New strings won't fit in nut.

[wergwerg]

I recently purchased a new set of strings, but they're far too big to fit in the nut of my bass. I'm not really sure what to do. Help?

[Sinomis666]

Bummer dude are they 110 to 50s ? Stick with the standard 100 to 40 or 105 to 45s.bigger string gauges will widen the slots then if you go back to normal string size it won't rattle around in the nut!

[fourstringdrums]

The nut slots need to be widened a bit. If you have a small file you can do this yourself or take it to a tech to do it. It only takes a few minutes. The important thing is to just make them a little wider, but not deeper.

[wergwerg]

I filed on the widest slot for a little bit, but I stopped because I'm pretty sure I would screw something up hahaha. Looks like I'm taking it in pretty soon.

[fourstringdrums]

Well if you started, just continue. Just go slow and check as you go, just again making sure to only widen it.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Information on instrument / string gauge's ?

[wergwerg]

The smallest file I can find is only thin enough to work in two or so of the slots.

[wergwerg]

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

Information on instrument / string gauge's ?

Ibanez SR706, the set is .190 .142 .106 .079 .059 .043

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Yes, pretty much any bass you will have to modify the nut for those, no questions about it...

I am not 100% familiar with that instrument but you may not be able to widen the factory nut to fit those so you may need a new nut all together.

How about the bridge side of things?

[wergwerg]

They seem to fit pretty nicely into the bridge saddles from what I can see.

[redname]

Originally Posted by wergwerg

The smallest file I can find is only thin enough to work in two or so of the slots.

there are needle files around, they should do the job

[stanknuckle]

Use off-cuts of each string and use them as your slotting files. This is not ideal but it'll do the job for you. Just widen the slots only.