nut for sx? and soldering a winding .003"

What kind of nut will fit on my project guitar? mine is blue but i assume they're the same:

http://www.rondomusic.com/liquidfmnr3ts.html

for NOW...i just want it playable so i'm going with cheapest possible, in spring or summer i will have a local guy make a real one.

will this work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-5-8-GUITAR-NUT-PLASTIC-NECK-PART-PARTS-REPAIR-REPLACE-/200398223456?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2ea8aa3860

will i have to shape the nut?

and i hope my pickup works. without thinking i disassembled it and now may have to resolder the winding leads to the pots. as in the teeny wire. i may have accomplished that by making two holes in the corner of the plastic winding bracket; looping the wires through that and then soldering but that plastic really melts easily...

thanks!

I've had fairly good luck with pre-slotted nuts working okay without too much adjusting. You'll certainly want to at least knock the edges off with a file, and maybe smooth the top off the entire nut. I don't know anything about SX necks, but hopefully the slot is cut for a fender nut, like mrbrown is suggesting. I would look for a "brand" name nut, since they're only going to be a couple of bucks more than what you're looking at. The ebay guy may be selling Allparts, or similar brand and just not saying so, but, on the other hand, those may be some bulk purchase items that aren't worth the time it'll take to install.

If you unsoldered the actual coil winding ends that can be tough to work with. Good luck with that.

edit: Wait, I just reread your post. Are the actual coil winding wires attached directly to the pot. If so, that's a cost cutting measure that I haven't seen. If that's the case you may want to add some heavier gauge leads to run from the pickup - that's the usual pickup wiring practice. You might be able to tape or hot glue those leads to the pickup base if there's no fiber board base plate.

+1 on mrbrown's comment. If you only plan on doing one nut I recommend taking it to a tech. Nut files ain't cheap and a workable substitute just doesn't exist. If you dismantled the pup I recommend just getting a new one. Ain't worth the trouble to put it back together.

yeah sorry it was a lazy half description...

the winding leads were soldered onto normal guage wires and that connection was taped along with the winding itself...however based on other pickups i've seen, most have a nicer overall setup...it feels cheap. i don't see a fiber board base plate...so again the winding leads were soldered to the ~20 guage wire that connects to the pots. there is a copper base plate under the magnet.

the answer as to WHY i disassembled the pup was to wax pot....but i should have followed some sort of directions...having wound transformers before i'm gonna try to fix this, and customtele, this is a diy forum is it not?

Okay, that does make it easier to picture what's going on. You know, unless you've got a problem with the amount of free space in the cavity, I might try to fabricate some kind of base plate and glue it onto the pickup myself. That would at least give you an anchor point for your winding-to-leads joints - assuming you can free up enough wire off both ends of the winding to reach.

ok so i will try to solder it one more time; w/ winding wire anchored to the plastick backing of the bobbin...if that melts too much yet again, i will def get a fiber board. i will cut off some plastic to make room. there's room vertically speaking (ie from the base of the wooden cavity to the strings).

good idea thanks!

Def let us know how the pup repair goes. I was under the mistaken impression you had gone into the windings themselves. Pups are so inexpensive I would have junqued it. If you're trying to hook them to the leads you may meet with success.

In the future, when you pot a pup you dont dissasemble them. If it has a metal cover, you dip the whole thing then wipe off access. If theres plastic involves you need to be sure the temp isnt too high on the beeswax. Potting is dangerous if you dont have a thermometer and never use an open flame to heat the wax. The vapors will ignite like gasoline.

You basically dip the pickup with the rings removed and keep it there till the bubbles stop which is about 30~60 seconds prodding it to give up all its air inside. If it has polr pieces you can back one ow to out to let it vent in the hot wax. and vent the air out. Once removed you simply wipe the excess wax off the outside.

Just as an update to this thread...i still need to buy copper wire for the p/u (amidst paying ransoms to uni), however this is for internets posterity for any one interested. i'm still using this as my main guit for practice and recording:

rondo music sx guitar liquid mn r pbu. i was very depressed to learn that this was reviewed in guitar player magazine, but i liked the unique particular style (also a fan of the Gibson Explorer) and so bought this particular model anyway. it sounded very interesting out of the box.

the maple fretboard is laminated just like a rosewood one. the laminate is maple though. i was quite sad about this; but on the up side it should give it more dimensional stability.

Simple mods:

->I removed the neck lacquer with citri strip, which was easy. imo vintage doesn't look like fake vintage or a John Boehner skin spray.

i did the best i could to sand afterwards. not sure how NOT to scratch the frets while sanding in between them. perhaps more citri strip could be used, but i'm done with that. i left some old orange lacquer splotches on the headstock for my own reasons, i think it captures the original nature of the guitar in an honest way.

->I shimmed the neck with distal-tapered cardboard (thinned towards the side of the neck/tuners; thicker towards the body), which i elmers glued (reversible, easier than hid glue) on both sides.

