Bone nut repair

1

101B /^/

Member
I have a guitar w/factory bone nut that would benefit from having one slot built up and then re-cut. A replacement nut’s not warranted (or desired) and I’m also not convinced the problem area requires grafting a new bit of bone to cut a new slot at this point. I’ve contemplated mixing quickset epoxy w/bone powder and laying that in the slot before re-cutting but I’m not sure it would hold up over time.

To those experienced - what is the ‘luthiers’ way to remedy a slightly low string slot? Rather than using generic epoxy as a base, is there a material better suited for the job?
 
101B /^/ said:
I have a guitar w/factory bone nut that would benefit from having one slot built up and then re-cut. A replacement nut’s not warranted (or desired) and I’m also not convinced the problem area requires grafting a new bit of bone to cut a new slot at this point. I’ve contemplated mixing quickset epoxy w/bone powder and laying that in the slot before re-cutting but I’m not sure it would hold up over time.

To those experienced - what is the ‘luthiers’ way to remedy a slightly low string slot? Rather than using generic epoxy as a base, is there a material better suited for the job?
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I would use the Super glue / baking soda method ...
 
I confess that strikes me as a band-aid fix compared to an epoxy slurry, but maybe I don’t know what I don’t know??
Super Glue definitely is thin & that’s helpful but besides acting as a binder/solid, what does the baking soda do? It’s technically an abrasive, no?
 
101B /^/ said:
I confess that strikes me as a band-aid fix compared to an epoxy slurry, but maybe I don’t know what I don’t know??
Super Glue definitely is thin & that’s helpful but besides acting as a binder/solid, what does the baking soda do? It’s technically an abrasive, no?
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watch a couple of vids on it .... you'll see .... The older guy from Stew Mac has a good vid on him fixing a old nut like this
 
Yes to above - and Stew Mac sells a particularly thin/watery version of their super glue with a very thin and elongated delivery tip expressly designed to glide into the string slot for this purpose. I have used their glue along with baking soda before. I have had better luck buying a cheap nut blank of the same material nut I need to repair - white Tusq, black Tusq - and then sanding it to create a small pile of nut dust (insert joke here) to create a more similar finished material to the nut I am repairing. It has worked really well with black and white Tusq material - but I have never tried it with a true organic bone nut. Sure is worth a shot before committing to the time/labor involved in cutting a whole new nut.
 
Funnily enough I watched a video the other day I am trying to find where Dan states that the baking soda super-glue trick is not supposed to be permanent.

On the StewMac website, they state the opposite, but I heard the words from Dan himself, so it threw me.

Idk how it wouldn't be permanent, I mean, I would think that would be as strong, if not stronger, than the original nut material for sure.

I have a guitar or two I need to do this with and was thrown when Dan said that.

I then found a comment on "The page that shall not be named"

Comment: "I think people like Dan Erlewine say it's a temporary fix only because they hold an ideal of the guitar being in factory new condition"

This would explain the comment that it should be replaced eventually but clearly would not be out of neccesity, just out of personal taste.

Good luck with the super-glue trick, should work great!

Be sure to shoot an update when you get it all done.
 
I watched the video on this topic and also the nut cutting tutorial demonstrating proper clearances, etc. Nice videos and certainly a pleasant man that knows guitars.

Planning to do this at my next string change or when there’s opportunity to patiently proceed. In the interim I’ll skip the baking soda and set to file-cutting a hefty dose of bone dust and also add a proportionately small amount of fine brass to the slurry for strength - should make for a robust repair and I’ll have time to practice on scrap before touching the guitar. I appreciate all who have chimed-in and will update when done.

A consideration for those inclined to perform this type of repair using a medium similar to their nut, I would discourage the use of sandpaper for generating the fines b/c that invariably embeds abrasives into the mix. A file is a better choice.
 
SpiderWars said:
I have this and it works OK but I still think of it as temporary. In my case it's usually worth the extra time to just shim the nut and recut the slots or make a new one.
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The nut has (clear) finish sprayed over it at the sides of the neck & I do not want to remove the nut for any reason whatsoever. Moreover, this is a proactive effort on my part b/c the issue's pretty minor overall & at this point easy to remedy. No way I’d replace the nut, but to be clear, if I could simply lift it out & shim from the bottom, I’d be doing that for sure and this thread wouldn’t exist. If the nut required a full repair in that area, I’d graft-in a new pc of bone for an entirely new slot before removing the nut from the guitar.

I looked up the patent for the powder listed from stewmac and it’s hard to determine their exact recipe due to ambiguity in the patent filing. That said, this supplier’s essentially doing the same thing I am which is to deliberately combine various (beneficial) materials to complete the job. Baking soda is a household item, and IMO, that’s the driver behind using it as a medium.
 
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