How to fit a preshaped guitar nut
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- Tips for fitting a shaped and slotted nut.
Dan Erlewine tries a preshaped nut in his own Fender Strat: it's so easy "it's almost like cheating!"
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I love the Pickups on this guitar, they sound So clear
thought they sounded pretty hollow...
Too scooped for my taste.
@@headly21 Incredibly transparent!
Could play it through the night at an unplugged gig.
this guy is a legend and a great teacher
InstaBlaster
I’m thinking he’s probably good at making sandwiches too
100%
I would never have thought that replacing the nut on a guitar was something that I could do myself, but I'm about to order a TUSQ XL pre-slotted nut (from StewMac) for my Telecaster, as the open G has started sounding strangely muffled while the fretted notes are fine. Thanks for such a detailed and informative video - the knowledge packed into four minutes is incredible and invaluable.
I just changed the nut on my guitar myself and I was nervous, but it was relatively easy. I wish I had done it sooner.
how could one possibly dislike this video. it was quite near perfection in all aspects
There's always super arrogant people out there that believe what they do is the greatest and try to discredit experts.
They just wanna be 1st
Probably due to a controversial material like tusk being used.
@@mwilliamshs Just to clarify, he's talking about Tusq, not tusk. It's probably the best man-made nut material on the market today.
Some people might disagree that bone and tusq is the best. In some opinions, some people may prefer non bone and non tusq materials
Dan, I am fully convinced that you have forgotten more about guitar repair than i will ever know. But this is one thing that i have learned from trial and error and many many replacements over the years. It is a good idea to hold the nut against something that is a 90 degree angle while you sand the bottom radius on the nut. A small block of wood or a shelf corner bracket holds it perfectly upright while you sand. This insures that the bottom surface will fit completely flush with the wooden radius you are fitting it into. Even a slight out of angle on the bottom surface will keep more of the nut out of full contact than you expect. You can check it with old carbon ink typewriter paper to see how much stain it is leaving on the bottom of the new nut by stringing it up. I think you will be surprised. I know i was. I also use it to hold a new saddle correctly when i am sanding the bottom and ends to make sure it will make full contact with the wood too. It definitely increases volume and sustain if fitted to full contact with the wood.
Watched a few StewMac videos on making a guitar nut. Took a deer antler and made an awesome antler bone nut, for my Harley Benton SC 550. Used a bone saw, dial caliper, micro files and a polishing wheel. I never had a grandpa. I wish Dan was my grandpa because I could listen and learn from him all day long. Thanks for the lesson
Total master. Anyone who disliked this, keep in mind, the old guys are the ones with experience. If you're young and think you know more than this guy, you're kidding yourself.
Age doesn't bring wisdom. Age comes alone.
Wisdom comes from experience.
BlazemanGuitarX Unless you're one of the one tenth of one percent who knows right away what they want to do and how to get there, experience comes with age, and, hopefully, wisdom comes with experience. I hope I'm wrong, but you kind of sound like you have an axe to grind.
Dennis McCauley
I do have an axe to grind. It is with foolish people that believe anyone who is old is wise. It is with people who are narrow minded to think in such ways. And it is with people who believe one way is the right way and there are no other possible explanations.
Reginald Von Goldbergstein Well I do agree with you. You do have an axe to grind. Did I say "anyone who is old is wise" or that this is the only way to accomplish this task? No, I did not. All I said, in response to the people out there who were disliking this clip, that experience very frequently beats whatever smarts you think you might have.because the old guys have made all the mistakes already and know at least one best way to do whatever it is they have to do. That is, if they had smarts to begin with. You're really narrow minded if you're going to ditch a possible solution just because the source is someone old.
Dennis McCauley As I recall, you did when you said: "...keep in mind, the old guys are the ones with experience. If you're young and think you know more than this guy, you're kidding yourself." You also generalized and made the same statement again by saying: "...because the old guys have made all the mistakes already..." You are generalizing wisdom and experience with age. I also never said I would ditch a possible solution just because somebody is old.
