Replacing nut that had been glued with superglue

[fluidmindorg]

Hi all! I'm so happy to have such a great forum. I've learned a hell of a lot from past posts by so many brilliant people.

I got a used Little Martin LXM a little over a year ago, one of the ones that had the low-quality open-back tuners. Over the past few weeks—with the help of YouTube and this forum—I've been using it to experiment and learn how to make my own modifications and adjustments and it has been SO much fun! (Yes, I'm the type of person who works on my own car engines too.)

Last weekend I replaced the cheap, giggly tuners with Grover Sta-Tite 18:1 tuners and love them. This week I'm replacing the old Corian nut—which has been cut into pretty deep over however many years the previous owner played it—with a pre-slotted bone nut from StewMac. I just got the old nut off and came to find out that it has been glued on with superglue. And not just a couple of drops either—it looks like it's covering the bottom of it! I've attached some photos.







What's the best way to remove superglue from that wood? As you can see in the photos, the superglue actually pulled up a tiny bit of the wood with it. Is that enough that I should worry about it? And when I put the new one on, is TiteBond the best glue for that?

Thanks!
—Dan

[Halcyon/Tinker]

I have little model making dog leg chisels that are great for a task like that. If you're careful, you should be able to clean that out without taking more wood. As for the splinters on the old nut, personally, I wouldn't worry about it.

I use gel CA on the end of the FB (not the bottom of the slot like that) to hold the nut it. Just a drop or two.

[JonWint]

Fine-tooth file. If you use a file edge, make sure it's flat.

Couple drops of Titebond will work. Glue will fill the lost wood gaps.

[mirwa]

File it flat, two drops of glue to hold new nut in

Steve

[Doyledc]

I would definitely default to the chisel and file methods, but just so you're aware, there's also CA glue remover. Goof Off makes a version. There are two drawbacks here: It's a lot of work for a glue solvent, and it's a SOLVENT, so be aware of other finished surfaces. -- Anyway, good to know about it in general. I find it's useful for removing glue from fretboards after fretting.

[DriftwoodDan]

I am a bit faint-hearted, so I like to use self-adhesive sandpaper attached to a slender block of wood. Sometimes I use files, but I have better control with the sandpaper. I think guys who do it full-time have better skills, but I am a hobbyist and this works for me because I only do this thing once in a while.

[fluidmindorg]

Thanks a lot everyone. A flat file worked well. I'm perturbed that Martin covered the whole **** thing with so much CA glue just to hold the nut in place. It all seeped into the wood and built up along the bottom corners so that they were no longer square. But at least I was able to file it all flat. (Great idea about using sand paper instead of a file. I'll try that if I have to do this again.)

Now I have to deal with the fact that this StewMac pre-slotted nut is actually not completely flat on the side that needs to lay perfectly flat against the fretboard, AND is not exactly square from that side to the bottom (I got the supposedly flat one, not the traditional angled one for Martins).

Thanks again.
—Dan