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  #16  
Old 03-05-2023, 07:20 AM
waterboy waterboy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tinnitus View Post
+1 on using shims to raise nut height.

I use strips of aluminum soda/beer cans to get crisp, non-cushioned contact between the hard nut and the hard neck. It's actually easy to trim aluminum can metal to any shape and size with common scissors. A couple of my electric planks got this treatment and played fine that way just using string tension to secure the nut. A couple dots of Gorilla super glue came later after I was sure I had the right height.

When removing the original nut, you might encounter a thick layer of varnish over the neck and the nut. Just score the varnish around all the common edges with an X-Acto knife so you can gently tap the nut loose. Use a piece of soft wood scrap to pad the nut from your light hammer blows and avoid damaging the wooden neck/finish. Carefully scrape away any dried glue/varnish to leave a nice clean, flat mounting surface for the shims. Good luck!


My tech also recommended shims as a first step, so I will definitely try that.
Thanks for the input guys and sorry to the OP - didn’t mean to hijack the thread, but I hope this has been helpful to them as well.
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  #17  
Old 03-05-2023, 10:37 AM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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I've had lots of fun with my 20th century Epiphone Biscuit resonator. I'm usually in open G on it, but I'll play open D sometimes too. Right now I have Martin Retro LJ's Choice strings on it. I believe these are gauged for DADGAD, but work well for those two tunings. Keep meaning to go to a heavier 1 string as always play this using a slide.

I've broken a couple of glass* slides over the years, but on resonator or regular acoustic guitar I tend to use ceramic or metal slides. I keep them in one of those little plastic drawer sets you can get inexpensively at stores, though frankly a couple tend to stay out on the desktop around where I record. If I've traveling somewhere to play, I'll put the metal ones in the accessory pocket of the case or bag.

I think I've seen little hangers over the years that ware sold as guitar accessories to hold slides and clamp onto the guitar or a mic stand. I never bothered with those. If you have a set playing area and a bunch of slides, one could use a small piece of pegboard with the vertical prong hooks installed on it. Particularly some of the ceramic slides are pretty, so displaying them like that might be cool for some players.


Have fun with yours and best healing to you!


*I do like light weight glass slides on electric guitar, and those are the ones I've broken.
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  #18  
Old 03-20-2023, 07:07 AM
waterboy waterboy is offline
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Originally Posted by Mycroft View Post
Rather than having the nut cut first, have you tried experimenting with putting shims under the existing nut? Cut a few strips from a standard business card and put under the nut. Add or remove strips to suit. That way you can experiment with different nut heights. You may also find that you may lower the height over time as you become more adept at controlling the bottleneck.


I popped a hard plastic shim of 0.022” (0.56mm for our metric friends) under the nut and fitted a set of resophonic medium D’Addario EJ42s (medium with a 16 on the #1 string).
BIG difference in playability with slide and I can still fret individual notes. This is in open G tuning.
Going to be lots of fun!
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  #19  
Old 03-21-2023, 06:24 AM
Murphy Slaw Murphy Slaw is offline
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Is it like THIS one?

I picked this one up used the other day, am having a blast with it. I've always played a "little" slide, and own a square neck, but this thing is a HOOT.

I drilled it yesterday for a strap lock because it's too much bending over with it on my leg, but now it hangs perfectly with a strap.

Open D is my favorite, I'm a bit scared to run it in regular 440 E tuning with 13's, I heard about a cone collapse once. But I'd like to play some standard tuning stuff.

These things are cool as heck.

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  #20  
Old 03-21-2023, 08:08 PM
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Mines like this…..
I also put some strap locks on it as it is HEAVY. It’s a blast.
IMG_1679450867.752140.jpg
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  #21  
Old 03-22-2023, 01:03 AM
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tinnitus tinnitus is offline
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While a shim under the nut of your new resonator can make it slightly taller for cleaner/better sounding slide work (especially right when you're getting started), you can also just buy a taller nut if you don't want to monkey around with cutting shims.

I buy a lot of parts at Trade Up Music in Portland, OR. There are two, and the one on Division St. is my favorite with a parts counter and bins of new/used pieces that I've pawed through again and again. They've sold me odd pieces for dozens of guitars to make them play/sound/look better. When I do surgery, I keep whatever comes off a guitar. I can always restore it to stock if things don't go as planned, or it might fit on something else later.

