The baking soda with CA glue trick is a great temporary fix and your method shows how easy it can be. I appreciate your showing the use of a cut straw and the sandpaper around the string in place of buying special tools that will be rarely used.
Hey Phil, I appreciate that you make videos like this. As someone who likes to set up their own instruments but sometimes runs into issues, videos like this are an invaluable resource. Good stuff.
Been doing this for years, in fact I just filled a low slot on a 61 LP SG for a friend the other day. It's a temporary fix at best, but seems to last well when used on bone. C.A. glue seeks moisture, so plastics are risky since they are mostly oil. If the guitar is valuable, mask off the area around the nut to protect adjacent finishes and the fingerboard. Your idea to use the repaired nut as a template is GREAT advice.
I have been SO frustrared trying to adjust my guitar (to get rid of open string buzz) recently, not even considering that the nut may be the problem. Thanks for the video!
For those who don't do this stuff too often, I would have suggested lots of taping off. I have a tele with some marks from my fret file as I filed at an angle. Glue on fret board is not a great thing either(done that too).
I had a nasty accident with superglue once. Damn stuff sneaked down along a fret line and around onto the back of the neck while I wasn't looking. Luckily, sort of, it was one of my own guitars so I didn't mess up another person's pride and joy ....
Good video Phillip. I've done the baking soda trick before. It's works. My set of nut slot files are made by Hosco. The electric set is calibrated for 10's but I find I have no issues with the 9's I play. They were very moderately priced through Philadelphia Luthier. Around $50. I own a lot of guitars and like to work on them, so a small investment for me. (I like to buy budget priced guitars as well) In the past we have used the string and sand paper trick with good results. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. What a difference a properly cut nut makes.
I just bought an electric guitar. The sixth string e was buzzing like heck, and if you look at the neck you can see that it's curved a little bit to the right too much. I just got this guitar today. What I did is a temporary thing as an experiment was a little bit of peace of aluminum foil in the nut. Now I can tune it. But with that said, I would like to thank you for how you did your video it was quick, to the point and no waste of time. All the other videos. Talked about the dogs, the cats, the trip they took, the dog that ran across the street, why the sky was blue that day, and by the time they got to the point it was 90% over and they still didn't say what needed to be said. It almost makes me think why .0002% of the population commits suicide. From their videos I could see why. Thumbs up to you and I'm going to save this video and subscrib
I found some stuff called blufixx that is much easier to work with. It’s a clear viscous gel epoxy that you squeeze a very tiny amount of into the nut slot you need to adjust the height of and then set it with an ultraviolet light. You can clean excess gel with a Qtip so it’s just exactly in the nut slot you are fixing before you use the light and it doesn’t have the chance of running everywhere into your nut slot or onto your fret board. Blufixx comes in different colors, but the clear stuff seems the best since the curing light can penetrate it completely. You can mix it with bone dust or tusq dust, but if you are just making a very small adjustment the clear epoxy is pretty invisible and solid on its own.
A guitar tech cut the nut slots for my Yamaha in order to lower the action a bit at the 1st fret. He also filed down the saddle and adjusted the truss rod. The B and E slots seem a bit deep to me. Approximately 2-3 times the width of the strings. The G string slot basically covers the entire string and maybe goes just a hair higher. Other strings seem ok. What is your opinion on the B and E. Will the nut slot depth affect the guitar in any negative way? I'd actually like to go a hair lower on those strings. Thanks
I was thinking of an epoxy, baking soda and super glue I don’t think will be dense enough. I don’t have an ultra violet light but will find other epoxies.
Good tips, well explained. I had a graphite nut slot get too deep on my Modulus Q5. I had a temporary fix to raise the string in the slot using the insulation sheath from a cable. The luthier I took it to repaired it with powdered pencil lead and super glue. (I don't know which grade of pencil lead) That was 21 years ago and I gigged it plenty for 10 years or more. The nut is still good.
A good thing to know if you're using pencils for the graphite is that if the grade you're using has a "B" it means it has higher amounts of graphite in the core as opposed to just carbon. I used to use Staedtler Lumograph personally
Good point but don't you mean Clay not Carbon? After all Graphite is Carbon innit. Pencil leads are a Graphite/Clay mixture. But again, good point about getting more Graphite from the B end of the scale.
