# Tedious!!!!!



## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I am in the process of making the nut for my "strat" build. I have a piece of Corian, cut and fitted nice, roughed out and I am now making the slots. I put the initial guide mark in with a scrape or two of a needle file. The rest I am using a welders tip cleaner.......this is taking forever!!!!!! I have the E and A strings down to .020 above the first fret, but the thinner the slot, the slower the progress. The tip cleaners get more flexable as they get thinner and harder to work with. I can barely get 20 minutes in before my hand cramps up, and not much progress in that short of a time. I must say, of all the things I have had to do over the last year and a half building this thing (must be some sort of record there for long builds), this is by far the most frustrating. There is no way I can spend the kind of money needed for nut files. I am almost considering bringing it in to have the nut made for me. Only being bullheaded is preventing me from doing that. I can't think of any other way to get this done (I have tried sawing the string back and forth over the slot, same result).
Anyway, the guitar is sounding awesome acoustically and my rant is done for now. Got the pickups mounted in the rings (I bought some from GFS, abandoning the home made ones), got some hook up wire (20 ga), I still need to get some knobs for it, will be ordering them from q-parts. I did order them from king music in Goderich last Dec. but the young guy there seems more interested in sitting around chatting with his buddies than actually doing anything. Nice guy, not a worker though. I mean really, over 7 months for 2 knobs???? Glad I have the habit of trying small things before deciding to deal with a place, kinda like sticking your toe in the water before diving in. I guess that is a whole other rant there. Must be my day to vent some steam.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Errr, Ooops, the measurement at the first fret is actually .025 - .030......a bunch more work and all 6 strings are about that now.....now to unlock my thumb...lol.


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## House Guitars (Jan 4, 2010)

Hi Jim,

I know some people who will use a really fine saw to cut the nut slots. They will make a few notches with the saw for the bigger strings and then clean it up with a needle file or something else.

Are you from the Goderich area? I have nut files and if you wanted to bring your guitar by the shop you could use them. 

Josh


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I am in Seaforth. Thanks for the offer, I finally got them all pretty close, but if there is a mistake, I will take you up on it. I still have to polish the nut and take the top down a bit on the high strings. I have discovered that my neck pocket needs a bit of adjusting as the neck tilts back a smidge. A bit of chisel work tuning it up ought to do it (nerves on edge already). Got the bridge saddles just about as high as they can go but getting some string deadening when fretting. Intonition is pretty good. Height at 12th is about 3 or 4 /64ths, may be a bit low for the .011-.050 strings. I want to get it all complete before I blow it apart for final finishing and adjustment. Will have to wait until a trip to Stratford L&M for a switch and I can wire it up. I may even want to bring it by to you for an opinion though, that is if you are OK with giving constructive criticism and advice. My first build!!!!


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

They are tricky to make...without the proper files, it will never be realy good. BUT...you can actually use strings for files..i'm told it actually works. THey are expensive, the files, but worth it .


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Ya Al, tried the string thing too. Not going to blow the $ on files for just 1 build (maybe just 1...lol). BTW saw one of your butterscotch relic tele's on Kijiji....Man you do nice work.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Jim DaddyO said:


> Ya Al, tried the string thing too. Not going to blow the $ on files for just 1 build (maybe just 1...lol). BTW saw one of your butterscotch relic tele's on Kijiji....Man you do nice work.


one of mine on Kijii?..where...when?..

and yes..for ONE nut...150$ worth of files is a bit much..LOL


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Can't find the ad anymore, maybe he sold it or changed his mind. It was in the London ON site though.


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## House Guitars (Jan 4, 2010)

Hey Jim, You are more then welcome to stop by the shop any time you are in town. And I'd be more than happy to take a look at your guitar. I'm mainly an acoustic guy but I'll gladly give you any advice I can. Contact info can be found on my website.

Josh


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Awesome, Thanks Josh!


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