Taylor nut problem.

[Sea Chief]

Hi chaps,

I think Ive made a bit of a faux pas, or its just age/ wear ( i batter this guitar! ) but my Taylor big baby 307 usa, has a nut problem on the g string only. This one is buzzing on the first fret im pretty sure due to me leaving on the prior old set of strings too long & its cut down into the nut slot.

Is there any way I can somehow raise just the 'bed' of this this slot? so I dont have to think of putting in a new nut, which I cant bear to think of being a massive hassle to get right.. & my old one is nicely aged in keeping with the battered guitar.

Thanks, SC

[Helmholtz]

If slightly increasing the neck relief doesn't help, try this :
https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-id...h-baking-soda/

[Sea Chief]

If slightly increasing the neck relief doesn't help, try this :
https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-id...h-baking-soda/

That's very - groovy - (another of my clever puns).. thanks HH. Id never have known of this idea. I wonder if I need a special g string file.

Anyone done this before

[Chuck H]

I wouldn't bother with temporary fixes. Baking soda and super glue (cyanoacrylate adhesive) isn't as resilient as petrified bone, which is what your nut is made of now. The best solution...

Is to remove the nut, add a very small shim (it won't even be a visible amount) and then burr the adjacent slots down to ideal WRT the low slot. OR... Replace the nut entirely. A good luthier could look at the current condition and choose between these options. I am VERY familiar with nut height issues and I will say right now that it's best to leave this to an experienced luthier that has the right products, EXPERIENCE and tools on hand to fix this the easiest way. Being as this is likely your most expensive guitar I think it's fair to make a concession and (please, please) let a pro handle this.

Years of happy use follow if done right. Possible trouble follows if you try to fix this as cheaply as you can. I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE! And I'm no clown with this stuff. Having dealt with nut issues on acoustic guitars specifically. Seriously, find a luthier that KNOWS HOW TO DO EXACTLY THIS AND DEMONSTRATES CONFIDENCE. Skew from this path on your own peril. Not kidding.

[Sea Chief]

I wouldn't bother with temporary fixes. Baking soda and super glue (cyanoacrylate adhesive) isn't as resilient as petrified bone, which is what your nut is made of now. The best solution...

Is to remove the nut, add a very small shim (it won't even be a visible amount) and then burr the adjacent slots down to ideal WRT the low slot. OR... Replace the nut entirely. A good luthier could look at the current condition and choose between these options. I am VERY familiar with nut height issues and I will say right now that it's best to leave this to an experienced luthier that has the right products, EXPERIENCE and tools on hand to fix this the easiest way. Being as this is likely your most expensive guitar I think it's fair to make a concession and (please, please) let a pro handle this.

Years of happy use follow if done right. Possible trouble follows if you try to fix this as cheaply as you can. I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE! And I'm no clown with this stuff. Having dealt with nut issues on acoustic guitars specifically. Seriously, find a luthier that KNOWS HOW TO DO EXACTLY THIS AND DEMONSTRATES CONFIDENCE. Skew from this path on your own peril. Not kidding.

Hi Chuck, wise words indeed. You are spot on, but filing down each slot after removing it.. needs expense on filing tools & removing this nut I just hate the idea of as its so solidly set ( though i know the process ). No luthier for 100m of me out here you see. It is a taylor but a cheap big baby/ £220 so not worth alot in money, moreso in playability/ like a perfect fit glove. Its just a Q of raising this one slot, enough so its good it doesn't need total perfection: its a battered thing with worn frets ( on the B string especially & top E too ) which oddly prove not to be any issue playing it. You might know I don't have too much £ to throw at my guitars. If it was a £1k normal size Taylor I'd not consider baking soda, I'd have to courier it insured to a luthier.

I might do a temporary shim of some way to raise it in meantime. Thanks, SC

[Dave H]

I've sucessfully used the bone dust and super glue trick (as in the video) to raise one slot on an accoustic. I used a 10 thou razor saw and a set of small needle files to recut the slot. Cut it a little bit at a time testing it with the string each time until it's the correct depth. You don't want to overdo it and have to start again. If you shim the nut you'll have to recut all the slots. The guitar is still playing fine many years later.

[Sea Chief]

I've sucessfully used the bone dust and super glue trick (as in the video) to raise one slot on an accoustic. I used a 10 thou razor saw and a set of small needle files to recut the slot. Cut it a little bit at a time testing it with the string each time until it's the correct depth. You don't want to overdo it and have to start again. If you shim the nut you'll have to recut all the slots. The guitar is still playing fine many years later.

Hi Dave. Thanks for this.. hmm it's tempting I must say, if I do it well. Bone.. I guess you had an old bone nut you filed some off? Or do you mean you followed the clip using baking soda? I'll look fir this razor saw.

