Custom bone nut

[thop]

I got a bone nut blank in the mail and I've worked it down to the right shape to fit in the neck.

First off...what a stink! I thought I was about to start an electrical fire. Smells like burning hair and rubber.

Second, whatre some good tools to get the string grooves cut? I assumed my dremel would work fine, and it did for the E, A, and D strings, but the unwound strings are a whole nother level of precise. I'm trying a straight razor for the high E and having decent results, though it seems like it's gonna take a while. Any other suggestions?

[tvvoodoo]

I make my own nuts from scratch from moose leg bone. Couple of threads that might offer assistance:

 

http://www.archive.agileguitarforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=30084

http://www.agileguitarforum.com/showthread.php?tid=255

 

In those links I cut the bone up, boil it down, and carve a couple examples. I don't have it down to an exact science yet, but I'm getting there.

Yeah, it stinks.

 

Best combo of tools, without spending a couple hundred bucks with stewie-mac is an old set of strings, a hacksaw, a set of steel feeler gauges ($3 at an auto supply place near you) and a set of torch tip cleaners, and

lots of files, big and small. My total cost maybe $30-40 - so far I might have been better off just buying bone nuts, but then I couldn't say I made them from scratch and used the tone sniffer's ultimate moose material!

When you live as far off in the boonies as I do, sometimes a fella needs to improvise. Besides, how often can you just post about pickup changes?

Here' some of the tools

 

[WRGKMC]

Invest in some nut files or make a poor mans nut file from a set of feeler gauges.

You got a dremmil. Take the set of feeler gauges, lay them on their side all even, then take a

skinny dremmil cutting disk and cut notches in the feeler gauges like saw teeth.

Then you can use them to cut the slots. Its slow going but you want to cut a nut slow and use

another set of feeler gauges in gapped to the right height in front of the nut on the fretboard

so it prevents you from accidentally cutting too deep.

 

Also the gauges will cut a flat slot. Leave enough meat so you can round out the bottom of the slot.

I used to use a razor knife for that then draw the old strings through the slot to round out the bottoms and smooth

them out. If left flat, you'll get buzzing.

[WRGKMC]

I make my own nuts from scratch from moose leg bone. Couple of threads that might offer assistance: http://www.archive.agileguitarforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=30084 http://www.agileguitarforum.com/showthread.php?tid=255 In those links I cut the bone up, boil it down, and carve a couple examples. I don't have it down to an exact science yet, but I'm getting there. Yeah, it stinks. Best combo of tools, without spending a couple hundred bucks with stewie-mac is an old set of strings, a hacksaw, a set of steel feeler gauges ($3 at an auto supply place near you) and a set of torch tip cleaners, and lots of files, big and small. My total cost maybe $30-40 - so far I might have been better off just buying bone nuts, but then I couldn't say I made them from scratch and used the tone sniffer's ultimate moose material! When you live as far off in the boonies as I do, sometimes a fella needs to improvise. Besides, how often can you just post about pickup changes? Here' some of the tools

 

I used to do that with a hacksaw about 10 years ago. It only works good with wrapped strings.

[thop]

Good tips. Thanks, I'll hit the autobody shop tomorrow. I've been meaning to, I bet I could find all sorts of useful stuff there.

 

By the way, best line I've seen in a while from that Agile forum thread, hahah:

"Then, after that "humbucker soup" debacle of two weeks ago, my wife said no more guitar cookin' in her kitchen.... "

[Belva]

The major concern is the rounded bottom (don't go there; nut, rounded bottom:lol:).

The home made feeler gauge trick is fine, but you have a flat bottom on the slot. This is where a set of torch tip cleaners work. These are available at Lowe's for less than five bucks. I did this but found that a good set of nut files is really the better way to go. The best price when I got mine was thru Warmoth. Trust us on this one. Do two of your own nuts and you more than pay for them. The girls downtown charge 40 bucks for a nut job. Do da math.

[tvvoodoo]

I do agree the pro tools would be superior in the long term, and yes, I have filed notches into my feeler gauges for the G,B,E strings.

I'm sometimes embarrassed that I'm so damn cheap. And Custom is right about the torch tip cleaners. You do not want to try to make a

whole slot from scratch with those things, they work better for the fine tuning of the slot. For the top and bottom concaves, I found carpet taping a chunk of sandpaper onto a particular part of my lawnmower chute gets me extremely close the right radius for the fendery nuts. Did I mention I'm so damn cheap?

[shadesofcraig]

The way I have always cut the slots in a new nut was by using the string that goes in that slot. I can't remember where now but I had read that someplace... Has worked out really well for me...

[mrbrown49]

No substitute for the real deal nut files IMO. If you investing that much time and effort into making a nut, you may as well do it right with the right tools.

[Belva]

 

No substitute for the real deal nut files IMO. If you investing that much time and effort into making a nut, you may as well do it right with the right tools.

 

There's another advantage to having good nut files. One of my jammin' buddies wanted to replace his plastic nut and get a set up done. I offered to do it for a price. Here I am about 2.5 years later with a side line bidness. Friends have been telling friends who tell their friends and so it goes. I've done a lot of nut jobs in that time. I recently raised my price to 100 bucks for a set up. I knock the price down for things I don't do, but I'm still charging as much or more for work as the shops in town. But dang it, a proper set up is a proper set up. And it's more than just neck relief and intonation.

[mrbrown49]

There's another advantage to having good nut files. One of my jammin' buddies wanted to replace his plastic nut and get a set up done. I offered to do it for a price. Here I am about 2.5 years later with a side line bidness. Friends have been telling friends who tell their friends and so it goes. I've done a lot of nut jobs in that time. I recently raised my price to 100 bucks for a set up. I knock the price down for things I don't do, but I'm still charging as much or more for work as the shops in town. But dang it, a proper set up is a proper set up. And it's more than just neck relief and intonation.

 

It's amazing what a good nut setup will do. Most players don't give it a thought in my experience and just deal with crappy action on the lower 5 frets. Glad your sideline is doing well.