2010 American Special Stratocaster® | Part 5

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Bone Nut Setup

Howdy folks :) It's CA again, with the fifth post on this gorgeous Sunburst American Special Stratocaster®. Let's start the ball rolling, then. Now, before carrying out a refret or fret dress, I usually remove the nut to allow me to follow through on my sanding beam strokes. I realize not everyone does this, but well; it's easier for me this way. And it so happened that while I was gingerly removing this Strat's nut, it somehow cracked just below the A-string slot.

"Definitely a case for a new nut," I thought. After some discussion with the owner, it was decided that a new bone nut be installed. He had heard good things about bone; and was eager to try one out. I had on hand a 43mm Strat cow bone nut blank that had "starter slots" already cut; this would be a good choice.

The first step was sanding the peghead side of the nut to reduce its width so that it would fit snugly in the slot. That being done, it was time to radius the bottom of the nut; as it was dead flat. The bottom of the nut needed to be radiused to 9.5" to match the curve of the bottom of the fretboard nut channel.

This took lots of time and patience; but finally seeing the bottom of the nut fit nicely on the fretboard brought on a deep sense of satisfaction. Once the nut fit properly in the fretboard nut channel, the next step was to mark the maximum depth of the slots. No, I did not use the "half-pencil technique," as I lost the last one years ago; and did not have a belt sander on hand.

Instead, a stack of feeler gauges and a mechanical pencil were used to draw a curved line on the fretboard side of the nut. This line was a tad higher than the height of the first fret as a safety measure. Following this, various nut files were used to gradually deepen each nut slot until the bottom just touched the pencil line. Having reached this stage, I was now able to file the top and sides of the nut to create a rough profile; and also dress the slots.

Then, once the strings were on; the final setup was carried out. This began with further deepening each nut slot until there was just a hair's width between the bottom of each string and the top of the first fret. With minimal string clearance such as this, you'll achieve optimal action at the first fret. No more sore fingers from F or Bb Major barre chords ;)

Once the slots were at the targeted depth, the top and sides of the nut were once again filed, sanded and polished until the desired profile was achieved. Kindly note that the top of the nut needs to be filed down to where no more than half of the wound strings sit in their respective slots. I have found that a string buried too deep in its slot is a sure recipe for a host of problems further down the road. Meanwhile, here are three useful online resources on nut making and setup:

Fitting Nuts: The Curved Bottom — Haze Guitars

Fitting Nuts: Pre-Shaped Nuts Part 2 - Installation — Haze Guitars

Making a Nut, Step-by-Step — Dan Erlewine

Well, folks, that's basically how this lovely Sunburst American Special Stratocaster® was fitted with a custom bone nut. Thanks for dropping by, and I'll see you again real soon :)

Custom Neck-Through Tele Rehab: Part Three

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Well, let's see here. I've already refinished this Tele in Tru-Oil and installed the electronics. Now it's time to string it up and do a proper setup for maximum playability. Easier said than done, huh?

The maple fretboard's already as straight as an arrow, so I reckon there won't be much truss rod tweaking needed. So on goes the Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys, I tune up, and then realize the first issue: excessively-high action at the nut. Boy, are you going to have problems fretting barre chords such as F or Bb major!

In case you're wondering just how I determine nut action, it's pretty simple. With the guitar tuned to pitch, press any string at the 3rd fret and eyeball the distance between the bottom of that string and the top of the first fret. There should only be a tiny gap, a hair's width; one might say. I know there are more scientific ways to measure the gap using feeler gauges and what not; but eyeballing it works just fine for me. If there's just a tiny sliver of light shining through; you'll be good to go.

Anyway, out come the fret and torch nozzle files; and away we go. Now I've lowered the nut action to where I like it, the strings are sitting way too deep in their slots. And then there's the fact that this bone nut is really gnarly and needs a face lift. A nut reprofile job should kill these two birds with one stone, methinks.

I start by filing the top of the nut down to where about half the diameter of the wound strings are visible, and then do a cleanup and polish with successively finer grits of 3M Flexible Polishing Papers. I really like these polishing papers as they're flexible, durable; and offer a degree of control you won't get with regular sandpaper.

So now the nut's been taken care of. The fretboard's still relatively flat with the strings tuned up; and there's only the tiniest bit of relief in the 7th to 9th fret area. Nice, but fretting any string at the 21st and 22nd frets produces the same note. This means that the 22nd fret is way too high -- when you fret a note at the 21st fret, it's actually fretting at the 22nd!

The solution is to do a really minor fret dress on just the 22nd fret to lower it. I do just that; problem solved. Of course there's lots of fine sanding and polishing to do after lowering the fret height; but that's life. I've finally got the action and intonation just right, so I'm calling it a day on this job. Here's a YouTube video of yours truly trying out this Tele straight into my Fender Champion 40, no effects; no nuthin.