1:34 is why I mostly watch stewmac. Its always great Learning something new about guitars you didn't know and have fun while doing it,
+Jay Truw, they do have great tutorial videos BUT I'll say it again. Stew-Mac prices are ridiculously high. Some things they sell cannot be found anywhere else but still, their prices are highway robbery.
Stewmac videos for some reason relax my anxiety ... always great, chilled lessons
Not gonna lie, sometimes i watch these videos just for Dan Erlewine.... fucking legend.
It’s amazing how bicycle mechanics translate to the Stratocaster. On a bicycle, I would never use glue. If I want just a little stickiness so things don’t slip-such as handlebar tape or things which are mounted on with friction-I use hairspray. It’s sticky enough without gluing cheap accessories to an expensive frame.
That sounds like a very good idea! Thanks!
Notice at 3:43 Albert Collins' autograph on the guitar he's working on here with a dedication to Dan.
Best video I have seen on installing a strat nut. This man really knows his trade! Thankyou for the tips.
Now this is good advice! Just before this video I watched one by Fender and the expert with years of experience said, "When filing nut slots, you don't want to touch the wood. Oh, it looks Iike I did." Here is a true professional who said to tape the area and he did just that. I appreciate that. Got to be careful who's advice to take. Dan is the man!
Ol' Dan Erlewine is certainly a Master of Luthiere. Kudos to his entire life of making guitars playable and teaching the craft!
Its always a pleasure to watch a pro work and Dan is certainly a pro. If I want to be certain about a procedure I check how Dan Erlewine does it.
I have had to replace all 3 stock nuts on my MIM fender Strats because they were junk! I went with the TusqXL preslotted nuts and am VERY happy with them! Great video here! Thanks!!
Shaping it on the neck to get the curve so it fits. Fucking Christ why didn't that occur to me lol. Genius
I had seen that in another video and thought the same thing. As a half-assed repair guy who leaves the tough jobs to my guy who I found after years of trial and error, I love StewMac tools, but noticed the pros make their own. But with StewMac, even they get to see others developed tools to attack the same problems, and in the end, it's a Godsend to both amateurs and pros alike. I love that Dan is not "stuck up", in that if you use his book, he gives credit to those who came up with better solutions, while always allowing that there is more than 1 way to skin a cat!
I just saw this myself - right after I misshaped the new nut and over sanded it. Ha! What an elegant solution, great tip from a highly skilled craftsman! How cool is it that technology lets us novice guitar enthusiasts (speaking for myself) learn these great tips to make easy, relatively inexpensive repairs/upgrades?
I tought the same here! What a simple and effective think to do hahaha.
Thank you so much for putting this up as I am waiting on a Preshaped nut to arrive in the next few days. Much appreciated!
I used a pre-sloted Tusq nut on my first guitar and it sounds great
Wow. I could literally listen and learn from this Man all day every day. I am a musician of 16 or 17 years but as far as a job goes, I think this could be my calling.
I hardly ever work on my guitar and when I do it is super simple stuff. However, I really enoy watching you work on yours. Love this channel.
Paul Reed Smith has a video on the differences between nut materials. Im not a luthier, just a lifelong player with some mechanical skills. I bought pre-slotted TUSQ and natural bone nuts for both my LP and Tele from StewMac. I easily messed up the TUSQ nut for the LP...it files extremely fast. The bone nuts both ended up working out extreamly well. Easy to work with. Great quality. And bone was workable with just basic hand tools. Slots were done with a welding tip cleaner and Im happy.
Great video Dan!! Your work is always impeccable! I had a semi local shop change the nut on a brand les paul i purchased to a tusq nut last year and they must have slipped with the razor blade during the process and a cut a line right across my rosewood fretboard ughhh. I was mad but i didn't notice it until i got home. I would have done the work myself but i figured because it was new i wanted a steadier and more experienced hand no pun intended. I will say i do love the tone of tusq nuts though and highly recommend them but now i do alot of the work myself and i always refer to your videos. Thanks for sharing!
Dan watching you work on guitars is fun and relaxing these are great.
Great explanation. It couldnt have been done better. Things that were easier shown then said, were shown. Specific details like sand paper grade and type of tape. Were said while showing the work was demonstrated.
