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Nut slot ?

sc1991

Junior Member
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I have a custom tele with a 3/4 nut slot cut out i know its 42mm wide but how thick is the slot normally cut i got a 42mm x 3.5mm and that doesn't fit ?
 
I have a Strat neck here that doesn't have a nut on it at the moment, and the slot is freshly cut from Warmoth. It measures 3.10mm. I have a Tele neck with the nut installed, and the nut itself measures 3.12mm. I have some loose nuts that measure 3.10mm and 3.11mm. Going by all that, I'd say a 3.5mm nut isn't going to fit.
 
Would a 3mm be alright may be a little loose but its only gonna be about .40mm difference which is tiny ?
 
Just sand the nut that is too big on a flat surface until it fits. Seems like that would be the easiest way to solve the problem.
 
sc1991 said:
Would a 3mm be alright may be a little loose but its only gonna be about .40mm difference which is tiny ?

You could try it, I suppose. Worst thing that could happen is with it not fitting the slot tightly, it may break loose on its own under use. The nut is usually held in place by either wood or "super" glue, neither of which is really designed for that duty, but you're only trying to hold the thing in place rather than fasten it for good, as would be the case if you used something like epoxy. Don't use epoxy, though. The day will come where you need to replace that nut, and it'll be a cast iron bitch to get the old one off if it's too well attached. Just be sure the nut is flush up against the body side of the slot so you don't have intonation problems.
 
To expand on what Rapfohl09 said, A sanding block and some 220 grit sand paper will allow you to get it to fit.  Put it on its side and sand it a little thinner.  Watch that you keep moving how you hold it, it will wear more on one side verses another if you don't keep changing your hold.  I must say, I have never encountered this problem, I guess I got lucky.
Patrick

 
+1 on sand it. Get a custom fit that way.

Get some calipers to keep the thickness even. I got a cheap plastic one at OSH (I have a good metal one as well). But the plastic one was less than $20 and reads in metric, inch and fraction in a digital readout. No more squinting at small drill bits with my strongest reading glasses, I just mic them now. It's small, it measures up to 3". I use it to measure all kinds of things on guitars.

 
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