Has this ever happened to you?

[dougjwray]

Last night, I was stringing a bass with a slightly heavier gauge G string. The slot in the nut was too narrow, so the string lay on top.
Out of curiousity, I gently pressed down to see if I could make it fit in there, and BING! a piece of the nut flew across the room! Good thing my eye wasn't in the way. I've been playing for nearly 39 years, and this was a first for me. The string does now sit where it's supposed to, and seems stable, but obviously I have to make a trip to my repair guy. How annoying.

[ehque]

Hrmmm. Generally, forcing stuff is a bad idea. The proper way was to widen the slot, at least you know that now.

[dougjwray]

Originally Posted by ehque

Hrmmm. Generally, forcing stuff is a bad idea. The proper way was to widen the slot, at least you know that now.

NOW you tell me.

[Turnaround]

Whenever you change strings to a heavier gauge, you must be careful that the nut slots are cut right for the heavier gauge. Just finished installing a new nut on a Yammy - the old one broke when the player tried to install a 110 gauge E string into a 105 gauge slot. Ping! Most of the nut damage I have seen over the years has been caused when installing heavier strings.

[dougjwray]

I guess I'm just more of an artist (artiste) than a gearhead...

[xgator4u]

well, look on the bright side, I bet you will not do that again, and it could have been worse/more costly of an educational experience.