Graphite is carbon. The regular pencils have the graphite for the colour and clay as the binder while some grease/wax can also be in the mix for impregnation. With the grease/wax it runs smooth while writing. The ones from mechanical pencils needs a polymer base or they'd be even more fragile. I'd go for the powdered stuff, since it's cheap and it's fine. All particles will have the same size. Bigger surface=>better adhesion and it's 100% graphite.
Both of you are lifesavers. My idiot guitar “luthier” cut the slot on a high e too deep on a brand new guitar that had a half-cut nut. I was thinking of returning it but now I know how to fix it myself. You guys are the real heroes. And I will never deal with the tech again
@@MrDream-zm1pw 👍 I bought some Actual powdered Graphite a while back. I've only used it the once. Worked welk though. If the nut is white/bone then you can use sodium bicarbonate or even baking powder {bicarb and fine flour} as the substrate for the CA glue... Some folks just put the powder then add a Tiny drop of CA. Others play it safer and "Dam" the ends of the slot. Blue tack works for that job.
Id love to give my Strat to Phil for a set up. Seems like a proper decent bloke with serious attention to detail. Ive been playing guitar for a long time now but have recently been looking into guitar maintenance and how to do set ups. Such good tutorials 👏
I knew the baking soda trick would be in there, but I never thought about filling old nutslots to make a template for the new one. Thx phil. Just as nutslot lubricant I prefer PTFE grease (teflon) over graphite. No tiny magnetic crap flying around and it's a better lubricant, it's cheap and a little goes a long way. I'll use it to fill the black nutslots. I really like the quick tips.
Great video. The title made me laugh right away cause I stopped reading after NUT. Now there's a great video to look forward to on Tuesdays. Thanks Phil.
Awesome video, Phil. These guitar maintenance videos are fantastic for someone like me who is trying to get in to doing some minor guitar work himself. Thanks for what you do!
These are great Phil. Shims always seem kinda random to me in terms of the alteration to the neck angle. Can you please do a vid on how to decide what the optimum neck angle should be? Thanks.
One of the nut slots on one of my cheap guitars was just a shade too low. I slid a tiny piece of paper under the string into the slot. When I tuned it up, it was the perfect height.
I had a worn out nut. So I had it replaced with a Gold Tone Zero-Glide - a direct retrofit zero-fret nut, requiring no additional routing. Love it. Zero-frets are great. Why don't all guitars use them?
goldbug1974 yes please and also a way that you can roll the fretboard edges please. So many bodge examples I’ve seen of people doing this. Is there a tool you can buy?
@@TeleCathster He already did this in the sharpen my axe video with the squier affinity. I also tried that method myself because of him and i'm very pleased with the result
Excellent video. I too love these quick tech tips. But when I learned this one, I was trained to put the baking soda into the slot then drop the CA on top of it. I think I like your way better, except you definatly have to be faster your way.
Another option to build up a slot is to pack it with cotton wool or some cotton from the end of a bud and drip a few drops of superglue onto the cotton
I have the same issue in 3:00 high E string is buzzing and i didn't even know what to do but this vid helped me and im about to try it to my 24 fret strat
FYI the color trick of using graphite is good but I found that using carbon is better and you can literally get that by burning paper and adding the ash. Carbon is also brittle and should be a tiny bit harder but not sure if it would be harder than using graphite. Another quick way of coloring it is after cutting the new slot then just use a sharpie and color it. May not be the same color black but its close enough no one will notice. So it is a worth while trick since it does last a pretty long time, I have yet to wear it down to know how long it lasts.
When I do this my composite gets hard immediately. I have no time to mix and transfer to the nut. What am I doing wrong? I'm using Krazy glue and baking soda.
It would be nice to protect the fingerboard with some tape before apply superglue in the nut... And, what happens with the first and second strings?, they are to small to insert a string with paper grip.
Thanks Phil! The super-glue trick is definitely a temporary solution. Would only resort to it if I didn't already have a new nut. I mean, expensive nuts are still less than $20.