BTW, nuts can be plastic, nylon, Tusq, metal, graphite and bone. Some of the used electric planks I acquired in trades had worn/damaged nuts or had been modified to lower the action (too far) making them unplayable (...then abandoned, making them cheap for me). $5 nut replacements fixed 3-4 of them that I recall.

Point is, nuts are super inexpensive, easy to swap out, sand down, raise with shims and even rebuild. They can really change the character of a guitar. If you experiment around a bit and end up with the desired string height on your resonator (or any guitar), you'll be very satisfied and more deeply connected with the instrument. And maybe it'll inspire confidence to try other simple (non-permanent) mods down the road like (for instance) swapping/shaving bridge saddles to enhance action at the other end.

Modding a guitar/resonator isn't for everyone, but it can be a fun and rewarding hobby.
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Last edited by tinnitus; 04-02-2023 at 08:17 AM.
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  #22  
Old 03-22-2023, 07:22 AM
Murphy Slaw Murphy Slaw is offline
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That's just NUTS!

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  #23  
Old 03-22-2023, 09:51 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw View Post
That's just NUTS!

Assorted mixed nuts.
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  #24  
Old 04-03-2023, 09:39 PM
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How's this for an elevated nut to get some clean slide action? Almost as high as my first nylon string acoustic.
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  #25  
Old 04-06-2023, 06:25 PM
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Tenzin (OP) if you're hesitant to do mods on your new resonator to raise the height of the nut, maybe take some measurements and look into how something like this might fit. With any luck, all you'll need to do is slack your strings long enough to slip this into place, tune it back up, grab your slide and start rocking.

If this $12.02 add-on part doesn't readily fit over your nut, maybe modify the part itself (with a $7 dremel tool clone from Harbor Freight)? Just thinking out loud here.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...gaAuDlEALw_wcB

Edit added 4-7-23:
...and another that might fit even more instruments

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...IaAgWoEALw_wcB
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File Type: jpg nut 2.jpg (20.8 KB, 99 views)

Last edited by tinnitus; 04-08-2023 at 12:53 AM.
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  #26  
Old 04-08-2023, 06:06 AM
Murphy Slaw Murphy Slaw is offline
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Gotta love Harbor Freight...
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  #27  
Old 04-08-2023, 01:02 PM
Mycroft Mycroft is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tinnitus View Post
Tenzin (OP) if you're hesitant to do mods on your new resonator to raise the height of the nut, maybe take some measurements and look into how something like this might fit. With any luck, all you'll need to do is slack your strings long enough to slip this into place, tune it back up, grab your slide and start rocking.

If this $12.02 add-on part doesn't readily fit over your nut, maybe modify the part itself (with a $7 dremel tool clone from Harbor Freight)? Just thinking out loud here.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...gaAuDlEALw_wcB

Edit added 4-7-23:
...and another that might fit even more instruments

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...IaAgWoEALw_wcB
Useful widgets, but they raise the action to high to play hybrid slid. That is, both fret and use a slide both. They are really useful for raising the action on guitar for use playing lap style. Kelly Jo Phelps use to use one.

The advantage to the stacked credit card shims is that a person can easily experiment with different nut heights, before having a more permanent nut installed.
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  #28  
Old 04-08-2023, 09:28 PM
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Again, I prefer to use harder metal beer/soda can shims (trim-able with scissors) over soft plastic or even softer cardboard. Metal transfers more vibrations from the nut into the instrument - the whole idea behind vibrating strings to make/transfer sound, I believe.

Ideally, once the perfect height is known, a whole new nut made of Tusq (bought tall and sanded down to optimum height) might be a logical and permanent way to make a guitar/resonator feel like it has "finally come home."

https://graphtech.com/collections/tusq-nuts-guitar
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  #29  
Old 04-10-2023, 06:35 AM
Murphy Slaw Murphy Slaw is offline
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Still digging this thing.

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  #30  
Old 04-11-2023, 01:58 PM
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Been there, done that. Oh how I remember walking to the sidewalk, turning around and coming back in. Then, down two houses, them the corner, then the far corner, then saying to hell with it, I'm going around the block. But I did not want to play guitar for six weeks. Played only mandolin.

If you are a put it back in the case kind of guy, put slides in the case compartment, if not, then a lose tea tin works well, anything really, old mug, wood bowl etc. I'd start with one tuning, open G or open D. to get the feel of it. Learn to palm block.

As far as recovery, do a little more than you want to. Once I went round the block, I never did less.
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