Acoustic nuts (the bone kind, not the fanboys, that is)

TheOtherDennis · December 2021

When my 3-year old granddaughter was last over, she knocked my self-built acoustic off its stand. I didn't notice at the time, but it chipped a smidge off the bass end of the bone nut. Now the bottom E doesn't sit right in the slot.

I tried a new nut, but it's too damn small - it doesn't go high enough over the fretboard, and all the strings rub on the first fret. So I put a shim under it, and now the back of the nut doesn't sit under the headstock veneer, and even when I glue it, it falls forward the moment I try to tighten the strings.

So I bought a new bone blank to shape, and it's too narrow for the slot, and even if I file it down to the right height/shape, it will leave a big gap between the back of the nut and the start of the headstock.

I have no bloody idea what to do next.

Is it possible to somehow use some shaving dust from the new bone blank to rebuild the bit that chipped off the old nut, the one that fitted perfectly? It would look odd, because the old nut is, indeed, old (9 years) and thus quite beige, whereas the new bone blank is white as paper, but frankly, I don't care now, because it's all I can think of to solve the problem, as no one seems to sell a nut as large as the one that chipped.

Any better ideas?

ICBM · December 2021

You really just need a bone blank the right size - try one for a classical guitar. You may have to cut it down substantially, but it should start big enough.

Anything else is a bit of a bodge really, although various methods can be made to work.

Andyjr1515 · December 2021

Well, you could use the 'baking powder and CA glue' trick. I think there's a Stewmac video somewhere, but it's covered in brief here:
Filling a Low Nut Slot with Baking Soda and Superglue — Haze Guitars

Generally, folks use it to raise a low slot, but I've used it in the past for exactly what you've described. It is pretty instant though (you drip the thin CA onto the pile of baking powder and it goes instantly rockhard - you can't mix it and apply it) and so you need to create a card channel to hold the powder in place on the nut for long enough to drip the CA onto it. Then you use a needle file or dremel to remove the excess.

But what size is the nut? I have a bone blank here 6mm x 10mm x 55mm I can pop in the post if it is a better size. It was a spare blank I got when I was building the Guitar Bouzouki and so have no planned use for it.

Andyjr1515 · December 2021

@ICBM 's post and mine crossed in the ether.

To use his terminology, the baking powder trick is the 'bit of a bodge' approach, and the me sending you the blank in the post may possibly be the 'you need a bone blank the right size' approach.

pm me if it is the right size

TheOtherDennis · December 2021

Thanks for the offer, Andy, but that's the size I already have. The broken one is 7mm deep.

I could get a new one from Stewmac, but they're 30 quid by the time I add in postage and duty.

I'll keep looking.

WezV · December 2021

Fairly sure allparts carry some oversized nut blanks.

The baking powder and CA glue trick will work well, it's better than the word bodge implies

more · December 2021

You can make yourself a bone nut. I buy boiled bone from a pet shop . The bone blanks you can buy are bleached, so whiter than boiled , I prefer the colour of boiled bone. You cut a rough block with a hacksaw and work it with files .

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Acoustic nuts (the bone kind, not the fanboys, that is)

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