Nut Slot Files: Is there a less expensive way?

[BothHands]

I'm not a luthier. I have several guitars and a pair of 5-string basses.

I would like to be able to experiment with various nut materials, slot heights/depths and string spacings, BUT...once I figure out what works, I'll make those nuts and that'll be IT - until something breaks or wears out sometime in the future (maybe).

So I don't want to buy all the (expensive) files needed for a light gauge acoustic guitar set, much less that fat bass-guitar B string.

Do you have a suggestion for some alternative that can cut as accurately as a set of real nut slot files at a much lower cost? Bear in mind that I'm a capable guy, but I have zero experience making nuts for stringed instruments - so the tool you recommend must be suitable for a "low skilled" user.

Here's an Ebay search based on search term "cheap nut slot file"

THIS KIT is based on a jeweler's saw frame holding round "saw rods".

HERE are just the rods for use in your own jeweler's saw frame.

Unfortunately, the saw rod diameters don't match up so well with standard string sizes: .06", .05", .04", .03", .023" and .018"

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this or any other possibilities.
Thanks

[printer2]

I am thinking those rods are just oxyacetylene tip cleaners. I used a couple of needle files.

[BothHands]

Do those diameters sound like standard sizes for welding tip cleaners?
.06" .05" .04" .03" .023" .018"

I have a couple of sets of needle files around, but they're not rounded to create rounded slot bottoms, and mine sure aren't sized to cut specific widths for specific strings.

You're probably more skillful and/or experienced than I am...

[clintj]

I took steel feeler gauges and rounded over an edge with a double cut file which left a somewhat usable cutting edge. They don't cut as quickly and are more flexible than my StewMac set but they are fine for once-in-a-while use. Cost me all of five dollars and an hour of my time.

[Alan Carruth]

I've been using a feeler gauge for years. I'd cut teeth in the leaves I needed using a three-square (triangular) diamond file. Recently it fell apart, but the student who was using it had gotten one expressly to modify for the purpose. Rather than cut the teeth one leaf at a time, we just did the whole thing.

I clamped the leaves together in the vice, and leveled them off with a diamond stone. Then I blacked the edges with a marker. I put a diamond cutoff wheel (available from Micro-Mark) in the Dremel, and cut teeth across all the leaves at the same time. I held the Dremel at an angle to give them some rake, and left just a thin line of black, working from the back end toward the front. The spacing is sort of random, maybe running around 20 teeth/inch. After the teeth were cut we rounded over the edge we were going to use, so that it would cut a round bottom slot. It's not fast, but that's not necessarily a bad thing: you don't want to take one cut too many and end up 'way deep.

A refinement, if we can figure out how to do it, would be to drill a hole through the free end of all the leaves. Then you could bolt them together to saw wider slots. Most feeler gauges don't go past about .035", but if you could gang the blades you could cut any width. I've tried it by simply holding them together, but it's hard to get them to stay level and make a neat bottom to the slot.

BTW, I always start by cutting slots with a narrow razor saw down to depth first. I use a small piece of steel of the right thickness butted up against the nut as in indicator. This saves a lot of time with either the feeler gauge 'saw' or a diamond file. I note that StewMac is now selling a feeler gauge with removable leaves just for this depth stop. I shoulda got a patent...

[Bowie]

I think this is a case where trying to save a buck can cost you in the long run. It did for me. IMO, if the guitar is nice enough to warrant cutting your own nut, it's worth spending $70 on a really nice set of files. The gauged single files that Antique Electronics sells are some of the best available. The time you save pays for the cost of the set.
Welding cleaners make horrible files and I regret every minute I've wasted with them. A good set gets it done quickly and you can recoup most of your money if you decide to eBay them afterward.

[dhalbert]

Murrmac (active here on the AGF) used to sell a simple tool that used a piece of guitar string to smooth and adjust nut slots. I'm not sure you would want to use it to start from a nut blank, but it looks like a neat idea, and it would not be hard to duplicate the form or make something similar.

See more info here and here.



I bought a set of inexpensive nut files here for $58 and am quite satisfied, but they may not have all the sizes you want.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by BothHands

Do those diameters sound like standard sizes for welding tip cleaners?
.06" .05" .04" .03" .023" .018"

Looked up tip cleaner sets, those numbers are in there. Tried the tip cleaners to do a nut, only good enough to round out the slot after you have it to size. I forgot about the feeler gauge that I had for doing nuts, could not find it around for a while so I did the same thing, ran some old strings through the slot. Going to have to get another feeler gauge.

[charles Tauber]

A $10 set of needle files will work just fine. I used one for 20 years before calibrated not files were commercially available. Calibrated nut files are certainly nice to have, but quality work can be done without them.

[edit: had planned to mention the razor saw, used as John describes to cut slots, but forgot. I still use a $10 X-Acto saw blade in an X-Acto knife handle. Works wonderfully.]

[John Arnold]

Like Charles, I used needle files for many, many years. For the plain strings, I used razor saw blades.
I still like my razor saws for setting the depth, since I can flip them over and used the backside as a straightedge.
To check the height, I place the backside of the saw blade in the slot and rest it on the second fret. When the clearance is minimal over the first fret, I have the correct depth. Then on the wound strings, all I have to do is widen the slot with a file until the narrow slot made by the razor saw disappears. By using this method, I spend far less time tightening and loosening the strings to check the height.

[Brucebubs]

I bought one of these kits;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Packet-Guita...item2ed52a70ac
The files are double-sided and worked OK for me.If I intended to do a lot more guitar work I'd look at a better set of files but I can't justify spending that much at this point. The 'cup' on the string winder can also be removed and used on an electric screwdriver to make an electric string winder.

[B. Howard]

In the old days before gauged files were available a lot of luthiers used a miniature taper file and just cut triangular slots. Every now and then I still see an old instrument with a replacement nut made that way.

[redir]

I still just use needle files. I have about 3 that get regular use. One is a knife edge file that comes to a point, the other is a rounded knife edge and then a round file that tapers to a point. I use a razor saw, as was mentioned, to cut ALL the slots to depth. The razor saw is very useful for getting the string spacing accurate too. Depending on the guitar I then use the knife point file for the first two or three strings and the rounded knife for the rest and maybe use the point of the tapered round file to dress the low E and A. The tapered round file works best on bass's with the real thick strings.

In any case, which ever file you are using, you want to give each cutting stroke a twist or roll with the wrist and focus on keeping the bottom of the slot rounded off. With a good set of eyeglasses or just a magnifying glass you can look real close at the slot to see that it is rounded properly.

[Dru Edwards]

I decided to bite the bullet and I bought a set of Uo-Chikyu nut files from JaParts Canada (the files are made in Japan). They work great.

[BothHands]

MAN!

So many excellent, helpful replies here. I don't have time to respond to them all right now, but will come back later and do so.

Many thanks, fellas.