Shimming a nut?

[devilfish]

Hey,

I've heard/read about shiming a nut from the ottomt o add height.. but what material would be best for this? Not too sure how I'd go about it.

Also, I'm looking to replace the nut in my old strat copy, I've got blank strat bone nuts and nut files.. but the recess in the neck is too wide and the nut can move up and down slightly when it's in place.

Other than just glueing it down which would be dodgy! what could I use to fill the gap?

Would rather not buy more bone and shape it myself if I can use one of these I have here

Cheers

 

[DazH]

Re: Shimming a nut?

I tend to just use maple veneer as a shim but anything is pretty much viable - as for the non-fitting blank - DONT FILL IT!

sorry about the caps, but seriously - just invest a few quid in a suitably sized blank.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Shimming a nut?

Bob Collosi http://www.guitarsaddles.com/products.asp uses ebony and sells a kit for shimming bridge saddles. I think of that as being kind of a temporary fix but I did use his kit to raise the bridge on a Martin D-28 and it sounded just fine.

 

[beandip]

Re: Shimming a nut?

I think what you're experiencing with the "moving up and down" is that the nut slot itself is radiused as well, instead of flat. What you need to do is find out the radius of the slot, mark it on your blank, and shape it to match using files and sandpaper.

As for shims, I've used everything from a piece of paper from a package of strings which is super thin to ebony veneer cut into strips. Like Lew said, it's one of those "good enough" fixes, but not the correct way to go about things.

But as I've said before, for some reason I always set my guitars up to "good enough", while going above and beyond for customers.

 

[El CHupacabra]

Re: Shimming a nut?

^ well you're not paying yourself for doing your own repairs are ya?

 

[beandip]

Re: Shimming a nut?

^ well you're not paying yourself for doing your own repairs are ya?

No, I'm not, but it would make the most sense considering it's MY instrument. One would think that in this line of business, as well as being in a gigging band, I have an awesome chance of meeting new customers EVERYWHERE, so why not use my guitar as my calling card? It's logical, it's what I should do, but I don't for some reason.

 

[El CHupacabra]

Re: Shimming a nut?

You want to get back to playing quicker?