OK I want to start filing my own nuts

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Jack, I'm considering getting a set when the price comes down a bit in the UK. I do make my own nuts and I do have two sets of nut files already. What I like about these is that the diamond cutting face goes up the side of the blade and the holder has a rounded plastic end. Standard nut files, like the StuMac ones, are notorious for getting stuck and they have sharp ends - just perfect for digging into the headstock when they become unstuck!!!! I've not had a go with the Music Nomad files but they do look like they are going to be easy to use and will cut quickly and smoothly.

They are expensive, but anything that lowers my blood pressure and stops me having to start yet another new nut from scratch because the cut has drifted would be worth it.

I just ordered the Music Nomad set of files. Yes they do look super easy to use. I'll report back soon.

[Slight Return]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Jack, I'm considering getting a set when the price comes down a bit in the UK. I do make my own nuts and I do have two sets of nut files already. What I like about these is that the diamond cutting face goes up the side of the blade and the holder has a rounded plastic end. Standard nut files, like the StuMac ones, are notorious for getting stuck and they have sharp ends - just perfect for digging into the headstock when they become unstuck!!!! I've not had a go with the Music Nomad files but they do look like they are going to be easy to use and will cut quickly and smoothly.

They are expensive, but anything that lowers my blood pressure and stops me having to start yet another new nut from scratch because the cut has drifted would be worth it.

FWIW, waxing the sides of the nut files helps a ton with them getting stuck. I've had the same set of Stewmac nut files for many years, done many nuts with them, but only recently figured out that trick. I use a little Renaissance wax on both smooth sides of the file, and it makes it cut way faster and with no binding at all.

If only I had known years ago! The diamond files do look very nice. I've never tried them but I don't doubt their quality at all.

@OP

The other trick to that is making sure the nut is low enough. The files bind way more easily when your nut is simply too high. For wound strings, I have about 1/2 to 2/3 of the string sticking out above the top of the slot. You really don't need much to hold them in place, even with heavy string bending, which isn't usually much of a factor on wound strings anyway, and is virtually never an issue on acoustic guitars.

They also are much less prone to "pinging" as you tune up when the nut height surrounding the string is as little as possible.

https://youtu.be/ZjuC2NpXB9U

I posted that video in another thread recently; just finished that video on cutting 12 string nuts, though I include a demo of how I do 6 string nuts as well, which is basically exactly the same way.

I did nuts by eye, and also a few times with a string spacing rule, for a very long time before coming up with this method, and I made it to share with people like you who are getting into cutting their own nuts or are already very experienced but are curious about novel methods/techniques.

2:42 is where my method for 6 string nuts begins.

The Music Nomad files should work great. Remember the wax trick if they start to bind at all. Wet sanding the slots with sharply folded fine grit sandpaper can also help with minor string binding issues after cutting a slot. Keep us updated!

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by Taylor Ham

If you're setting up a guitar and just lowering the nut, not making one from scratch, is there anything wrong with knocking out the nut and sanding down the bottom on a shooting board?

I've done it numerous times and the two primary points to pay attention to are making sure that you're only lowering by as much as the lowest strings will allow, and moving the nut rather than the abrasive, in order to keep a perfectly flat bottom on the nut.

[Talldad]

Originally Posted by Slight Return

FWIW, waxing the sides of the nut files helps a ton with them getting stuck. I've had the same set of Stewmac nut files for many years, done many nuts with them, but only recently figured out that trick. I use a little Renaissance wax on both smooth sides of the file, and it makes it cut way faster and with no binding at all.

In a similar vein I recently learnt a valuable lesson about hand clamps, the trigger action and release would always stick after a few years, time for new clamps. I had tried wet and dry to sand them smooth again to prevent the stocking but to no avail.
One day I was talking to an old boy, ‘butter’ he said! The tiniest, most invisible spot of grease, rubbed along the shaft makes them good as new. I smiled for the rest of the day learning that. Same applies to a silicon filler guns!

[JackB1]

related question......

if you are having that "string ping-jump" issue when tuning, is it ok to take the file and just go back and forth a tiny bit to smooth it out?

[phavriluk]

Dunno about that technique. I've found on my own stuff that avoiding a sharp edge where the string exits the slot on its way to the tuner seems to help.

I think that's a good description of what happens.

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by phavriluk

Dunno about that technique. I've found on my own stuff that avoiding a sharp edge where the string exits the slot on its way to the tuner seems to help.

I think that's a good description of what happens.

How exactly do you do that?

[PapaC]

Usually lubricating the slot will alleviate “string ping-jump”.

[Slight Return]

Originally Posted by JackB1

related question......

if you are having that "string ping-jump" issue when tuning, is it ok to take the file and just go back and forth a tiny bit to smooth it out?

Try wet sanding with fine grit sandpaper, like 1500 grit. Fold the paper in half sharply and it'll be plenty thin to fit into the slot. Mitchell Abrasive Cord also works well.

Aside from that, make sure the string isn't buried too deeply in the slot.

[Sperry]

The Grizzly nut files have all of the sizes in the 8-pack. 0.010 thru 0.056 but I’ve sometimes augmented the slot files with needle files. I splurged on the set after ruining several mandolin nuts. In a row! Duh.

X-Acto scratch to get my mark, then lightly begin the notches. Always leave plenty of nut to file it all off and start again.

People act like nuts are easy but I think they are some of the hardest parts to do really well.

[Boneman]

Philadelphia Luthiers, get the sizes you want here:
https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/nut-files/

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Sperry

The Grizzly nut files have all of the sizes in the 8-pack. 0.010 thru 0.056 but I’ve sometimes augmented the slot files with needle files. I splurged on the set after ruining several mandolin nuts. In a row! Duh.

X-Acto scratch to get my mark, then lightly begin the notches. Always leave plenty of nut to file it all off and start again.

People act like nuts are easy but I think they are some of the hardest parts to do really well.

Who says they are easy? I think the nuts are the hardest thing for the average guitar owner to do themselves. Saddles? easy. Truss rod? Easy

[Sperry]

Originally Posted by JackB1

Who says they are easy?

Over the past 42 years I've heard that comment from "luthiers", shop owners, and technicians who perform average-to-substandard work, jobs that are "O.K." to some who are not too particular.

Most recently from Pat DiBurro of Exeter N.H., who got his start making a nut for a 5-string bass. From a phone conversation: Funny thing about the fretted instrument trade. Nuts and saddles are considered to be something any repair technician can do. Nuts are really challenging. What Pat was saying is that the assumption is that anyone can do a nut. It took me three tries to get this nut almost right on the pictured 2012 Michael Kelly mandolin; factory ABS nut is sitting atop for comparison:



And here's the nut Pat put on my 2003 Collings MT2:



Seriously, not trying to redirect you from AGF [I stopped writing regularly], but here's the whole AmericanToolbox article on Pat:

https://americantoolbox.com/2021/03/02/pat-diburro/

[Boozehound]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

More important than the file is an expendable set of feeler gauges. Usually can be found in a sale bin at auto parts stores. Make sure an appropriate width is in front of the nut on the fingerboard before you saw.

I have StewMac files which are not cheap but work well.

Another vote for StewMac. Great files, IMO.