How to Fill a Guitar Nut | Guitar Tech Tips | Ep. 33 | Thomann

Save the nut of your guitar! If you have fret buzz when playing open strings, you need to fill the nut slot or swap the whole nut. Today we walk you through the process of filling the nut.
Enjoy Guitar Tech Tips! :)

Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Introduction
0:45 Prepare the nut
1:30 Which filler to use
2:05 Let's fill the slots
3:44 Final steps
4:20 Time for a test ride
4:50 Outtakes

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[lorimeyers]

I found this method extremely easy. My Gibson LP low E and A strings were a tad too deep out of the box. Rather than actually fix it, I was afraid to thinking I would destroy it somehow and continued to play daily. The other day, I used a piece of 400 grit dry sandpaper on a flat surface and sanded an old bone nut I had laying around into fine powder. Used a plastic soldering probe (one side like a flathead and the other shaped like a pencil tip. Taped off parts adjacent to the nut to prevent messes. Used flat end of tool to gather the dust, sprinkle it on, and pack it in by pressing your finger across the grain of the slots, use pencil tip end to pack in the circular space.
I’d put a tiny drop of gorilla superglue over the slot. I then tried to pack the glue a tad to soak into bone dust, and immediately got another small toke of dust and added to the slot, which was barely beginning to cure. It seems to want to mold/pack perfectly this way.

Had a very fine and tiny file that made the job ridiculously easy. Even without intonation, my barre chords 1 sounded better and 2 felt far smoother and easier to play. Also, playing single string 16th notes, transitioning up or down a string is sooo easy. The radius is now fixed, I sound better, it feels easier to play..

……will say I felt like I was scraping up lines of blow for the first time in 15 years with that bone sand collecting. Lol

[exove]

Great video! The G string on my Start was way to low and would buzz on the first fret. Took it in to the shop and paid $100 for a new nut... To only find out that they literally did the same thing with the new nut and made it too low. This worked perfectly!

[LottimusMaximus]

Thank you! I changed it up a little and used ABS plastic dust. Just sanded it with 180 grit. Very solid after the glue. Perfect match on the black. Used a plumbing coupler I got for $0.98. ESP has molded plastic in the specs on the EC-401, so figured I’d match it as close as possible. No loss in clarity or sustain. Thank you again.

[billycjustice]

First time I saw it done was by a Guitar Center guitar tech named Richard, from Jacksonville. He filed a piece of bone down to gather some bone dust and also use superglue like in this video. Very nice to repair your bone nut with bone.

[trianglerecords]

Regarding the price of a new nut, I prefer starting with a new piece because when your strings used it so deep, it is time for a new one. This tip is just fine during the expedition time :-)

[RaxFx]

as you won't have the right files or the knowledge to do this, go to a qualified luthier / guitar tech before spoiling your guitar

[garsta]

Thank you for this great video. I have recently purchased a Hamer custom shop Newport Pro 12 string electric. It is around 20 years old, but never been played. The setup seems really good, but was made using the lower string/higher string setup on strings 3, 4, 5, 6 instead of the inverse. If I decide to change to the higher string/lower string order, would you advise filling the nut, then refiling for the proper string guage? I'm leaning away from replacing the nut because the neck binding continues along the sides of the nut.
Thanks!

[TheForce_Productions]

Kris face seems connected to the amp while playing! 😆

[Backingjamstudio]

Thanks ;) Next episode : Fret leveling > go to pro luthier or Thomann Plek machine ? what's the best solution ??

[fvneral]

I always file the slots until I get a perfect semitone from open string to 1st fret. I've found that if I go with "standard measures" my 1st fret notes are always sharp so I really need file deep into the nut. Is that expected? I've never seen a video explaining that.

[lektrikbass]

How about demonstrating the fix by playing each string open? when you shred, string buzz is indiscernible.

[frankifran]

Nice Over the Hills and Far Away cover at the end jajajajaja

[oldguy]

What to with a dead fret? Must you level the complete fret board?

[guitarado]

ok and on my acoustic maton, the height at 12.fret is 1, 6 and 1, 2 mm and I can hear buzzing on the B string at first 3 frets once its hit harder... what to do ? shim the nut or polish the frets ?

[greg]

Wouldn't it make sense to just replace the nut since you have the strings off anyway? I can't help thinking this will affect the string resinating

[aaronanthony]

Hey thomman your GTT playlist does not have this video please include it and any other which aren’t in it because I am watching the whole playlist it is amazing and finding this video not in the playlist is odd

[cchavez]

How to fill a guitar nut; take me to Golden I'm sorry, I HAD

[szrnkabela]

Do you have a video about changing the nut?

[musanthrope]

Thanks! Just got a guitar with the very same problem.

[xamxamxamxa]

Thank you very much, very helpful :)
Maybe you can help me I have to remove a potentiometer from a Hollow-body guitar HB 35 and maybe you a trick to remove the buzz when you don’t touch the string :)