Some of the most experienced builders and repair persons out there today still use the string as a straight edge and by eye adjust the nut height at the saddle by fretting the 2nd fret. So it's really not that unusual. I'm not saying that I am in the same league as my esteemed collegues but I've been doing it like that for almost 30 years now.
Only last year I got myself an actual set of nut files and honestly every time I use them I wonder why I don't go back to my needle files. They snag, get stuck and on a few occasions blew out the edge of the low E string.
I don't know about using wound strings to burnish the slot. It's hard enough sometimes to get good cutting action with a file and I would think that rounding off would occur using some sort of abrasive string.
|