Great job you guys !!!
I watched this on site from my email. I came to add a comment just to say how much I love the shows and secrets. This one was right on time as if you guys heard the horrible sound of my favorite daily player, a Mexican Strat, taking a dive on concrete stand and all after my foot hooked the neck strap while carrying a load of junk out to the garage. What broke? I got really lucky and it was only that little bit right there, one end of the top nut. I'll be needing one of those. :D
P.S. I was going to make one from bear bone before I saw this.
This guy must have decades of experience. Hes a master. RESPECT.
No must about it. Dan has been doing for half a century.
Love Tusq, on my Art and Lutherie, Ami and my Tanglewood, HD 15hb. The Art came stock with Tusq and the Tangle I did myself. Thank you StewMac and Dan your book is great, my parts Strat rips because of you. Next is a CBG or OOO from scratch.
*S A N D T H E N U T O N T H E F R E T B O A R D H O L Y S H I T*
That would've saved me fucking 7 hours of work. GENIUS
That was genius. It made so much sense I wish I though of it.
Great video. Right to the point. Four minute video, no time wasted, covered the important parts of the *install* which is what the video was about. Again, great vid.
Hi, You pointed out things I never have thought of. I am doing my first build and it all helps. Thanks!
Great work mate, and what timing this video clip has, because I'm doing the same thing on a 1960's strat now I know how to get my radius so thanks mate
Great video - as usual - from the master. Only thing he didn't mention was that some nut slots (like on some after market necks) are not radiused and are flat.
that was like a 4 minute master class. tons of good info. : )
This man is really incredible. A real craftsman.
Short and straight to the point! Thanks!
NOTE: Guitar was signed by Albert Collins To Dan!! Too Cool!! Gary/Hk
Great looking autograph too. Albert was The Man and so is Dan!
Hi Stew. Thanks for making this really good "how to" vid. I do wonder, once I have made the radius on the bottom of the nut using the high end fret position radius, how do I know the bottom of the nut is in full contact with the neck once it's place. In other words - How do I know the shape of the contact surface of the neck is the same radius as the new "radiused" shape of the nut. I've always thought that surface contact was all important.
Watch again as Dan addresses that.
“If I had to rush out the door and play this thing tonight I probably could” meanwhile no pickups😂 before anyone gets mad, we all know stewmac is the best in the business it’s just jokes
Hey Dime, Stew-Mac has alot of good info on their website and alot of cool ideas in their videos, I use them all the time. Take care hope this helps.
I’m doing that right now on my cheap Squier Affinity strat.Hope it sounds better when I’m done.
i watched maybe 50 videos of idiots doing this before i found your video. youre very professional and smart. thank you!! now i wont ruin my guitar trying to replace the nut
Why can't this guy be my dad? Very cool video, and super informative. I feel confident that I can now install the nut in my new guitar.
thanks a lot for this high-quality video (both content & format)
I bought this for my 90's tex mex Strat and open g string buzzes on first fret. I only filed off the middle tab. I was wobbling with it intact on dry fit. Old nut had no buzz that I can recall. Thought maybe I ordered wrong radius part number but not the case. Will try it again as this is my time doing own work on guitars. I didn't see other options on site for taller nuts with radius precut. I am going to get another one and a bone nut as a back up for a do-over and see if I can leave a little more material on it in event I filed off more that I thought.
I bought a TusqXL nut for my Epi Les Paul and the damn thing fit like a glove out of the box. Just needed to file the ends.
I used Weldwood rubber contact cement, sticks good and easy to remove if I ever need to remove the nut.
I was wondering about that ...I had to do it on all the Strats I fitted the Tusq nuts to. That's what took the most time doing the job.
I put a black tusq nut on my jim root strat and it made it that much better.
I like tusq as well. But I want it a certain way and I can't get there with a pre fit. He didn't have to slot this one, but you may. You need a set of gauged nut files that have a U shaped profile. Hold down the 3rd fret & look at the space under the first fret.Lower the slots until you hardly see any space.Just tap over the first fret (the string depressed at the 3rd fret always when you check), when you hear just a "tink" you know it's the right height. You've matched the FB radius too.
