the right nut

[vtpcnk]

what is the deal with curved, flat nut etc?

and the one with the square protrusion at the bottom?

which is the right one for a strat?

appreciate the feedback.

 

[-CB-]

If your neck has a flat slot, leave the tab on.  Its to support the middle of the nut.

If you have a curved slot, just grind, sand, file, bite, or laser the tab off and it will fit the slot really well.

On vintage necks, the curved slot is the same as the fretboard radius... so you can lay sandpaper over the first fret position and lightly sand the bottom of the nut after you remove the slot, to clean up any wavyness, or to reduce the elevation of the nut slightly.

Most of the time, you'll need to reduce the thickness of the nut by sanding its edges.  Last one I did was done all by measurement - with calipers, and it fit the slot really well.  IOW, no trial and error in the slot.  Just sand it till its "this thick" and you're good to go.

On the width, you'll have to remove a bit from each side.  If the neck is unfinished, you can file, sand and polish it "in situ" (right on the neck).  If the neck is finished, what I do, is get the nut into position and score the underside of each end.  Thats my rough cut mark.  After the rough cut is made on each side, I try it, make sure its ok, then measure the width of the neck.  Sand or file the nut ends a little on each side so the width is the same or maybe .001 or so under.  Done.  Round the top edges a little to make it comfy and modify the slots (if need be).

The last black Tusq nut (used to be called Graphtech nut) didn't need its slots tweaked at all.  I could have... and been really really anal on it.  But it played and felt really nice as it was, so I left it alone.  Used to be, you'd have to remove a bunch of material from the bottom of the nut if the slots were too high (and you didn't have files to lower them).

 

[vtpcnk]

cb, the only preslotted one for guitar with the bottom square protrusion here (item no 4750) looks curved?

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddles/String_nuts/Tusq_Nuts.html

so it is curved and with a protrusion?

 

[Superbeast520]

This place has  a whole bunch to choose from......Allparts Guitar Parts .....http://www.allparts.com/Nuts-and-Saddles-s/104.htm?searching=Y&sort=13&cat=104&show=200&page=1

 

[TJD]

I just installed the tusq pre-slotted nut..I was worried cuz initially it semed high, but a little sanding let me set it better into the slot (flat), My first build and first anything to do with a nut and it plays great. Go for it--you have nothing to lose but a $6 nut if it sucks. Eventually I will get a top pro set-up...The guy who services Aerosmith's guitars is close enough to me and super nice to deal with but there is a big wait....Installing this nut got my axe playable right away and surprisingly well. Check out the Graph tech site--it had great easy instructions.

 

[-CB-]

One reason I do not like Allparts - the pricing.  They're charging $12.50 for what StewMac charges $6.50 for.  

I see W doesn't sell the slotted ones...   depends on if you want pre-slotted or wanna slot yer own.  Sometimes the tusq nuts are a little lumpy - especially the white ones for some reason.  But the black ones seem to be better in conformity, and if the width is ok, I'm not against pre-slotted.  

Sometimes when the nut width (neck width really) is larger or smaller, you're gonna have to cut your own slots.  Its not hard to do.  The key is the spacing and not having to cut the slots too deep so they wander off the mark you made.  So... fit the nut "close" to what it needs to be as far as overall height, then do your slots and if need be, trim the nut down a bit more.

I remember that nut on the BFG Les Paul... omg horrendous.  V shaped slots at terrible elevation.  Like hatchet scores in the nut.  That thing took me longer to "re-fit" than it would have been to fit a new one from scratch.