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01-23-2008, 10:28 AM
| | |  Nut Repair
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Ok, so the bass guitar I play currently is a Fender Aerodyne P-bass. It is, by far, the best bass guitar I have ever owned.
It sounds and feels awesome, but I have one problem:
the spaces where the A and the D string lay in the nut was cut just a little too deep.
Because of this, my open A and D rattle like crazy.
How do I fix this without having to take it to a repair guy and/or taking my nut off completely and replacing it? |
01-23-2008, 10:32 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Virginia Beach, VA | | | What type of nut material? Slots can usually be built up with superglue and either powdered graphite or baking soda.
Riis
__________________
"20% of the money will buy you 90% of the sound..another 30% of the money will buy you another 5% of the sound..you can't buy the remaining 5% of the sound because nobody can agree about what it is." |
01-23-2008, 10:39 AM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Zooberwerx  What type of nut material? Slots can usually be built up with superglue and either powdered graphite or baking soda.
Riis | I'm not too sure, but I'm pretty sure
it's just an average bone material nut
typically found on Fender Bass guitars |
01-23-2008, 11:21 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Virginia Beach, VA | | | I ripped this off from Pilbarabass:
Hi,
The other day, I noticed some severe E-string "backbuzz" (buzzing on frets between nut and fingers) on my otherwise-very-well-setup Yamaha RBX170.
The culprit? a nut slot that had worn down quite deep. Plastic nuts can wear quite quickly, and since I've been playing the daylights out of this thing in the last two years, I'm not surprised.
I checked it by fretting the 3rd fret and sure-enough, the string was resting against the 1st fret (there should be the TINYEST of gaps there. Jamming a folded-over piece of paper in the slot under the string revealed that this was INDEED the issue.
So what to do? New nut? perhaps...but that's a bit of a hassle, especially in australia...so I did a quick search on the internet...and the repair became evident.
super glue and baking soda...I did some experiments with a ground up calcium tablet (calcium carbonate), and baking powder, but baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) worked best because the superglue wicked through it best...
what I did, was using electrical tape...I masked off both sides along the nut...then, using more electrical tape, I made a "dam" on each side of the nut slot...
now with the dam nice and tight...a tiny drop of super glue into the slot...then, I packed in some baking soda. I pushed it down with a toothpick and placed more baking soda where the super glue "bled" through...then I removed the tape along the dam and cleaned up the excess...then I let it sit for about 10 minutes (plenty of time really for this method)...
then using some inexpensive needle files that I bought for $2 from a dollar shop, I first evened out the extremities with a small flat file...then using the round file, I slowly and methodically began reshaping the groove...stopping often to check the string in the slot...
after I was close but still a bit high, I strung up the string and checked it out...I then removed the string and made some tweaks....I repeated the "tweaking" about 5 times, until I was completely satisfied with the job...
the entire operation took about 1/2 hour...and now everything is terrific again...
__________________
...I collect knowledge...(one day I hope to apply some of it)
__________________
"20% of the money will buy you 90% of the sound..another 30% of the money will buy you another 5% of the sound..you can't buy the remaining 5% of the sound because nobody can agree about what it is." |
01-25-2008, 03:51 PM
| | |
Okay, so I solved this problem
with super glue and baking soda.
I must thank you very much, now that my strings don't buzz anymore, I lowered the action and reset the intonation, so my bass plays 13625642 times better than ever.
Thanks again! |
01-25-2008, 04:32 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Gladstone, QLD, Australia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Zooberwerx I ripped this off from Pilbarabass:
... |
you didn't rip it off...
we share knowledge here...
hence, I gave it freely, and you accepted it 
besides...i "ripped it off" someone else...  |
01-26-2008, 06:50 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Virginia Beach, VA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by PilbaraBass you didn't rip it off...
we share knowledge here...
hence, I gave it freely, and you accepted it
besides...i "ripped it off" someone else... | Ha-ha! I love this place! Just wanted to acknowledge my sources even if it was a copy / paste function.
FTR, I found that the brush-on superglue liquid works far better than the gel.
Have a great weekend, folks!
Riis
__________________
"20% of the money will buy you 90% of the sound..another 30% of the money will buy you another 5% of the sound..you can't buy the remaining 5% of the sound because nobody can agree about what it is." |
01-26-2008, 01:27 PM
| | | | We all stand on someone's shoulders. |
01-26-2008, 05:38 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Gladstone, QLD, Australia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by 202dy We all stand on someone's shoulders. | ahhh...that explains this pain i've been having in my right shoulder...and to think I thought it was a pinched nerve... |
01-26-2008, 05:42 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Somewhere in the maritimes. | | Quote:
Originally Posted by 202dy We all stand on someone's shoulders. | 
__________________
Space Duck
|
01-27-2008, 12:57 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Virginia Beach, VA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by 202dy We all stand on someone's shoulders. | Yes, but I'm already 6'4" and heights make me dizzy. I'm getting a little woozy...I'd better sit down.
Riis
__________________
"20% of the money will buy you 90% of the sound..another 30% of the money will buy you another 5% of the sound..you can't buy the remaining 5% of the sound because nobody can agree about what it is." | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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