poor man's nut files?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Capulin Overdrive
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Capulin Overdrive

Capulin Overdrive

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need to file some nuts to fit the bigger strings for drop tuning.

looked at Stewmac and thier nut files ain't exactly cheap.


anybody have poor man's way of doing it?


only thing i could think of is a point file, but that may not fit the unwound slots?
 
One thing I learned about doing my own work on guitars, is that buying the right tool is generally worth it in the long run. Suck it up and buy the right tool IMHO.

Pete
 
Real crude method: Get a string and glue it to the edge of a popsicle stick. Can only do it with the wound strings though.
 
Capulin Overdrive":k1ooumak said:
need to file some nuts to fit the bigger strings for drop tuning.

looked at Stewmac and thier nut files ain't exactly cheap.


anybody have poor man's way of doing it?


only thing i could think of is a point file, but that may not fit the unwound slots?
Click to expand...

Honestly, it's not worth it.

You really run the risk of cutting it wrong, too wide, too narrow, wrong angle, and then you have to either get a new nut, or fill in the botched slot.

The ONLY thing that MIGHT work (and I say MIGHT), is a cheap set of "jewelers files". They might have a skinny rat-tail file in the set, that you could carefully use. But again, if you do it wrong, the slow will be tapered, and the string will move too much.
 
stratotone":1nf2adfa said:
One thing I learned about doing my own work on guitars, is that buying the right tool is generally worth it in the long run. Suck it up and buy the right tool IMHO.

Pete
Click to expand...
+1
Buy the right tools. I got 3 files to do the job since they're 2 sided. I went the cheap route before and did a hack job and it's not worth it.
 
you can fold sandpaper and drag it with a guitar string. :thumbsup:
 
Another ghetto method is a welding tip cleaner with all the different sizes....

https://www.amazon.com/Hobart-770085-Wel ... 248&sr=8-4

If you don't mind cursing your way through it and only have to do it once or twice.

If it's going to be more than twice, pony up for the real deal. And if you are going to be doing any from scratch, get the set of saws as well as the files.

The Stewmac stuff is not cheap and sometimes the quality is only so-so, but still I've never actually regretted any purchases from them.

IMO.
 
droptrd":c7ikq71f said:
Strat+Marshall":c7ikq71f said:
droptrd":c7ikq71f said:
This is cheaper than stumac.

https://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Guitar-Nu ... 45f42a56df

https://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Guitar-Nu ... 45f42a75b0
Click to expand...

The quality of those is really pretty poor.
Click to expand...
So that explains the price then :D
Click to expand...


Yeah, I bought a set when they were even cheaper. They were a perfect example of get what you pay for when I bought them, now they are overpriced too. :aww:
 
thanks guys! :rock:


i need to check sizes, but leaning towards trying to get them Warmoth.
 
unfortunatley guitar repair tools are not exactly cheap. at least not the ones that actually work :lol: :LOL: don't skimp on it if it's possible or it will cost you more to have a tech replace the nut you hack up trying to make a Macgruber DIY file. trust me, i've replaced nuts for people who tried to rub strings in the slot and sandpaper etc and have made a mess of things they were trying to only slightly modify.

buy these and call it a day...

http://www.warmoth.com/Nut-Files-Set-of-8-P45C215.aspx

worth the investment since you'll never have to pay a tech to open up slots or adjust the depth on any guitar you ever own from here on out. just go very slow since they are sharp new files and will cut real easy. so do a little and check it over and over.

-Mike
 
For nuts, I send it to a tech. It's fifty bucks for the installation and the slotting. I do most things myself, but fifty bucks is well spent for this job.
 
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