Nut Repair - The baking soda and super glue trick

Started by Elantric, December 19, 2013, 08:56:20 PM

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Elantric







"Can a broken nut can be fixed with baking soda and super glue?" Lou, a singer here in Athens, Ohio, brought this question to Dan Erlewine (along with the broken nut on his Yamaha guitar). As it turns out, the answer is yes and no...

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fokof


bbob

#2
Quote from: Vade on September 16, 2014, 09:30:31 AM
my nut is cut too low on the D string. I guess I'll be installing that graph tech nut then. Just another day in my first year with electric guitar.

You could try the superglue / baking soda trick:



Bob

Elantric

#3
Quotemy nut is cut too low on the D string.

It might be the Truss rod too.

I do find that Godin barely uses enough Glue to hold the nut during manufacture - most Nuts fall off my new Godins  when the strings are removed and requires re-gluing the Nut with a drop of superglue


QuoteYou could try the superglue / baking soda trick:



Bob
I do this all the time, mix superglue with baking soda to fill in the nut slot, then re-cut using Warmoth Nut Slot Files, to open up nut slots that are too tight

http://www.warmoth.com/Nut-Files-Set-of-3-P44C215.aspx




then follow up with  lubrication - some use ChapStick - I prefer Big Bends Nut Sauce
http://www.bigbends.com/


Vade

I just did a truss rod adjustment yesterday following the instructions in "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great"

http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Guitar-Great-Softcover-Player/dp/0879306017

I started with no relief, very high saddles, and first fret string buzz. I lowered the saddles and adjusted the truss rod till the buzzing stopped; 3/8 turn. Satisfied with the action and relief I set the intonation, added my Mag Lok, and followed the recommendation on pg 54 to press on the third fret and look for space beneath the strings at the first fret. There was a tiny bit of space on all but the D string and it does have very small amount of intermittent buzz the other strings don't have. It's so slight I'm putting it into the "I'll get to it" category. Before that I want to see how the Mag Lok does in keeping the tuning stable. In very brief whammy bar testing the tuning seemed to drift one bar as measured by the GP-10's tuner (1%?). So IIRC changing the nut was one of the recommendations Elantric gave for improving tuning stability on the xtSA. If I'm not satisfied with the tuning stability I'll just change out the nut and then see whether the stock tuners will serve. So say I with my vast experience of one truss rod adjustment.
Drachen; Fender FTP Strat w/internal GK-3, Godin xtSA w/FTP, Boss GP-10, VoiceLive 3, Scarlett 18i8, ZBox IQ01, On-Lap 1502i, D:fine 4088, 4E Dual Axis Exp Pedal, VoiceSolo FX-150, Yamaha DXR 10, Gem. M2 Flute, Special 20 Harmonicas. Fender Deluxe Reverb Mahogany Cane.

https://soundcloud.com/vadie

Elantric


admin

#6
Because this is a typical  Luthier technique
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luthier

Tony Raven

Quote from:  philjynx on June 28, 2017, 12:53:03 PMwhy is this filed under GK-13 Reference Knowledge > GK-13 Luthier / DIY Info ?
My first thought as well -- didn't teach me nothing about fixing GK-13 hardware. :)

Quote from: admsustainiac on June 28, 2017, 03:25:44 PM
Because this is a typical  Luthier technique
No, it isn't, not by a long shot. First I've heard of it, & I've been fixing guitars since 1974 (former member, Guild of American Luthiers). It's actually a typical model airplane technique, but people confuse those with Roland hardware all the time. ;D
_______________

There's a LOT of mistaken notions about cyanoacrylate, as my co-workers demonstrate: the stuff has been banned from our shop floor & its used tightly controlled by Maintenance.

Foremost, it is NOT by itself a space-filler. In this instance, that's why the bicarb is used. As an adhesive, the mating surfaces should be relatively flat & parallel, keeping the adhesive as thin as possible.

Cyanoacrylate has low shear strength. A sharp sideways rap will generally break glued pieces apart, & cleanly. That's why it's used to tack a nut into place.

I don't know I'd recommend the stuff generally. Used by amateurs, the glue is laid on far too generously, in the entire slot, & not unusually with an obvious gap to the fingerboard end (yet slopped up onto the wood). I can imagine the number of guitars that already have permanent fingerprints on necks & headstocks & fretboards. ::)

The nut fix appears to be a "field repair" at best. As Erlewine clearly says, the compound "chips like glass," maybe NOT a property you want in a nut.

The title is a bit of a cheat, as first Erlewine demonstrates on a BONE nut, using filings from another bone nut he happens to have handy -- few of us likely possess both. ;) And then he goes on to make the promised repair by installing a new pre-cut Tusq nut. :( Bummer that he didn't demonstrate how to, dunno, patch up a plastic nut.

I might try the "baking soda" thing if I was playing a Saturday gig in the boondocks, & couldn't borrow a suitable replacement instrument, just to get me to Monday. (See, up here the nearest store that'd be open Sunday is like 250 miles away.)

...however, it requires that I also happen to have my slot files along... which probably means that I've also got blanks & probably one or two pre-cut nuts. ;D

Maybe it'd be good for preserving value in a vintage guitar by maintaining that "all-original" fetish.

For most of us, though, as a temp fix, wouldn't a bit of two-part epoxy be at least as good...?