from a blank would roughly grind the radius on a spindle sander and then stick much finer sandpaper to the fretboard in the 1st fret space and slide the nut back and forward to make the underside radius, much like sanding the underside of a wooden floating jazz guitar bridge to fit the arched guitar top.

Here is an article that discusses this:

https://hazeguitars.com/blog/fitting-nuts-the-curved-bottom

Here's an example of how to make a nut from scratch

Another video showing you modification of a bottom-radiused nut.

Personally I would just look for one with the correct radius.  You can make a one-off radius gauge with a compass and stiff paper or cardboard to check the underside radius of the nut that you remove before ordering a new one.

A video tutorial filing nut slots properly and fine tuning the slots at the headstock side.

there are plenty places to buy pre-slotted replacement nuts.  I have bought mine here as well as StringsDirect linked to in my previous comment:

https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/guitar-nuts/

axisus

I don't make many guitars (about 5 so far), and I don't plan to make many (maybe another 5 over a longish period of time?). After a couple I bit the bullet and bought the Hosco double sided set. Well worth getting, and I'm pretty sure I could flog them should I wish to, so it probably won't have cost me a lot to do all those guitars in the end!