Great video Phil! When doing the baking soda trick I generally file the slots out a little to give a little more area for the glue paste to sit and grab on to, plus it cleans the surface to prep it. I also pack in the baking soda first then add the glue. I'll have to give your way a go as it seems to create less mess... plus the tip with the straw pure gold! :)
You can a no.2 pencil to "lube" the nut slot so the string itself can Have a little"give". It's the graphite in the lead-think I saw this tip on A Dan Erlewine/🍲 StewMac video.
From what little information I've been able to find online, the super glue reacts in a certain way with the bicarbonate to form strong polymer chains, so keeping the baking soda in probably results in a stronger material.
Very informative as always 👍🏻👍🏻 I’ve got a guitar with Floyd rose and the 3rd string buzzes when played open, the neck is well adjusted, could it be sitting too low that it touches the 1st fret? Thank you Phil 🙂
What can i do if there's a gap in the nut space? Like the nut is too thin... and i replaced it... think its the guitars problem was cut to large, but can i just fill it?
Does this work if you want to change the strings for lower tuned guitars? ie instead of E standard you go down to A standard. I guess if you have the correct width files, right? Anyone got a link to good files?
Ah dude, that string and sandpaper tip was exactly what I’ve been looking! Got my subscription 🤘🏼
Phillip Mcknight has literally, the most integrity of any reviewers. Its a rare thing with all these networks around here.
He seems like a real Stand-up guy. I do enjoy his videos. Very relevant & informative.
The baking soda with CA glue trick is a great temporary fix and your method shows how easy it can be. I appreciate your showing the use of a cut straw and the sandpaper around the string in place of buying special tools that will be rarely used.
Is pretty much permanent. The whole nut will wear down before the one with glue will wear down.
Hey Phil, I appreciate that you make videos like this. As someone who likes to set up their own instruments but sometimes runs into issues, videos like this are an invaluable resource. Good stuff.
Good video, Phil. I'd like to see more informational videos on how to fix your guitar like these, so keep up the good work. 🤘
Thank you Phil for talking about repairing the ebony colored nut using graphite, baking soda and super glue. Much appreciated mate !
Phil ! You're just the best! Your videos are always so very helpful - clear, direct, concise and easy to follow. THANK YOU!
Been doing this for years, in fact I just filled a low slot on a 61 LP SG for a friend the other day. It's a temporary fix at best, but seems to last well when used on bone. C.A. glue seeks moisture, so plastics are risky since they are mostly oil. If the guitar is valuable, mask off the area around the nut to protect adjacent finishes and the fingerboard. Your idea to use the repaired nut as a template is GREAT advice.
I’m finally getting around to fixing the nut on my Tele. This is the best quick fix for sure.
Thank you Phil! It was because of you that I got the courage to start fixing my guitars myself, starting with the cheap ones :)
I have been SO frustrared trying to adjust my guitar (to get rid of open string buzz) recently, not even considering that the nut may be the problem. Thanks for the video!
For those who don't do this stuff too often, I would have suggested lots of taping off. I have a tele with some marks from my fret file as I filed at an angle. Glue on fret board is not a great thing either(done that too).
I had a nasty accident with superglue once. Damn stuff sneaked down along a fret line and around onto the back of the neck while I wasn't looking.
Luckily, sort of, it was one of my own guitars so I didn't mess up another person's pride and joy ....
Yeah , agreed . There is ALOT of bad information in this video.
@@dezertson2011 indeed. Poly repels acetone . Beads up like water . Good info to post .
Phil! THis saved my bacon today! thanks so much!
Good video Phillip. I've done the baking soda trick before. It's works. My set of nut slot files are made by Hosco. The electric set is calibrated for 10's but I find I have no issues with the 9's I play. They were very moderately priced through Philadelphia Luthier. Around $50. I own a lot of guitars and like to work on them, so a small investment for me. (I like to buy budget priced guitars as well) In the past we have used the string and sand paper trick with good results. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. What a difference a properly cut nut makes.
I just bought an electric guitar. The sixth string e was buzzing like heck, and if you look at the neck you can see that it's curved a little bit to the right too much. I just got this guitar today. What I did is a temporary thing as an experiment was a little bit of peace of aluminum foil in the nut. Now I can tune it. But with that said, I would like to thank you for how you did your video it was quick, to the point and no waste of time. All the other videos. Talked about the dogs, the cats, the trip they took, the dog that ran across the street, why the sky was blue that day, and by the time they got to the point it was 90% over and they still didn't say what needed to be said. It almost makes me think why .0002% of the population commits suicide. From their videos I could see why. Thumbs up to you and I'm going to save this video and subscrib
The super glue baking soda trick is brilliant
Great tips for us frugal folks THANKS!