->i scrood up the neck pickup (oops) but will wind another when i allow myself to make a wire purchase; but added springs on both pu's to get the p90s closer to the strings, especially towards the low e string side.

->Boiled Linseed oil for the neck; not too much, just enough to give it protection, not a gum coat. I love how i can feel the wood grain now.

->new tuners (gotoh, yummy solidness)

->got a bone nut that was pre-shaped and slotted (it's a damn near perfect straight shot from tuners to nut anyway) good enough for govt work....just sanded a bit to fit and lightly slotted it a bit more. i initially broke it when, uh, learning about its structural integrity glued it back together perfectly but will replace it later this summer.

it was an ebay nut titled: "Curved Slotted Bone Nut For Fender Strat Tele Guitar" $9.

->intonation as good as adjustments allow...spot on if 99 cents is a dollar.

and i use dr strings which always seem considerably easier to play.

this thing now sounds considerably better than stock, even on the only working and my less favorite pickup - the bridge pickup. Two other guitarists have agreed re. the improvements in sound and feel.

guitar $140

citristrip 10

nut 10

linseed oil 10

_______________

$ 170-

...and now, as expected, the neck is darkening a bit. i purposely haven't worried about scratches....

...so now, it's starting to age quickly even tho it's my baby. let me know if there's anything else i can do for ten bucks to improve this diy!

thanks, lesson learned; lesson won't be unlearned - just like learning not to lightly knock a bone nut into place with a small piece of wood...and that 43 guage wire can also break easily enough....i'm gonna rewind and def adding a fiber plate or copper rivet of sorts on the bobbin.

i didn't do any of this with any amount of alcohol.

Maybe that's the problem.:poke:

Yea it takes time and many screwups to appreciate wisdom when its thrown your way. I was trained in the school of hard knocks long before the internet was born or even thought possible. There werent even many books on the subject and none at public libraries. But i learned much from my family. My father was a jack of all trades including a good carpenter and I was always being recruited to do the same kinds of work since I could walk. As I got older worked summers as a carpenter so doing guitar work it was simply a matter of scaling the work down and refining things I already knew. I worked with alot of older guys who were experts including local luthiers too, and what might have seemd like trivial advice at the time, made more sence as you found out first hand. Even if all the advice makes sence the drilling in of specific steps and preparations does take root and eventually you plan things ahead in your minds eye so you have a clear vision of whatever you're going to do from beginning to end. Even jotting down the simple steps for replacing a nut will save you from distraction and potential screwups. Then you can simply focus on perfection and face any challanges that arent in the book that prop up, and believe me there are plenty of those.

could you link to the exact model that might work (mounting screws the same or just new scrooholes? i don't have a router or much tools and don't want to shape wood)

...i think the new nut which glued is quite solid despite a through crack, and the natural finish and glued neck have really added to the overall resonance...

also i didn't spend much time thinking when working on this, it was largely for relaxation after work...i'd read all the specific guides years ago but i've modded lots of things, like ribbon mics, computers etc...fun. i did become comfortable with working on any part of a cheap guitar. i am very happy with the improvement.

oh wait, you said roller nut? i hadn't seen that before, i'm gonna see if i can listen to one. this guitar does have a roller bridge.

Installing a roller nut requires you to shorten the fretboard to have the rollers align with the old nut center. Its not a drop in nut. Its an irreversable mod where you cut away 1/4" or so of the fretboard and in my opinion adds littel benifit to the guitar unless you're a heavy whammy bar user. Even then its just a gimick because the ball bearings dont actually roll much. A properly cut and lubricated standard nut but works just as well. I installed one on one of my strats. It really destroyed the tone and made it sound overly metalic. I'm stuck now cause theres no way to replace it. The stainless steel bearings the string sets on rides on two sides of the string below it and has the effect of a V cut nut which looses vibration transference. The string sustains because its hardened streel but the whole charecture of the sound changes and alot of warmth is lost. Brass or bone are my choices because alot of warmth is retained. If you're thinking about one though, be sure to go to a music store and play a guitar with one first before installing one and see if its your cup of tea first. They sound better on a rosewood fretboard vs maple, maple being bright wood to begin with.

yeah thanks, i was mainly interested because i haven't heard of a roller nut...i am not a proper guitar player so very rarely use the trem, though i expect that one day i'll come up with an idea that needs it and use it often thenceforth...

also in my overall defense of the pickup i actually successfully soldered the winding wires to the regular wires the first two times. it was when i tried to redo it completely a third time to make it nicer that i broke the wire. So thanks for the comments and i'll update next when i have successfully wound a p90 for the first time with a drill. gently with a drill.

:-)

Roller nuts are a subjective thang. Some like 'em, some don't. I don't like the damn things. I did do one conversion for a customer and you do have to modify the phuck out of the fretboard. I told the customer this before the mod and he said to go ahead. Now he doesn't like it and is upset that he can't just go back to a regular nut. If you don't have a modicum of geetar tech exp. I recommend first playing a guitar with one. Then if you like it, take it to a pro.