Fretless Nut

[ThankTheMaker]

I've had a 70's Fender project P bass now for a while, which I took the frets off of about a year ago, everything came out beautifully except when it came time to replace the old nut. I bought a fender made nut, I believe it's wood, I've never really seen one like it before but never the less, my only issue is, obviously I have to file it down to get any kind of action, as well as reduce the buzzing, on the neck. I have been doing it with sandpaper, as the nut is wood, but I can't really get the hang of shaping it. As the neck is curved and the nut is flat I've had to make the curve by hand, but I can never seem to get it well enough curved to sit flat inside it's groove. Is there some simple step that I'm missing or some common tool that I have overlooked?

[Tony G]

maybe a small file would be a better choice than sand paper?

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by Joshua

I'm confused (not unusual!), are you trying to sand the bottom of the nut, or file slots for the strings?

I think he means slots for the strings. At least that is the way I've understood it.

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by Joshua

If so, then your answer is right on. Stew Mac sells nice sets of files...

but maybe I'm wrong....in fact, when reading it again, I'm not sure what he means either.

[Showdown]

I think he is talking about the bottom of the nut. On a Fender the nut slot is radiused the same as the fingerboard. If the bottom of the nut is flat it has to be sanded into a curve that matches.

The best way to do it is with a radiused sanding block. On one bass I used the fingerboard itself as a sanding block, placing the sandpaper face up on it and clamping it down with a capo. It worked great but left some minor marks on the ebonol fingerboard. They were very fine scratches, but so fine that you couldn't feel them running a fingernail over them. I think it is because ebonol is shiny, and that it probably wouldn't have shown up on a wood fingerboard. Like I said, minor, nothing that affected the playability.