I found some stuff called blufixx that is much easier to work with. It’s a clear viscous gel epoxy that you squeeze a very tiny amount of into the nut slot you need to adjust the height of and then set it with an ultraviolet light. You can clean excess gel with a Qtip so it’s just exactly in the nut slot you are fixing before you use the light and it doesn’t have the chance of running everywhere into your nut slot or onto your fret board.
Blufixx comes in different colors, but the clear stuff seems the best since the curing light can penetrate it completely. You can mix it with bone dust or tusq dust, but if you are just making a very small adjustment the clear epoxy is pretty invisible and solid on its own.
A guitar tech cut the nut slots for my Yamaha in order to lower the action a bit at the 1st fret.
He also filed down the saddle and adjusted the truss rod.
The B and E slots seem a bit deep to me.
Approximately 2-3 times the width of the strings.
The G string slot basically covers the entire string and maybe goes just a hair higher.
Other strings seem ok.
What is your opinion on the B and E. Will the nut slot depth affect the guitar in any negative way?
I'd actually like to go a hair lower on those strings.
Thanks
I was thinking of an epoxy, baking soda and super glue I don’t think will be dense enough. I don’t have an ultra violet light but will find other epoxies.
Good tips, well explained.
I had a graphite nut slot get too deep on my Modulus Q5.
I had a temporary fix to raise the string in the slot using the insulation sheath from a cable.
The luthier I took it to repaired it with powdered pencil lead and super glue. (I don't know which grade of pencil lead)
That was 21 years ago and I gigged it plenty for 10 years or more.
The nut is still good.
A good thing to know if you're using pencils for the graphite is that if the grade you're using has a "B" it means it has higher amounts of graphite in the core as opposed to just carbon. I used to use Staedtler Lumograph personally
Good point but don't you mean Clay not Carbon?
After all Graphite is Carbon innit.
Pencil leads are a Graphite/Clay mixture.
But again, good point about getting more Graphite from the B end of the scale.
Graphite is carbon. The regular pencils have the graphite for the colour and clay as the binder while some grease/wax can also be in the mix for impregnation. With the grease/wax it runs smooth while writing. The ones from mechanical pencils needs a polymer base or they'd be even more fragile. I'd go for the powdered stuff, since it's cheap and it's fine. All particles will have the same size. Bigger surface=>better adhesion and it's 100% graphite.
Both of you are lifesavers. My idiot guitar “luthier” cut the slot on a high e too deep on a brand new guitar that had a half-cut nut. I was thinking of returning it but now I know how to fix it myself. You guys are the real heroes. And I will never deal with the tech again
@@MrDream-zm1pw 👍 I bought some Actual powdered Graphite a while back. I've only used it the once.
Worked welk though.
If the nut is white/bone then you can use sodium bicarbonate or even baking powder {bicarb and fine flour} as the substrate for the CA glue...
Some folks just put the powder then add a Tiny drop of CA.
Others play it safer and "Dam" the ends of the slot. Blue tack works for that job.
Id love to give my Strat to Phil for a set up. Seems like a proper decent bloke with serious attention to detail. Ive been playing guitar for a long time now but have recently been looking into guitar maintenance and how to do set ups. Such good tutorials 👏
I knew the baking soda trick would be in there, but I never thought about filling old nutslots to make a template for the new one. Thx phil. Just as nutslot lubricant I prefer PTFE grease (teflon) over graphite. No tiny magnetic crap flying around and it's a better lubricant, it's cheap and a little goes a long way. I'll use it to fill the black nutslots. I really like the quick tips.
From Leo: Good tips Phil. I have several old nuts of various colors that I file into dust for the "baking soda" trick.
Oh man! I thought my nut was ruined but that baking soda w glue trick it amazing!
And also, bring back the sharpen my axe! That was awesome.
3:35 Hey I remember that from my heyday in the 80's! Boy my nose still hurts. 😮
HAHA yeah looks a bit suss
my foreskin still hurts. don't try to superglue things nude.
