Replacing a nut

[SColfax]

I think the nut on my 2012 American Standard Tele is cut too deep on the D string. Can I just get a GraphTech nut and shove it in there without having to adjust anything?

GraphTech has nuts that are pre-cut for Strats, but they don't specify anything about Teles. Are they essentially the same thing?

[hemingway]

I just bought a nut a few weeks back, and I chose it by the measurement - I think 42mm is fairly standard for Fenders? It fit right in to a strat neck and I reckon it would fit a tele, too.

Problem is I went and filed that one too much, too.

Idiot.

[telex76]

You never can tell. You can put it on and it might be better, or it might not.
Nuts really need to be made for a particular guitar, with slots cut to the right depth for your particular set-up.
You might get lucky, slap it on there and be alright. Or not.

[allen082]

Those nuts are slotted but will usually require just a bit more work to make them perfect. There's plenty of threads here showing how to do it. Its pretty easy if you take your time and have a couple of tools.....

[Picton]

I now make my own nuts (it took me awhile to do it confidently on the first try, but then so does anything). Back in The Day, though, I dropped a black Tusq nut into my MIM and it fit perfectly, needing absolutely no alteration, with .010s...

I think it depends on how you like your guitar set up. I like my action a bit higher than most.

Goodf luck; to me, they're cheap enough that if I was doing a StewMac order anyway, I might throw one in just to see if I liked it.

[Skub]

You could always repair the D string slot,at this stage you have nothing to lose anyway.

[xtrajerry]

Originally Posted by Skub

You could always repair the D string slot,at this stage you have nothing to lose anyway.

=1

[SColfax]

Originally Posted by Skub

You could always repair the D string slot,at this stage you have nothing to lose anyway.

Ah, so build up the slot in the plastic nut somehow? I'll look that up, thanks!

[Skub]

Originally Posted by SColfax

Ah, so build up the slot in the plastic nut somehow? I'll look that up, thanks!

Yep,here's one of the search results.

[charlie chitlin]

Very easy to build up a slot with baking soda and super glue and, as far as I can tell, it's a permanent repair.
Depending on the thickness of the glue, it will soak into the baking soda more or less.
Thicker glues may require that the repair be done in a couple layers.
And...I can guarantee that an off-the-shelf nut will never just drop in and be right.
Each nut needs to be cut for the guitar.
Heck...you can drop $2k on a guitar and the nut will still need to be cut.

[SColfax]

Sweet, thanks everyone!

[funkymann1]

i have used crazy glue to fill in one nut slot plenty of times....
remove the string
lay guitar flat
add the glue in the slot & make sure a small bump forms on top before you let it dry overnight
sand it flat next day
reslot to your specs
good luck...
if you choose to replace the nut with another slotted nut graphtech or not you would have a better chance winning the lottery then not having to modify the slots to the guitar....pre-slotted nuts just give you an idea were the string will go before you make the slots deeper or at least shim the nut if there all 2 deep.....