Official Luthiers Forum!

Can someone please file the string slots on my brass nut? If I thought I would ever file another nut in my life I would buy the right files. I have it shaped, slots scored, and ready to go but I am scared to try to file the slots. I screwed one up trying to do it since I just don't have the tools. Strings I use are this size:

.010
.013
.017
.026
.036(sometimes .038)
.046 (sometimes .048)

I'll gladly pay someone a few bucks. I am replacing a nut and want to use brass. I know I could buy one slotted but wanted to try this route.

Thanks all!

My suggestion would be to find a local tech willing to do the job. Good luck finding one who'll do it. I'm sure he's out there, but yoy'll have to look. FWIW, I paid a lot for my nut files and would not even consider using them on any type of metal. Good luck. I'd go with bone myself.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

You can not do a good nut job just with the nut. You need the instrument to be able to do a proper job. Someone just cutting the slots for you does not guarantee that things will work right. Is there a Sam ash near you? Or another chain type music store. Many of these can do this work for you. The Sam Ash stores near me have guitar techs.

Or maybe just take a bone nut.

_________________
Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

The nut needs to be on the guitar to be shaped properly, so you'd need to bring the whole instrument to whoever was doing it. That could get expensive if you're shipping it around. It's not too hard to do yourself (just time-consuming on brass).

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

By the way brass nuts suck. Literally! They suck the tone right out of a guitar. Bone is a much better choice. I believe the logic behind brass nuts is that a brass make good bell material thats bright and ringy so it must be great for guitars. But thats certainly not true with brass nuts. It's even worse on acoustic guitars then electrics. Stay away from brass bridge saddles and pins too.