Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Questions and answers for beginners. If you have a question, so do most other people.
scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by scamp »

phavriluk wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 10:32 am Who said building guitars was easy, or even straightforward? OP is dealing with a nut installation whose ambiguity is driven by installing a fingerboard without being told up front that locating the fingerboard is influenced by the nut's thickness, the nut being the last part installed on the guitar? I suspect nobody told him and that's not a need that comes readily to mind on a first project. There's a large workload of anticipating the future implications of a step that needs doing right now.

(Changing metaphors here: I think guitar kits are more closely related to stick-and-tissue model airplanes, piles of raw materials with a few shaped parts, than to plastic kit shake-the-box model airplanes ready to glue together.)
The fret board on my kit was already located on the neck with locator pins ( on the neck ) and locator holes ( on the back of the fret board). In retrospect, I guess you could try and sand down the neck plane before you glued on the fret board to get more room for the nut but that ship has sailed. I think it's not a big deal at this point to just fit a 3/16 wide nut ( vs 1/4 ) and move on. Your comment about the kits is accurate. Mostly a pile of basic materials and semi completed parts that require a lot of research to figure out how to make work.
Stray Feathers
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Location: Ladysmith, BC

Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by Stray Feathers »

Scamp, it looks like Diane has you on the right track. Just looking at your photo (which helps a lot) I think you have some glue cleanup to do in the nut slot area, and it looks like you will gain some width in the slot when it is cleaned up - maybe to the 0.20" you estimated, and 3/16" is less than that at .1875. John Reid's router setup would clean the slot up nicely. You're almost there! Bruce W.
scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by scamp »

Stray Feathers wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 11:53 am Scamp, it looks like Diane has you on the right track. Just looking at your photo (which helps a lot) I think you have some glue cleanup to do in the nut slot area, and it looks like you will gain some width in the slot when it is cleaned up - maybe to the 0.20" you estimated, and 3/16" is less than that at .1875. John Reid's router setup would clean the slot up nicely. You're almost there! Bruce W.
Yep. I need to clean out the nut slot for sure. It's mostly some painters tape I'm using to mask off the slot and some Tru Oil that built up a bit on the edge of the fret board. Shouldn't be a problem. I'm very sure I can get a 3/8 inch nut in there and maybe if lucky a 0.2 inch nut ( not a big difference i guess ----.0125 inches ). As you say... almost there. Still need to put on a few more layers of Tru Oil before I can get to it. Hopefully I'll me making music soon.
scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by scamp »

Was able to fit a 3/16 inch nut.
Used a Stewmac 3/16 inch seating file.
The file is actually narrower than 3/16 so I used a thin spacer on one side to make up the difference.
Needed to clean up the edges of the bottom of the channel using a 1/8 inch chisel.
Thanks for all your help and suggestions.
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Diane Kauffmds
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Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Looks good. Just round it a tad, so it's more of a gentle curve at the break angle. You have a very good start.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
Diane Kauffmds
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Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Screenshot_20220829-140545_Gallery.jpg
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Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by scamp »

Thanks Diane

I planned on putting more of a curve on it as you suggested. What I have now is a very ruffed in approximation. I was going to mimic the nut on my Martin guitar. Your drawing is helpful and is basically the same as my Matin. Thanks!!
Stray Feathers
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Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 11:39 pm
Location: Ladysmith, BC

Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by Stray Feathers »

I would never know you'd had issues with it! Nicely done!
MaineGeezer
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Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by MaineGeezer »

scamp wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 1:30 pm
Stray Feathers wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 11:53 am I'm very sure I can get a 3/8 inch nut in there and maybe if lucky a 0.2 inch nut ( not a big difference i guess ----.0125 inches ).
Shouldn't it be 0.175"? (3/8= 0.375) Or am I missing something, somewhere?
Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
scamp
Posts: 223
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:19 pm

Re: Installing Nut on Guitar Neck

Post by scamp »

MaineGeezer wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 10:07 am [quote=scamp post_id=56755 time=<a href="tel:1658424646">1658424646</a> user_id=3355452]
[quote="Stray Feathers" post_id=56752 time=<a href="tel:1658418789">1658418789</a> user_id=3336289]
I'm very sure I can get a 3/8 inch nut in there and maybe if lucky a 0.2 inch nut ( not a big difference i guess ----.0125 inches ).
Shouldn't it be 0.175"? (3/8= 0.375) Or am I missing something, somewhere?
[/quote]

Sorry. My mistake. I should have said 3/16 inch not 3/8. 3/16 is 0.1875.
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