Buzz below nut

**dorenac** · Aug-03-2008, 7:56am

There's a buzz at my first A string only when played in open position. #After searching the archives I believe it's a nut slot that's a tad too deep. #The second A string(the 4th string on the instrument) is just fine. Not being knowledgeable, #I'm not confident playing around with filing etc. Is the best fix to raise the height a few thousandths with some method of filling the slot? And if so, then how?

**Stephanie Reiser** · Aug-03-2008, 8:36am

Did this buzz begin suddenly out of nowhere, or has it been a problem since you've had possession of the instrument? From what I've read, filling a nut slot so that the string rests a little higher is usually considered a temporary fix. Something you might do the night of a gig. But people do it, though I never have. Baking soda and water, I think, is the recipe. What is the nut made of? If you were to place a straight edge across the strings right in front of the nut would that offending A string indeed be a tad low?
What brand of instrument are we talking about, not that it matters. Just curious. If the string is really low in the slot I would place a thin shim under the nut until I had a chance to have a repair person make a new one.

**John Flynn** · Aug-03-2008, 8:51am

Originally Posted by

Baking soda and water, I think, is the recipe.

I think that would be baking soda and super glue. I doubt that baking soda and water would fill anything. I'm not a luthier, but I have had to play one at home. I've done this nut fill thing a couple of times. It does work for a while, but it has to be re-done every now and then. A new nut is the permanent fix. I use super glue and bone dust I collected from filing nuts, but I have heard that baking soda and super glue works also. I imagine it works with any powder that will allow the super glue to bind it together into a solid mass.

Procedure: Put masking tape on the fretboard and the headstock, so you don't get super glue on them. Clean out the nut slot. Fill the nut slot with the dry powder you are using and lightly brush away any excess. Wet the powder with super glue. Use as little super glue as you can. Just get the powder damp with it, no more. Let it dry. Very lightly file a new slot for the string. The filler is softer than the nut, so you can accidentally file too deep really easily and have to re-fill the slot. Also, the string under tension will kind of make its own slot, you just need to give it a place to start.

**dorenac** · Aug-03-2008, 9:53am

This is a late teens Gibson A. And yes it was this way right out of the chute. It was just returned from having a few repairs and other work done on it. But the luthier is several hundred miles away, so I'd prefer not to have to ship it back again. The straight edge trick doesn't seem to reveal a low string. Interestingly enough, the nut slot is not deep--only a few thousandths--almost like a deep scratch. As another luthier/cafe contributor said,
each string has to be set at the right height.

**mandolooter** · Aug-03-2008, 9:59am

temporary fix...loosen up your string and slip a piece of paper under it at the nut slot and re-tune...if it still buzzes fold the paper and put double thickness under it, etc, etc. Once the buzz is gone tear the excecs off and it'll work fine and be un-noticable. I've (lazy me) had a fix like that on one of my tenors for a year or so.

BTW You may have a fret thats popped loose and the nut may be fine.

**dorenac** · Aug-03-2008, 10:23am

Hey thanks Mandolooter, miracle of miracles, one thickness of paper did the trick. This also tells me my hunch was probably right and what a permanent fix needs to be.

**Jim Rowland** · Aug-03-2008, 10:32am

The superglue trick will work fine...for a while. You should think of it as a temporary fix like the paper shim,but remember that it takes much longer than you might anticipate for it to dry properly. The only lasting fix short of nut replacement is one suggested by Paul Hostetter which involves filing the slot square and inserting a matching bone filler using cyano as a fixative,then re-filing the slot. Mandolooter's caveat about isolating the problem before action is a good one.
Jim

**mandolooter** · Aug-03-2008, 10:32am

GREAT!

**Geoff B** · Aug-04-2008, 2:35am

you can also put a thin shim beneath the nut and re-file the slots. If a piece of paper is all the height you need, I've heard of folks using just such material for the below nut shim. Then it is a matter of a few file passes on the existing slots and you are done. Done well you'd really have to look to see the repair.

**ald** · Aug-04-2008, 3:04am

I got rid of a couple of buzzes by simply using superglue, as I did not have any baking soda handy at the time and no was my luthier (I did this a year ago and the instrument is still buzzless), but I see some kind of dust addition would make it easier to handle the glue (I applied it with a cocktail stick). My idea was to keep building up the glue until the buzz disappeared (only one tiny amount was required in the end)but if you start the other way around, applying glue and baking soda and then filing down, how do you know when to stop filing. You can't just stop when it starts buzzing or you would have to start the whole process again. What is the trick?

**dave17120** · Aug-04-2008, 5:36am

"What is the trick? "

Ah, now you are into 'how do you set up a mando?' do you really want to go there??? Don't start the other way round!

**ald** · Aug-04-2008, 5:40am

"Ah, now you are into 'how do you set up a mando?' do you really want to go there??? Don't start the other way round!" I'm not sure what you mean by don't start the other way round. Funny my luthier (who I was trying to say was unavailable in my previous post, even if it didn't come outlike that) is called Dave.