Not sure if anyone is still commenting here, just had a quick simple question.
I’ve never replaced a nut, I always had a Floyd Rose on my guitars.
Anyway, I finally just got a couple partsCasters, and I’m wondering how snug the nut should be. Feels like it’s in there tight on the guitar am working on. It doesn’t slide side to side. But there’s a tiny bit of play back and forth, in the direction of the strings. It rocks just a tiny bit, only when the strings are off.
So, what I’m wondering is, even when the strings are off, should it be snug and not moving at all? Because I imagine it could moving a tiny bit while playing and using the vibrato bar.
Thank you! 🤘🏻🎸🇺🇸
"Lucked out" = Experience
He's the man and knows and has seen it all.
This is awesome, I wonder, is it possible to do this with a brass nut as well?
TUSQ is great . . and you do like myself, and leave off the pickguard/pickups for this job, as in my case the truss rod adjuster is at the butt end 👌🏻👌🏻
Dan Erlewine, classy as usual, thanks!
I love how how maple neck and fingerboard is all checked. Are the maple necks fender uses shot with nitro!? How do you get that effect
Where are you Dan, at the Smithsonian? What a stash of goodies. I have 2 new Gibsons that came with Tusq nuts and saddles, I replaced the saddles with bone but left the nuts, they seem to sound good.
His shop should probably be moved to the Smithsonian when he passes.....
Using the fret board to match the radius is a great idea.
My Tusq nut turned colors. Not a bad thing. Looks more vintage.
That's why I prefer doing it myself and watching videos like this one.
I never heard you mention how to set the depth of the nut slots----How deep do you make the nut slots ?? How can I figure the depth without normal tools and not the more expensive dials and such..I just have a few to make.
Cool checking on that Fender!
Love these videos from dudes/chicks who's been around the block!
So to get the nut to be the corect radius of your guitar neck place sandpaper at the beck at bottom .👍 great idea
Great video! I’m curious if the rounding of the nut edges is purely for aesthetics? I can’t see it mattering for playing since the hand never really gets near it.
Definitely getting a set for my strat and Tele!!
Thanks again Dan!
I would love to see an examplevideo like this for application on a LP.
It would be nice if that TUSQ nut had a filled in flat bottom version instead of a tab. It leaves only three small points of contact at the bottom to transfer string vibration when used with flat bottom necks. Then there's an alternative actual Flat bottomed TUSQ nut but it's pre-cut string slots are less than half the depth and you have to re-slot it. Can't win with either one. =(
I think they offer a flat bottom nut for strats dont they?
Gibbs199761 madgeniusmusic That'd be Albert Collin's signature.
i caught that too.....I was wondering if anyone commented on it. LOL.
Thanks for the great video as usual. Yes it's easy for Dan but probably not as easy for me. Plus I usually don't lucked out. 😫
Hey, come and get mine....you got it down, cool to see a craftsman at his best.
Right on Stu....You're an excellent craftsman & a very good instructor.....thanks.
His name is DAN ERLEWINE, not Stewart, and not MacDonald. They were 2 different guys.
The Tusk nut is absolutely the best sounding nut you can buy. Bone is too but have you snelled bone when grinding it? Holy smokes it stinks. And it's very hard to work with.
I agree bone is a pain in the butt. This guy actually makes them from sctratch himself, a true master with more patience than I have.
You're the man Stew
Well that flows of the tongue much better.
I'll tell ya what... those things are a LOT easier to fit than brass!! my Jazz bass had an acryllic nut in it, and I found a brass nut on EBay for about $15 so I snapped that up in a jiff... sounds great now, but the nut was such a pain to trim down to make it fit in the nut slot and balance against the neck radius... and I think it's due a polish...
i have made several replacement nuts from bone. Just hang on to a nice thick piece of bone, clean it well, leave it in the sun for a while to dry and bleach.
