There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

[Nostalgic Distortion]

So the B string on my new Strat sounds a bit muted? I know it's something going on with the nut because as soon as I fret the string it rings out just fine? So I've never really messed around with them and I don't quite know how to go about fixing it? I don't know if it's getting pinched or what the issue is, I was kinda hoping it would fix itself after a bit of playing but its not going anywhere so if anyone has any suggestions please fill me in???

 

[JOLLY]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

Tune that string down out of pitch for a second. Pull That string up and kind of pull it up out of the nut and wipe it with your fingers or whatever for a second.....the portion that was in the nut. Tune it back up real quick and see if there's a difference.

 

[AlexR]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

If the slot doesn't have a clean straight edge on the fret side then it can also sound bad.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

It sounds like the string is buried too deep in the nut. Many if not most guitars come that way from the factory. The slot in the nut only needs to be deep enough so a string won't jump out when bent. Is you slot is so deep that the top of the string is almost flush with the top of the nut (if not below it)?

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

Yes, it sits below the top?

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

Examine the nut slot for profile, back angle, sharp edges, loose bits left from the factory filing/finishing process and, most importantly, cracks.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

At least you have another one if this nut fails you.

All jokes aside, if you cannot clean the nut slot out it might just be too low (like the others have said). I had nut issues on two guitars earlier this year. I brought them both to a tech and he had to replace the nut on one of them but only had to re-slot the nut on the other one. It's not to expensive here. I believe I was charged $30 for the replacement including the cost of a new set of Elixirs and $9 for the re-slot.

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

There's a very angry hippie who has a music shop about 40 minutes from me. He does stuff like this & he's good but he's got a $30 bench fee then you have to pay by the hour and for parts, strings, exe? My other option is 40 minutes in the other direction, I have no idea how good their work is or what they charge for something like that? I'm sure it's cheaper than the first place but it's still going to be pricey no matter what? There's no real competition for them anymore because the one good & honest shop around, this one was right here in town and was my childhood haunt, closed down about 3 years ago when the owner got Parkinson's & took his own life. It was very sad, I lost a close friend & one of the only people in the world I trusted 100% to work on my guitars? He was the kind of guy who would have done something like this for free, as long as you hung around back with him while he was working, he just really loved the company!!!

 

[HALENisking]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

There's a very angry hippie who has a music shop about 40 minutes from me. He does stuff like this & he's good but he's got a $30 bench fee then you have to pay by the hour and for parts, strings, exe? My other option is 40 minutes in the other direction, I have no idea how good their work is or what they charge for something like that? I'm sure it's cheaper than the first place but it's still going to be pricey no matter what? There's no real competition for them anymore because the one good & honest shop around, this one was right here in town and was my childhood haunt, closed down about 3 years ago when the owner got Parkinson's & took his own life. It was very sad, I lost a close friend & one of the only people in the world I trusted 100% to work on my guitars? He was the kind of guy who would have done something like this for free, as long as you hung around back with him while he was working, he just really loved the company!!!

Man. He sounds like he was an awesome dude. I'm sure he's in a better place now

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

He was & thank you for that... On a better note I tried cleaning the string & the slot but to no avail? So in a kinda Hail Mary move before just replacing it I used a small piece of 220 sandpaper to open up the slot a tiny bit more, being careful not to cut it down any more than it already was & it seems to be better now? I'm still going to replace it @ some point, probably when I have the $ to do the tremolo @ the same time, but its @ least playable for now?

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: There's Something Wrong With My Nut!

There's a very angry hippie who has a music shop about 40 minutes from me. He does stuff like this & he's good but he's got a $30 bench fee then you have to pay by the hour and for parts, strings, exe? My other option is 40 minutes in the other direction, I have no idea how good their work is or what they charge for something like that? I'm sure it's cheaper than the first place but it's still going to be pricey no matter what? There's no real competition for them anymore because the one good & honest shop around, this one was right here in town and was my childhood haunt, closed down about 3 years ago when the owner got Parkinson's & took his own life. It was very sad, I lost a close friend & one of the only people in the world I trusted 100% to work on my guitars? He was the kind of guy who would have done something like this for free, as long as you hung around back with him while he was working, he just really loved the company!!!

Good people, good techs and good friends are hard to come by. This is a sad story.