Nut files, yeah again
- Thread starter Marc Morfei
- Start date
AU $1.34 44％ Off | Professional Guitar Nut Slotting File Kit Saw Rods Slot Filing Set Luthier Electric Classical guitar Tools For Music Accessory
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mL1gCiI
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mL1gCiI
otterhound
Poster Extraordinaire
I had believed differently . Thanks .
Would you please post here where they are available ? To me , they are worth the plunge .
Peegoo
Doctor of Teleocity
I cannot say either way...I bought these files about 15 years ago.
Peegoo
Doctor of Teleocity
Some versions of the Stooge Mac files are the same.
The simple solution is to occasionally plane off the top of the nut with a large flat mill file as you deepen the string slots.
For the price you get charged around here for someone else to do it with variable results the good tools pay off really fast.
I've touched up 3-4 guitars with my nice set of files. They don't owe me anything at this point, that's enough.
If you're going to experiment with substitutes you aren't even going to save that much necessarily by the time you figure it out. Just save yourself the time (your time is worth $ too) and just go pay someone else to touch up your guitar.
This is another one of the guitar things where it makes no sense to see people being so cheap when they are happy to hemorrhage money at the drop of a hat for other guitar related stuff.
If you're buying/flipping/collecting a lot of guitars it really makes sense to just get something decent and be done with it.
I've touched up 3-4 guitars with my nice set of files. They don't owe me anything at this point, that's enough.
If you're going to experiment with substitutes you aren't even going to save that much necessarily by the time you figure it out. Just save yourself the time (your time is worth $ too) and just go pay someone else to touch up your guitar.
This is another one of the guitar things where it makes no sense to see people being so cheap when they are happy to hemorrhage money at the drop of a hat for other guitar related stuff.
If you're buying/flipping/collecting a lot of guitars it really makes sense to just get something decent and be done with it.
They are usually a pacakge of various shapes, pointed, oval, round, square, triangle, and very small. They are handy, but not for nut slotting!
I think those are jeweler's files/ Needle files/ swiss pattern files you are talking about. Some are OK for larger string slots.
Crescent Nicholson 6 Pc. Assorted Miniature File Set - 42030L: Hand Files: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement
File Sets - Files - MSC Industrial Supply (mscdirect.com)
General Tools Swiss Pattern Needle Files Set (12-Piece)-S475 - The Home Depot
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highwaycat
Tele-Holic
I found joint round edge precision files from Glardon-Vallorbe. Grobet has them and I believe Nicholson may too. I’ve never tried them.
They are more expensive than the stewmac files though. I’ll give em a try sometime.
I don’t know the cut/coarse of the files though.
How where the Martin ones?
otterhound
Poster Extraordinaire
Can't really say about their file cut , but they sure do the job for cutting a nut slot with a round bottom . Martin sold the Grobet files . I can't comment on the others simply because I don't know . As I said before , they are worth every cent to me because they are the correct tool for the job . Quality can be expensive initially , but afterwards it typically pays for itself many times over . It makes no difference to me as to whose you buy as long as you don't waste time on the wrong thing .
paulhealey
TDPRI Member
I second the comment of the guy who said bring it to a luthier. My guess is if you don’t own this tool you don’t cut a lot of nuts. In my opinion, anything the strings touch is pretty important for playability- it’s worth the few bucks to have a pro to do it, have it done properly, and not worth it to buy the tool (unless you think you will be cutting a bunch of nuts down the road - then get the tool and have at it!)
Slowman
TDPRI Member
Antiques Electronics Supply sells nut files for $11.50 each .
I have both the single-gauge round-bottom, and the Hosco style. Both have their place, but the Hosco are my main files. The others are helpful for fine tweaking to an existing slot, sometimes.
Philadelphia Luthier Supply has them at a good price, along with a good selection of round-bottom files. In my experience, when PLS has an item similar to StewMac, it's very good quality, and less expensive.
Philadelphia Luthier Supply has them at a good price, along with a good selection of round-bottom files. In my experience, when PLS has an item similar to StewMac, it's very good quality, and less expensive.
Slowman
TDPRI Member
Antiques Electronics Supply sells nut files for $11.50 each . They work fine but the thin ones bend easy so I glued a small piece of wood to either side for rigidity and helped a bunch , hope this helps .
DFGuitars
TDPRI Member
On page 56 of how to make your electric guitar Play great by Dan Erlewine, You can find Instructions to make your own nut file.
here's the bottom line.. Guys seem to want their guitar's perfect... well if you are unwilling to spend the $$ to purchase the correct tool, then 1, either do not attempt to jury rig whatever you are trying to do, or 2, take the leap, get the tools. because if you don't you will NEVER be able to do the job correctly... NEVER.. and the fact that is's not correct will get in your brain and rattle around like that marble in the bottom of Rattle cans of paint, forever... they call them "rattle cans" for a reason..
My Dad, built boats as a hobby when I was a Kid.. he used to drill me with the fact that "there never seems to be enough time to do a job correctly, but there always seems to be enough time to do it over... right the second time..."
breadfreak
TDPRI Member
Many will disagree with me but all you need is one triangular file and a gentle touch.
jefrs
Doctor of Teleocity
The only way, the only way to cut and shape the slots properly, is with the correct tool. And that is with the tapered Hosco files. There are other makes.
Ideally you may need a set of micro-saws as well, which are straight cut, to mark and take out some of the material. And then a set of nut shaping files to finish the nut before polishing it, this can be done with small normal files but they are not sharp enough to do a good job. None of these are cheap.
The slot should not be a straight cut across but a slight curve leading the string from fretboard to tuner, otherwise it will buzz.
It is a skilled job that takes practice to learn. One stoke too deep and the nut is ruined, be prepared for failures.
It is good to learn how to do the job properly yourself but it may be best to take the job to a good luthier. Bear in mind that many shop guitar techs are bodgers so check their reputation and previous work.
Whilst the tapered files should last a lifetime, I am on my second set and they are well worn.
Wound_Up
Tele-Holic
You can buy single files from StewMac for a lot less than having to buy the entire set. That's what I did. I just bought the 2 I needed and that was that. Much easier on the wallet that way. You say you just need to adjust a slot or two, so that seems like a logical solution. I'd have a look and see what they've got if you haven't bought anything already.
The way I figure it, if I ever need to do a different slot, I'll just buy that file and add it to the set-in-progress and eventually I'll have a whole set for guitars lol. And spreading out the cost over what's likely years will make it easier to stomach lol
https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-too...r-nuts-and-saddles/gauged-nut-slotting-files/
I pretty much went against all recommendations when I decided to replace the nut on my new guitar only 2 months into learning to play. That lead to the slots needing to be adjusted on the Graphtech nut I installed. All this only a couple of months into learning to play. Pretty much everyone I asked about it told me I needed to/should learn to play for quite a while longer before I attempt something like that but I knew I already had the skills to do it so I did, despite being told by pretty much anyone I asked for advice "you need to learn to play more". I'm still not sure how learning to play would help me replace the nut in 12 months lol. I rebuilt engines and transmissions and things for a living. Replacing a nut and adjusting the slots with nut files afterwards was a cake walk.
I didn't do it just to do it. The slots were far too low on the stock nut so I replaced it instead of replacing the entire guitar. The nut was lopsided and the slots were extra deep, with way too much material above the strings in the slots. That was caused by the strings continually digging the slots lower and lower the more I played it. So I replaced what I thought was a cheap plastic nut. A few months later, I pulled it out of the parts collection and sanded it some in an attempt to straighten out the lopsided-ness and that's when I realized it was also a black Graphtech nut.
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