Ethanks for this video. It was exactly what I needed
I bought a nice Fender Mexican guitar that has one fatal flaw, the G string just jumps out of the nut too easily when you either bend it or when you bend the string bellow. Forget about playing the Unforgiven 2 intro. Never had seen this happen on a guitar. I have not replaced the string since I bought it, i am not sure if the string gage is too fat for the Nut. But yeah, I am thinking if I must buy one of these notes to get the problem solved. If one would buy one of these nuts, what sort of files do you need to have and what sort of sand paper do you need to have?
Anyone else wish Dan could come over and set up all your guitars?
Now that's a pro. We need true Stratocaster luthiers in Belgium. We are really in lack of experimented people. Nothing in my area, I have to do hundreds of kilometers, and the work would not even close to this. ( I will will have to sell my arm or something because it costs so much ... )
Fender please do something.
thanks! man! saved my! guitar! great! vid!
great vid shop tour video would be killer.
I'm currently trying to build my own "vintage" guitars from scratch. Any classes I can take to get a better understanding of measurements, radius, and tech work to get a job in a luthier shop?
I like Tusq for nuts. I found the string slots will not need smoothing out as often as bone to prevent them hanging up. Like there is a lubricant built in. But still much prefer bone for the saddle, where I get the tone I love. Mixing materials works fine! And each guitar, depending on shape and size, reacts differently. I play smaller guitars, but if I had a guitar that was bass heavy and a little lacking in note separation, I might try Tusq for the saddle. Anyone else try that, and what was the result? Thanks!!
There actually is a lubricant built in. The Tusq nuts are somehow magically infused with Teflon and it keeps them slippery forever.
You are not quite right ― again ― Graph Tech® Tusq® XL has the Teflon® lubrication.
If you have a cold and are sick in bed, grab some cough medicine (medicinal whisky LOL) and enjoy Dans video's!
Nice. I am surprised he didnt mention: Once the nut is fitted he didnt measure the slots to check the depth is correct. Maybe he was lucky and they were close enough but for someone learing this may not be the case or be evident. Also when he starts looking at the action that seems to confuse the matter more. Adjusting the saddles to the optimum height should be independant of nut depth. Otherwise, a cool video. I think I do like them more than the photo spreads the old Trade Secrets used.
make one for my strat.....godd work Mr.!
Absolute Legend
Incredibly clever
I like this guy
Your set up technique differs from mine. I like use spiral rather than a radius that matches the neck radius. That way low E is .024-.040 higher from the fret than high E. I stole the set up from mom's 1960 Gibsons given to her for wedding presents from a famous Colorado Springs Gibson store who set them up. Tusq is great stuff. It has a ring much like hard ivory, and better than a lot of bone. It also machines much easier. It made a 1965 LGO go from yuck to WOW with my help.
Great video!
What Dan forgot to mention is that modern bleached bone pre-shaped nuts are also man made. They're made of bone dust mixed with epoxy resin or acrylic. Un-bleached or raw bone nut blanks are natural. I had to mention it.
Not sure how other folks are making theirs, but ours aren't cast, they are shaped from solid pieces of bone just like you'd do in your shop.
I hate working with bone. If you have to cut it, stand by for the worst smell ever. Tusq is probably the best of all worlds. I have used steel, titanium (which is a real pain) and very hard brass alloy. They give the best sustain of all. But you have to have the right metal working tools, especially with titanium. It only cuts with carbide. But once you have the tools, they will last longer than the guitar will.
What's the best way to get a nut out? I want to raise mine a little for slide, it was suggested to use a slice from an old credit card but I don't want to damage the nut too badly..
Take an Exacto knife or a razor blade and cut around it just enough to break the seal and keep any wood that might be attached by finish from splintering. On a Les Paul I take a block of wood and lay it on the fretboard against the nut and tap the wood toward the headstock. On a strat I use a screwdriver on the side of the nut as it's down in the slot. It doesn't take any more than a tap or two just to break the tiny amount of adhesive they use.
You can get an extension nut for about 5 bucks. It goes over the existing nut and when you get sick of it, you can go right back the the original. No surgery.
I had forgotten all about those. That would be a nice "no surgery" solution that wouldn't require anything more than some string winding.
Man are you good.
Don't you have to put some kind adhesive or glue to install a but on most guitars?