Replacing My First Nut....

Hello, in a few days I'm going to be attempting to change the nut on my Epi L.P.? I bought one of those Tusq XL pre-slotted nuts off eBay & I was wondering if anyone has any experience with them in this same application or something similar? I've never used a pre-slotted nut & although I understand how to change one & I've seen it done a few times I'm a bit apprehensive about this...

Chances are if you own a Epi L.P. or even a Gibson that nut is giving you some kind of tuning problems unless you already changed or did some work to the nut or your just very, very lucky!!! The Gibson headstock design is awesome for sustain among other things but awful for tuning stability unless the nut is cut probably. This wasn't such an issue when each guitar had its own nut cut for it but now I think they just find a general tolerance and make a half million of them like that?

Normally I'd take the guitar to a luthier here in town for this kind of thing. He's a local guitar god & about the only person in the world that I'd trust 100% with my guitar but he's not able to do it this time. He would have used a blank & cut the nut to fit, then cut each of the six notches one by one but he's very sick with Parkinson's disease & because of the shaking he can no longer work on guitars??? Sad, but that's why I have zero experience installing them myself, he did awesome work & loved doing it so the price was typically whatever it was worth to you! He's a very cool guy!!!

I don't want to have to go buy knifes, nut files, & string gauges to get this done so I'm hoping that once I've got it in there properly it won't require any extra cutting inside of the slots....
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

I have one on an Epi LP. It is not a drop in replacement and will require some filing to get it right.
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

i bought a pre slotted black tusq nut for my guitar, altought it isn't epiphone i bought the epiphone model nut as it was the nearest to the stock nut dimensions, you can do all the work with some sandpaper, what i did was first measuring the nut against the nut slot, it was a lil thick so i sanded it a bit and it entered flush, then i centered the nut and sanded the sides as it was wider than the neck at that part, then i strung the guitar with the nut holding there only by pressure, tuned and all, now this is the crucial part, as it's a pre slotted nut it's quite tall, if you have had a fret level done to your guitar then the nut will be too high, so you must eyeball it, unstring the guitar, pop the nut out and file the nut, an experienced tech would file the nut slots, but since i'm not i sanded and filed the bottom of the nut, as if it was a locking nut, that way the slots are untouched and they go lower by the same amount, if you don't know how to cut a nut then this is the best method to don't screw nut slots nor nut action
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

Well have some sandpaper around to properly fit the nut into the slot.

But if you don't have a set of files and plan on using the same string gauge that's already on the guitar, then use the old strings as a sort of impromptu file. It might not be the best way but it does work.
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

My buddy and I swapped the nut on an old Squire
Hold it still take a screwdriver or chisel and tap it out from the side
Lifting it up and out
Sandpaper or file old glue out of slot
Test fit
Then touch of Elmer s wood glue in slot for final fit
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

I tracked down some feeler gauges today so although I don't have the files to cut the nut I'm hoping I'll be able to get it sanded down to the correct hight & use those to get me where I've got to be. The pre slotted cuts look pretty okay on this nut, they almost Y out in the front. I assume for better resonance???
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

I did a tusk nut on my dean blue water v all by myself after a couple YouTube vids. It was pretty easy. Heck if I can do it.....can't be that hard.
Good luck!
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

80's now you have a point haha

still for beginners i keep recomending to set the hieght/action by filing the bottom of the nut (like on a locking nut) instead of the slots since is way harder to screw the bottom than the string slots

Enviado desde mi SM-G313M mediante Tapatalk
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

.
80's now you have a point haha

still for beginners i keep recomending to set the hieght/action by filing the bottom of the nut (like on a locking nut) instead of the slots since is way harder to screw the bottom than the string slots

Enviado desde mi SM-G313M mediante Tapatalk

This is the route I'm going to be taking. I can probably track down some knives/nut files if I start calling around but I think my safest bet is to take the meat from the bottom bit by bit until the feeler gauges slide under the first fret on the low & high E strings correctly....
 
Re: Replacing My First Nut....

Dan erlewine has a video on this topic on the stew mac website. You should definitely watch it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
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