What nut files to get?

[Old Wood]

Some of my guitars have buzzes coming from the nut, and some have too high an action at the nut end, so I want to start rectifying this.
Stew Mac wants 150 bucks for a set of 6 files, and you can also buy oxy acetylene torch files for less than 10 bucks. I suspect the torch files would be difficult to use and maybe easy to mess up the nut slot, but $150 is too much.
Anyone have any cost effective suggestions?

[Rodger Knox]

These are what I use....
It's more work than the nut slotting files, but they do work.
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools..._Set_of_5.html

[Old Wood]

I have a set of these from Harbor Freight, and I use them all the time for saddles, but I didn't think they were the right shape for nut slots. Do you get a good result?

[Bax Burgess]

You might try Stew Mac's Gauged Nut Slotting Files. They're 10 bucks apiece.

[Bowie]

Antique Electronics (TubesandMore) has the Japanese Hosco files (they don't call them that but it's exactly what they are) for $11.50 per file. I HIGHLY recommend them. These cut very quickly, cleanly, and you don't have to guess if you've got it too wide, too narrow, etc. And, if you ever want your money back, they fetch decent money on ebay.
https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/nut-file-edge-cut

[Old Wood]

The Stew Mac ones are $13.73 each. I think I'll go for these or the Hosco ones.
Thanks, Bax Burgess and Bowie for the tips.

[Bowie]

Originally Posted by Old Wood

The Stew Mac ones are $13.73 each. I think I'll go for these or the Hosco ones.
Thanks, Bax Burgess and Bowie for the tips.

Sure thing and, if you haven't bought them before, remember to get the them slightly larger than the gauge you plan to use on the wound strings, so they don't snag. Too wide and you'll get rattling (which you already know all about).

[Truckjohn]

Get these.
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...ic_Guitar.html

Don't use the $150 double sided set. Those don't work as well as the gaged files.

Needle files + a fine razor saw for the e and b strings. I did my first 2 with needle files.... While they work - they don't work well and it's really touch and go... It's easy to wreck a nut...

Which reminds me... Be sure you have a spare nut blank around for when you ruin one.

[Rodger Knox]

Originally Posted by Old Wood

I have a set of these from Harbor Freight, and I use them all the time for saddles, but I didn't think they were the right shape for nut slots. Do you get a good result?

Originally Posted by Truckjohn

Get these.
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...ic_Guitar.html

Don't use the $150 double sided set. Those don't work as well as the gaged files.

Needle files + a fine razor saw for the e and b strings. I did my first 2 with needle files.... While they work - they don't work well and it's really touch and go... It's easy to wreck a nut...

Which reminds me... Be sure you have a spare nut blank around for when you ruin one.

You can get good results, but it's not really easy.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by Truckjohn

Needle files + a fine razor saw for the e and b strings. I did my first 2 with needle files.... While they work - they don't work well and it's really touch and go... It's easy to wreck a nut...

Like most people who have been at it long enough to predate gauged nut files, I used a razor saw - a $10 X-Acto - and a $10 set of needle files. They can be made to work just fine with no greater - or lesser - risk than modern nut files or, now, gauged nut saws. I still use them in some circumstances. I find the tear drop shapes are the most useful.

One doesn't need to spend a lot of money on specialized nut files, particularly if one is not going to do a lot of this sort of work.

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by Truckjohn

Get these.
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...ic_Guitar.html

Don't use the $150 double sided set. Those don't work as well as the gaged files.

Needle files + a fine razor saw for the e and b strings. I did my first 2 with needle files.... While they work - they don't work well and it's really touch and go... It's easy to wreck a nut...

Which reminds me... Be sure you have a spare nut blank around for when you ruin one.

In my experience, those do not work nearly as well as the thicker files with different edges. The don't cut as well, they fill more easily, and they bind in the slots.

You don't need every gauge or a complete set. A needle file for the plain strings and two of the files with different edges are enough. You tilt them a bit from side to side to go bigger. And the slot should be a couple of thousandths wide than the string.

[Sperry]

If I was keeping the price down, I'd buy one .010 slot file for about $12.50 and a Grobet needle file for $15.

I have a set of eight from Hiroshima (Grizzly T25458 Nut Files, Set of 8), jewelers files like the Grobet needle, and also a set of Nickolson needle files.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by Old Wood

Some of my guitars have buzzes coming from the nut, and some have too high an action at the nut end, so I want to start rectifying this.
Stew Mac wants 150 bucks for a set of 6 files, and you can also buy oxy acetylene torch files for less than 10 bucks. I suspect the torch files would be difficult to use and maybe easy to mess up the nut slot, but $150 is too much.
Anyone have any cost effective suggestions?

If you were to buy the tools made for the job at $150 as your reference, then you will be able to do the job correctly first time around.

How much does it cost to have a nut tweaked at your locality, how many guitars do you have, look at it as an investment in yourself.

Luthiery requires tools, tools cost money, tools have to be replaced, circle of repair.

If you want obscenely expensive tools, consider Brass repair Technicians and Woodwind Repair Technicians, the cost of Luthiery tools is inconsequential compered to those. (Example tools to repair and rebuild a trumpet piston are 25,000 dollars)

Steve

[redir]

Wow I had no idea brass wind tools were so expensive. I won't be getting into that business

As for nut files I have literally been using the same needle files since 1990. Every once in a while a thread like this comes up and I go to the user suppliers links and check out the proprietary nut files, I think I even placed a set in my online shopping cart once and said, nah... I'll just keep using the needle files

What I don't get about those sets is how specific they are. If you cut a slot for a light gauge say 11's set what if your customer wants to go up a gauge? It's dumb that they are so specific imho. So if anything buy a set for medium gauge strings and then your customer can put any gauge they want on it below that. It's fine if the nut slot is a bit wider, no one complains that there are no perfectly rounded slots in the saddle right?

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by redir

Wow I had no idea brass wind tools were so expensive. I won't be getting into that business

Yep not cheap, but neither is guitar repairs when you start getting into the machinery.

A cheap Bobbin sander can cost you $50 compared to a commercial Bobbin sander which can cost you $2000 plus dollars, its all about choices we make.

Steve