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Thread: Need a nut Doctor!

  1. #1
    Registered User mandosonthemarsh's Avatar
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    Default Need a nut Doctor!

    I have a terrible buzz on my d string on my Martin guitar. It only buzzes when I play it open. The conclusion I have come to is that an overzealous luther filed the nut to low. It's way below the top of the nut. Any ideas on how to fill the slot a bit, and raise the string? Bruce Grover.

  2. #2
    MandolaViola bratsche's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Protect surrounding area of instrument well, pack slot with fine sawdust from bone or whatever material your nut is made from, and carefully add a drop of liquid superglue. Once solidified, this can be now re-filed.

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    Kelley Mandolins Skip Kelley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Bruce, you can put some CA glue in the slot and pour some bone dust in on that, let it dry, sand the top of the nut back like it was and recut the slot.

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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    If that is the original nut it will be thoroughly glued in and finished over, which makes it a bit of a chore to remove. If it in not the original nut it should come out very easily with light taps to loosen it. I would tend to glue a shim to the bottom of the nut to raise the string slots. This will require re cutting the other slots but your strings will be resting in solid material.

    I suggest shimming the nut instead of filling the slot because of my experience with filled nut slots. Filling with any kind of glue is a temporary repair. It may last a long time but I have seen filled slots come unglued, as there is a lot of pressure and friction exerted at that point.

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    Café habitué Paul Hostetter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    I find the krazyglue and dust fix really undependable, and heartily discourage anyone from trying it. And I'm allergic to seeing shims under an otherwise nice nut. Instead, I recut the slot with a saw of appropriate kerf, inlay a piece of bone or pearl using CA as an adhesive, and recut the slot. This way the string is riding on real material, not CA, which is simply too soft. Properly done, which isn't difficult at all, it's an invisible and permanent repair.

    Last edited by Paul Hostetter; Aug-29-2010 at 3:22pm.
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    Registered User MANDOLINMYSTER's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Paul,

    I think you have earned the title " Nut Doctor".
    Michael Lettieri

  7. #7
    Café habitué Paul Hostetter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Many folks just think I'm nuts. Can't be helped.
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    Kelley Mandolins Skip Kelley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Paul, I really like your approach better! Thanks for your wisdom!!

  9. #9
    F-style Apostate
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Surprised no one mentioned this- quick and dirty.

    Pack the slot with baking soda, hit it with CA, then file to the proper height.

    Repairs of this sort will probably offend the purists amongst us, but they have been known to work well and last for a long time.

    Rick

  10. #10
    Registered User Chris Biorkman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    They're called urologists.
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  11. #11
    Café habitué Paul Hostetter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Surprised no one mentioned this- quick and dirty. Pack the slot with baking soda, hit it with CA, then file to the proper height. Repairs of this sort will probably offend the purists amongst us, but they have been known to work well and last for a long time.
    Ouf. I'm not a purist, I'm a pragmatist. The baking soda thing is just not good. You can spend ten minutes and do a quick and dirty insubstantial repair, or you can spend fifteen minutes and never have to think about it again.
    .
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  12. #12
    F-style Apostate
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Hostetter View Post
    Ouf. I'm not a purist, I'm a pragmatist. The baking soda thing is just not good. You can spend ten minutes and do a quick and dirty insubstantial repair, or you can spend fifteen minutes and never have to think about it again.
    Whatever. Pragmatically speaking, I've seen the CA/ baking soda repair last for years and years. Not exactly ephemeral.

    I once had a good friend that played for years with a little piece of paper stuck under the string in a nut slot to correct a buzz. It worked, and I always wondered about it, but it worked. "Worked" is the operative term.

    Everyone knows that the pedantically correct answer is to make a new nut, but that isn't always expedient. Sometimes quick and dirty works until you have the leisure to pursue pedantic solutions.

    Rick

  13. #13
    Registered User mandosonthemarsh's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need a nut Doctor!

    Hi guys, this is Bruce. Well I decided to go ahead and take the easy way out, and put shims in the nut and saddle. Plays great! I can hear you guys moaning and groaning. The action seems to go up and down with the humidity. I feel I can live with this kind of adjustment. Chow!

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