[Chuck H]

It occurs to me that we aren't limited to baking soda or powdered bone. The cyanoacrylate glue is the vehicle/binder, but as hard a material as could be found for the powder seems like the best idea (to me). I mean, who's ever going to notice a color differentiation in this repair? So why not use something like silica or ceramic powder? Higher hardness = more wear resistance IMHE. Unless there's something I'm missing about this.

[Mick Bailey]

Harder materials make for creaky tuning and a sticking slot that grabs the string. I also use bone dust - just rub a nut blank on a file and collect a tiny amount on a piece of paper. I use a tiny drop of Maxi Fix superglue and recut the slot. This is just a repair on one slot - anything else and I fit a new bone nut. The repair lasts as long as the remaining life in the rest of the nut. Another emergency repair material is from a melamine chopstick - same process but not as self-lubricating as bone.

[Sea Chief]

Harder materials make for creaky tuning and a sticking slot that grabs the string. I also use bone dust - just rub a nut blank on a file and collect a tiny amount on a piece of paper. I use a tiny drop of Maxi Fix superglue and recut the slot. This is just a repair on one slot - anything else and I fit a new bone nut. The repair lasts as long as the remaining life in the rest of the nut. Another emergency repair material is from a melamine chopstick - same process but not as self-lubricating as bone.

Thanks for this Mick. Interesting.. the chopstick idea is good, probably the nearest I might have to bone here tbh. I need to do this on a japan jazzmaster neck nut too just on the top E, which seems like a smiliar hard plastic to me. Needs care thats for sure.

[Chuck H]

A quick note on filing the new slot... It's REALLY easy to get it wrong in one way or another. You never want to go too wide because it looks like @$$ and can skew the string spacing in a way you may not even feel when playing, but you can not avoid seeing. You would find it un ignorable. But too narrow comes with the risk of going too deep before you realize what's happened. Don't use a file with any sort of triangular shape. Ideally we would use a cutting tool that matches the srting profile. Alas, no such thing in reality. And those small triangular files are tempting because they're narrow. But a space beneath where the string sits can develop. Then, just a small change in angle can widen the slot and suddenly you've gone too far and have to start over (see image below). Always better to use a cutting tool that makes straight, parallel walls in the slot. Though few files of the right width are available.

[Sea Chief]

Hi Chuck. Thanks alot for this. I was considering exactly this situation in fact: Ive filed off some yellowy pcb board for my dust, s'glue bought.

But yes then it all depends on my slot shape. Ideally using the string as a file.. the g string the highest wound one, so has some roughness: but I don't think will work to cut down. So I need a very exact with file, then perhaps I can just shape the bed of it with a g string, if it has a square profile.

Hmm.. need a g string acoustic file, & an electric top E. Or am I being to fussy?

[nosaj]

[Chuck H]

Jason has it right. There ARE special files available. I know you probably won't or can't buy them. That said...

A typical hacksaw blade made for fine wood cutting has about the right kerf width to accommodate a G string. But there are no guarantees as this varies on both ends (the actual saw blade vs the actual g string gauge). And there's also the issue of the slot being milled square rather than round.

Using actual guitar strings for cutting tools doesn't work because the string wrap wire is round and typically coated. It won't cut anything (including your fingers, which is sort of important to the string manufacturers )

You'll need a cutting tool that will almost perfectly accommodate the profile of whatever G string gauge you use. As stated, preferably with a rounded corner. Whether the nut files linked will actually do this I can't say. I have had my share of disappointments with such offerings in the past.

An actual pro at this has already dealt with what's available on the market and what works for different circumstances. As well as being acutely accountable for the best results. And having tools ON HAND to manage this sort of thing... Just sayin'

You could buy the east Asian made files and hope for the best. You could use a hack saw bit (though it's kerf has square corners) and try your best with that.

Or you could take it to someone that has a vested interest in already knowing this problem from experience and how to fix it. Mick is a great resource and experienced with much of these things. That doesn't mean it will work first time in for the amateur. I've made MANY nuts. Adjusted MANY others. I still consider myself at somewhat of a loss in this area of guitar repair with too many unfortunate possibilities.

My point is, this is a somewhat trickier matter than usual. Going with a pro that has some confidence and accountability to the result is (IMHO) the best course of action in this case for a rank amateur in these matters.

JM2C

[Mick Bailey]

I've used cheap far-eastern nut files for odd jobs, but in the end went with sets of Hosco for guitar and bass as I moved from just doing my own instruments to working on other peoples. The difference in cut, fit and finish is worlds apart. I also have a duplicate set of StewMac files which are just fine. At a pinch you can just about get by with a set of welding tip cleaners to finish off an embryonic slot cut with an X-Acto razor saw. Our sadly departed and much-missed friend Steve Ahola was the master of workarounds to buying expensive tools - maybe he's posted something about cutting nut slots.

Another tool I use on nuts is a Stubbs needle file with the teeth ground off and stoned to give just one cutting edge. I use this to enlarge a slot after marking out with a razor saw but before finishing with a nut file.