how to build a wooden nut (help me please)

[chilepunkbass]

Hello.
I am in a little problem and I thought you guys could help me.
thing is, I bought a bass with a broken truss rod (call me what you will, but it was a total steal), mostly to take it to school, so my peavey doesen't get stolen.
But 3-4 days ago I decided to build a new neck with a pice of oak that I had hanging around. So since school starts in under a week, that means I will have to put togheter my jazz bass again in 2 weeks. therefore, the neck has no truss rod, a flat fingerboard, random sacle lenght and it's fretless.
Moving on, the neck is almost finished except for one small detail... the nut. I can't use the one on my jazz, because its made for a rounded fingerboard (or can I?????) and I can't buy one, because they don't sell any in santiago and buying one from another country isn't an option, because it would take about 2 months to get here.
So...I will have to make it.
I have some small pieces of wood (mostly oak and rauli (a native chilean hardwood), and some pine). So...
How do I actually make it?
how do I make the string slots?
Thanks in advance

 

[tungx]

Here's a link that might get you started:

Invalid Link Removed

 

[gbarcus]

I make mine out of scrap pieces of ebony.
I use a drill press and the side of a drill bit to cut the string groove. (do this at your own risk. )
You just have to be careful about putting too much side presser on the side of a drill bit not to snap it off.
I use a pencil that I sanded in half to run across the tops of the frets to mark the general area of how deep I should go and how high i should make the nut.
I then fine tune it with the strings on.

 

[Technicality]

You can make the nut out of anything, but the more friction it introduces the harder it will be to keep your bass in tune. A harder, smoother surface has less friction, so you want the hardest wood you have and to get the slots nice and smooth.

 

[hdracer]

I make mine out of scrap pieces of ebony.
I use a drill press and the side of a drill bit to cut the string groove. (do this at your own risk. )
You just have to be careful about putting too much side presser on the side of a drill bit not to snap it off.
I use a pencil that I sanded in half to run across the tops of the frets to mark the general area of how deep I should go and how high i should make the nut.
I then fine tune it with the strings on.

I've done it by laying out the nut on the piece you are going to use and drilling the holes first, then cutting off the excess and shaping and fitting.