best way to file down a nut?

[newbold]

files, knives, or dremel?

or what else?

Sandpaper?

[Caca de Kick]

Round jewelers or hobby files. Get a few different sizes.

[XylemBassGuitar]

What part of the nut are you filing down? The bottom or the string slots?

For the bottom, I'd use sandpaper with a jig that keeps the bottom of the nut square with the sides.

For the slots, I would get some gauged nut-slotting files for the string gauges you're going to use (get gauges that are about .003" wider than your strings to avoid slot-binding).

[NorCal Dog]

for the string slots i use drill bits,, think about it

[Murder_Worship]

for the string slots couldnt you use a string?

[kevinmoore73]

I bought a set of "Norman Nut Files" on eBay that work fairly well. They're okay for the money, but I imagine that the StewMac files are much better.

Maybe your experience with Norman will be different, but I paid him within minutes of auction close and it took him a couple weeks to send the files.

[saxofunk]

Originally Posted by Murder_Worship

for the string slots couldnt you use a string?

Uh, yes, but it's more fun to go buy stuff.

I use a smaller gauge string with a piece of 400 grit sandpaper wrapped around it for my DIY projects.

[newbold]

string slots