Replacing the String Nut

[Dan McIntyre]

Does anyone know where to buy a precut string nut. I just recently bought a no-name, deep bodied, a style mando on E-bay for travel. It has great volume and tone except the nut is too low at the e strings. They are almost touching the 1st fret. I want to replace it with a taller nut. I can remove the old one and re-glue another one on but I don's have any files to cut the string grooves. Any suggestions?

[250sc]

If your existing nut is still usable you might try to shim it with a thin piece of vaneer.

[mrbook]

I was fixing a cheap mandolin for a friend one time, and a local music store sold me one for $1.00. They had a box full of pre-slotted nuts, and I took my pick.

[Bandersnatch Reverb]

I've seen something that works well, and can look pretty nice too - and thats to take a piece of brass feeler gauge like .005 or .010 and use it as a shim. It cuts easily with scissors, can be glued to the bottom of your nut and then sanded on the sides to match the shape. Use cyano to glue the shim to nut, then titebond the assy to the neck. You end up with a thin gold line... not a bad effect.

[Dan McIntyre]

thanks to all who responded. I think I will try to shim up the existing nut if I can't find a pre-cut one. I will post the results later. Thanks again. Dan