Mid 80s Ovation Celebrity CC68 new bridge and nut...
 

Hello,

I have a Mid 80s Ovation Celebrity CC68 in mint condition. I can't play an open C chord very well anymore, because my fingers seem to have gotten fatter. I definitely want to change the nut to increase the spacing, but may change the bridge while I am at it.

1) It has an old school uncompensated bridge. It tunes fine and sounds fine up the neck. I think the intonation is fine or close enough. Should I change the bridge to a compensated one? The new ones are all compensated.

2) I am going to change the narrow nut to one with wider string spacing. I know that I may take a risk in pushing or pulling an E sting off the edge, but I think I will be ok. Does anyone know the height of the nut? Otherwise, I will have to take it off to measure it.

The original bridges measurements are approximately:
Length = 42.4 mm
Width = 5 mm
Height (without taking the original nut off):
Low E = 8 mm
Middle might be 8.2 mm (2 mm above the fretboard and the slot is about 5.2 mm deep
High E = 7.5 mm
E to E = 34 mm

I am thinking of using a Tusq PQ 6116 00 or a Tusq PQ 6115 00 (which is taller). I can let it hang over the edges a bit or sand them. Both would increase the spacing by about 2.5 mm or 3/32".

Thank you for any advice!

I have a similar vintage Applause 6 string and deep bowl 12 fret slothead Ovation 12 string.

Several years ago I had a local tech replace the saddles on both of these with compensated bone saddles. They both have spot on intonation now. Do you need a whole new bridge or just a saddle? Unless the existing bridge is lifting off I would just go with a new compensated bone saddle.

I still have the original nuts on both of these old guitars. I've replaced nuts on a few other instruments using the pre-shaped tusq blanks as well as starting with a rectangular bone blank. I prefer the bone ones.

Thanks for the help, and in catching my typo. I meant to say saddle not the actual bridge.

I'm really after wider string spacing at the nut. I guess I could loosen the strings take the nut out, measure it, and then quickly put it back in place and re-tune (assuming the nut comes out in one piece).

I have never looked for a bone nut. Can you recommend a precut bone nut company?

If I knew a good guitar tech, I would let them do it, but I don't. An internet search didn't help. Years ago, I brought an electric to Guitar Center for some nut work. He changed the height of all my pickups. Didn't ask for that. I had to reset my heights. After that, I learned how to do a few things.

I just buy premade bone nuts on amazon, sometimes 2 or 3 for $10, free delivery if you have prime.

In your case there are some Les Paul nuts at 43mm wide and 5mm thick. You could just sand off .3mm on either end, about 1/75th of an inch, and sand the bottom for the right height. Check the measurements before you buy. See if something there works.

Thanks for the tip on Amazon, but it's all about an increase in the string spacing for me. The idea is to turn a guitar that just hangs on my wall into one that is played in my lap.

It's really hard to find the right string spacing. Graphtech lists everything so you know what you are getting.

Are you playing lap style like a dobro with a steel? Or with fingers like Jeff Healy?

I meant playing it as opposed to never playing it.

:) good luck

I popped the nut off. Its 9mm tall. I am going with the Graph Tech PQ-6115-00.
I found a webpage on which someone used that nut on an older Ovation that had a similar nut to mine.

Looks like a nice choice and virtually all work done for you, just narrow it to your 42.4 width.