New nut

[GIBrat51]

Personally, I would bring it to a good guitar tech or a luthier and replace it with Tusq.
Not that costly, will be done properly and will probably last forever.
As a bonus, the Tusq material has a very low coefficient of friction and allows for a more accurate and easy tuning with your tuner pegs.

Oh, and Tusq is also very robust.

^THIS^ If the manufacturer/custom shop gives me a choice? I always go with a Tusq nut. And, with the exception of a brass nut on my '73 Rick 4001 ('cause, hey; it was the thing to do back then), every nut I've ever had to replace, was replaced with a Tusq.
For a Fender Jazz Bass? Tusq makes nuts expressly for a Jazz Bass. There will most likely be a minimal amount of fitting required (no two basses are identical, after all), but it should be as close to a drop-in fit as you can get...

 

[NYgiant]

^THIS^ If the manufacturer/custom shop gives me a choice? I always go with a Tusq nut. And, with the exception of a brass nut on my '73 Rick 4001 ('cause, hey; it was the thing to do back then), every nut I've ever had to replace, was replaced with a Tusq.
For a Fender Jazz Bass? Tusq makes nuts expressly for a Jazz Bass. There will most likely be a minimal amount of fitting required (no two basses are identical, after all), but it should be as close to a drop-in fit as you can get...

Ended up going with a bone nut that the luthier will cut the slots in and custom fit. I showed him the Tusq nut and he measured the area on my bass and was telling me that E and G strings might be further out than I was used to and some other stuff. So I just said, you know what forget it, just cut it from scratch. He recommended bone, so… guess that’s what I’ll be getting.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Ended up going with a bone nut that the luthier will cut the slots in and custom fit. I showed him the Tusq nut and he measured the area on my bass and was telling me that E and G strings might be further out than I was used to and some other stuff. So I just said, you know what forget it, just cut it from scratch. He recommended bone, so… guess that’s what I’ll be getting.

Then you will have to play Thorogood's Bad to the bone !

 

[NYgiant]

Then you will have to play Thorogood's Bad to the bone !

Yup! ba ba ba ba baaaaad.

 

[ADHD librarian]

^THIS^ If the manufacturer/custom shop gives me a choice? I always go with a Tusq nut. And, with the exception of a brass nut on my '73 Rick 4001 ('cause, hey; it was the thing to do back then), every nut I've ever had to replace, was replaced with a Tusq.
For a Fender Jazz Bass? Tusq makes nuts expressly for a Jazz Bass. There will most likely be a minimal amount of fitting required (no two basses are identical, after all), but it should be as close to a drop-in fit as you can get...

I find the tusq pre-slotted jazz bass nuts have the E and G slots too close to the edge of the fretboard.

 

[NYgiant]

I find the tusq pre-slotted jazz bass nuts have the E and G slots too close to the edge of the fretboard.

Funny, that’s exactly what he was telling me. I thought he was blowing smoke but I guess not. I didn’t check to see if I could have gotten a blank Tusq nut and had him cut it to exact specs. Oh well.

 

[ADHD librarian]

Funny, that’s exactly what he was telling me. I thought he was blowing smoke but I guess not. I didn’t check to see if I could have gotten a blank Tusq nut and had him cut it to exact specs. Oh well.

I have (in the past) made a tusq nut work on a Jazz by filling the slots with baking soda and super glue & then filing new slots. Probably takes away much of the benefit of tusq (and certainly takes away the benefit of buying something pre-slotted). But it got me out of a hole until I could get the local guitar tech to make me a bone nut.

 

[ADHD librarian]

here is the difference between a tusq & one where the slots are in the right place (for my 2007 MIM deluxe)

 

[NYgiant]

here is the difference between a tusq & one where the slots are in the right place (for my 2007 MIM deluxe)View attachment 5391614

Wow, that’s actually a huge difference. Glad I didn’t go with the pre cut even though it’s not Tusq.

 

[Gervais Cote]

here is the difference between a tusq & one where the slots are in the right place (for my 2007 MIM deluxe)View attachment 5391614

I can only agree that the slot for the G string is too close from the edge making easy to break.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Funny, that’s exactly what he was telling me. I thought he was blowing smoke but I guess not. I didn’t check to see if I could have gotten a blank Tusq nut and had him cut it to exact specs. Oh well.

There’s nothing wrong with a well cut bone nut. If your guy does a good job it will sound great and last a long time.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Just a little trick : when I use other materials than Tusq for the nut on my basses, I take a 4B pencil and fill the grooves by coloring them in the bottom with the pencil before installing the strings. This helps making the grooves a bit more slippery and allows for easier tuning adjustments.

 

[RSBBass]

I think the material a bass nut is made from is less important than that it is well made. A tech made nut will be made for your bass.