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Hello all,
I have a Les Paul Jr and recently moved. At some point during the move the end of the neck got damaged. I am not sure what to call the piece but the strings rest on it between the finger board and the truss rod adjuster. Would a piece of hardwood cut to size and epoxied in be acceptable? Any suggestions would be great

Picture to show what I tried to describe.
Again thank to all

You need a new nut.
It probably was plastic, but I'd go with a bone nut.
The trick will be cutting the string slots.
If you do not have the proper files and experience, I'd find a local repair shop to do it.
Best of luck,
Dan

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I am a tool and die maker by trade, not sure I can make a pretty part but know I can measure and file one. What exactly is it called and where would one buy it.
Thank you.

As he said, it's called a nut.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

https://www.allparts.com/BN-2808-000-Slotted-Bone-Nut-for-Epiphone_p_847.html

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Commercially available nuts never fit well and need additional work to make them work. It's par for the course that you will have to fit it to the nut channel well so that the ends are completely down and likely remove (or add) material to the ends so that it fits well width wise too.

With this said we replace lots of nuts every year and we won't use a commercially available nut even if the client brings one in and requests same. We are so very committed, or should be...... to bone nuts and saddles that we prefer to make them from scratch.

As such and with your back ground, Gary you might enjoy fashioning a nut from bone from scratch. I would suggest however that you go to a local music store and buy or ask them to give you a plastic nut that is defective a commercially available nut that you can use as a rough guide for the curves, spacing, etc. when fashioning your nut from scratch. Corian is an excellent practice material.

You can slot for the strings with other files other than dedicated nut slot files but the results are never very good at least to those of us who don't like V shaped slots but it can be done.

FYI nut making is a bit of an art into itself. Some schools will tell their students that they need to make around 100 nuts before they will be very good at it. Of course everyone learns at their own rate. Also the nut is absolutely critical to a decent set-up so that the guitar plays well. Nut slot depth, the angle so that you don't get that sitar sound, all come into play with a well crafted, good working nut.

Gary if you don't know what "nut action" means, the "action" you prefer and how to measure it you're not ready to even practice.

A nut not made correctly will lead to problems with sound quality, tuning, tuning stability and playing action.

If you have a good handle on the steps for the slots then you need to know where to put them...string spacing is the starting place.

Nuts are a real talking points for guitar makers. I prefer bone which I shape and file myself. But other options are wood,brass,some people use Ivory. A string spacer is a nice tool to have,as are the appropriate files. If it's to be your only nut. You can use a pocket knife and plastic or nylon comb. They're cheap to make other then the Time invested. Make a few until you can do it well. The spacer and files are important. Otherwise your Mickey mousing it. Have fun enjoy learning.


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