Widening/deepening a nut without nut files..

BillDL

@flying_pie ;  Yes, that is usually a symptom of the nut slots being too tight on the strings, or being made of soft sticky  plasticky material that doesn't allow the strings to slide very well.  It could just as easily be caused by friction on the fulcrum points of the tremolo bridge where, after bending up with the trem arm, it doesn't return to the balance point and more than one string remains sharp.  On a floating tremolo there are several aspects that can affect each other, and one of them is most certainly the nut.

Bod

Like others here, I tried lots of different cheap solutions with poor results, so eventually bought a set of the Hosco files.  I wish I'd done it sooner.  If you pay via PayPal you get the option to pay in 3 installments, which softened the blow.

flying_pie

BillDL said:

@flying_pie ;  Yes, that is usually a symptom of the nut slots being too tight on the strings, or being made of soft sticky  plasticky material that doesn't allow the strings to slide very well.  It could just as easily be caused by friction on the fulcrum points of the tremolo bridge where, after bending up with the trem arm, it doesn't return to the balance point and more than one string remains sharp.  On a floating tremolo there are several aspects that can affect each other, and one of them is most certainly the nut.

That's very helpful. Makes perfect sense. Cheers

TheMadMick

Read this thread and I knew I had the following somewhere. Now I've found it. I thought it really useful and I've used it a couple of times:

"Measuring Nut Action

Here you need a set of feeler gauges (the thin metal strips that are used for gauging the size of a gap). These can be obtained from any auto-supply or hardware store.

Fret the string at the first fret and slide a feeler gauge under the string right in front (body-side) of the fret. If the feeler gauge is loose, try progressively thicker gauges, until a snug fit is found. Not too tight however - if the gauge pushes up the string go down a gauge thickness. You may need to use a combination of different gauges to get the exact height.

When you have the correct gauge, this should be a near perfect indication of how high the string is from the fretboard at the nut.

Lowering the Nut

If you found that the string height at the nut was too high, you need to cut the grooves deeper. The tools necessary for this are either a set of calibrated nut files or a set of needle files. Nut files are special files that are manufactured to cut a round-bottomed slot of a particular width. While nut files are easy to work with and remove much of the guess work from nut slot filing, they are expensive, and not essential.

Loosen the first string slightly (only the first - you need to keep as much of the normal tension on the neck as possible), so that you can lift the string out of its slot and slide it towards the second string, letting the first string rest on the top of the nut. Place the end of the gauge(s) on top of the fingerboard so that the edge of the gaiuges are touching the nut. Just insert enough to reach to the second string.

Using either a nut file or a needle file, deepen the slot until you just begin to contact the top surface of the feeler gauge(s). The slot should be cut by filing the slot at a downward angle from the fingerboard towards the head. Failure to cut at an angle can result in poor intonation and string buzz. The width of the slot should be slightly larger than the diameter of the string. Once you have filed to the correct depth, remove the gauges, reposition the first string and tune the string.

Repeat this for the second and third strings.To adjust the height of the fourth through sixth string, insert the gauges from the bass side of the fingerboard and repeat the same process."

BillDL

Using a depth stop is a very good way to avoid cutting too deeply while minimising the number of times you have to file a bit, replace the string in the slot and check, then do another timorous pass before checking again. using feeler gauges as depth stops / step guides is a perfectly good way of achieving good results quickly and without too much fear of accidentally cutting too deeply.  For those that can afford the extra outlay, however, the Hosco "Groobar" depth stops (they call them "nut slot assist tools") are available in a range of thicknesses:

https://www.hosco.co.jp/en/products/luthier-tools/groobar

I'm not convinced that the name should be "groobar", even though it is named as such by Hosco themselves.  If you look at the name on the tools there is a backslash joined to the uppercase B.  "Groove Bar" makes more sense than "Groo Bar", given that you are filing groov(e)s and not groos. My instinct tells me that it was originally named "GroovBar" by an English-speaking marketing chap and somebody created the logo using the backslash as the left upright of a V and the upright of the uppercase B as the right upright of a "V".  I'm sure that the "V" has been lost in translation.

SteveRobinson

I thought he was one of the Banana Splits?

Edit: he wasn't

BillDL

Out of curiosity I Googled Groobar but misspelled it Groober by mistake.  I was quite astounded to discover that is a slang word for penis that is derived from German, and is also allegedly a slang (homophobic and racist) word to describe "A small thin homosexual male who is only attracted to older, dominant Aboriginal males" and "usually extremely pale of skin and have a prepubescent cracking to their voice".

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=groober

It's just as well that Hosco avoided that name.

Funkfingers

BillDL said:

I was quite astounded to discover that is a slang word for penis that is derived from German and is also, allegedly, a slang (homophobic and racist) word to describe "A small thin homosexual male who is only attracted to older, dominant Aboriginal males" 

That probably explains Oberleutnant

Gruber in 'Allo, 'Allo!