Keep these coming Phil!!!
I love these tech tips! Could you please do a video on how you level and crown frets?
Excellent camera work. I can actually see Phil is doing.
Enjoyed it phil! I,ve been playing guitar for years but finding a Luthier who can fix things and does it like you do is next to impossible!...Jerry S.
Great video. The title made me laugh right away cause I stopped reading after NUT. Now there's a great video to look forward to on Tuesdays. Thanks Phil.
Saved me 60 bucks thanks - one additional tip - a dremel comes in handy if you waaaay overdo it like i did.
Nice vid. Saves time from replacing the full nut
Awesome video, Phil. These guitar maintenance videos are fantastic for someone like me who is trying to get in to doing some minor guitar work himself. Thanks for what you do!
These are great Phil. Shims always seem kinda random to me in terms of the alteration to the neck angle. Can you please do a vid on how to decide what the optimum neck angle should be? Thanks.
Good job Phil. Keep up the cool work man.
One of the nut slots on one of my cheap guitars was just a shade too low. I slid a tiny piece of paper under the string into the slot. When I tuned it up, it was the perfect height.
I had a worn out nut. So I had it replaced with a Gold Tone Zero-Glide - a direct retrofit zero-fret nut, requiring no additional routing. Love it.
Zero-frets are great. Why don't all guitars use them?
Great and very helpful tips and advice for every one, thank you Phill, and thank You for your Time, Cheers
Phil, could you show how you correctly file down the edges of frets when they start to stick out past the edge of the fretboard?
goldbug1974 yes please and also a way that you can roll the fretboard edges please. So many bodge examples I’ve seen of people doing this. Is there a tool you can buy?
YES please!
He already did this. It's in the 5 mods you can do with your strat video.
@@TeleCathster He already did this in the sharpen my axe video with the squier affinity. I also tried that method myself because of him and i'm very pleased with the result
mauricerrr okay thanks I’ll look that one up. I must have missed that episode.
Great video Phil.
Thank you Phil! You saved my PRS! ( and i live in the middle of nowhere )
remember to put a a painters tape, as not everyone is pro like phillip :D
Great tip re:string & 400 grit sandpaper.
Very cool and informative! Thanks Phil!
I just put some paper between the nut and the string if i wanna raise the action of a single string. Works really great!
Thanks for the info. My acoustic came with nylon strings and when I switched over to steel strings the B string cut it’s way through the nut/bridge.
Excellent video. I too love these quick tech tips. But when I learned this one, I was trained to put the baking soda into the slot then drop the CA on top of it. I think I like your way better, except you definatly have to be faster your way.
Thank you!! Exactly what i needed to know. Its even my G string that’s giving me trouble. Frets sharp at 2. You rule.
Cool information. Thanks Phil
Great video, Phil!
I fixed a guitar cord tip that came off. I used qtip cotton and super glue to make the little water piece between the tip and the longer shaft.
Great tip! I use Carmex lip balm as an alternative to Lubrikit. It's low cost and available just about anywhere!
Holy hell this is a great quick “get by” tip. Thanks !!!
I appreciate you so much Phil. Thank you.
Your the best! Knowledge beyond.. you should start a luthier school or online course of sorts! Id pay for it 👍👍
Thank you Phil!
Great tips Phil! thanks. Keep 'em coming.
Thanks man, you McGyver that nut, thats what i need.
Another option to build up a slot is to pack it with cotton wool or some cotton from the end of a bud and drip a few drops of superglue onto the cotton
I have the same issue in 3:00 high E string is buzzing and i didn't even know what to do but this vid helped me and im about to try it to my 24 fret strat
Love the Tech tips
Good job, it helped a lot!
FYI the color trick of using graphite is good but I found that using carbon is better and you can literally get that by burning paper and adding the ash. Carbon is also brittle and should be a tiny bit harder but not sure if it would be harder than using graphite.
Another quick way of coloring it is after cutting the new slot then just use a sharpie and color it. May not be the same color black but its close enough no one will notice.
So it is a worth while trick since it does last a pretty long time, I have yet to wear it down to know how long it lasts.
Thanks for the video, this will save a lot of us some time and money.
Another amazing tech tip. Thanks!
When I do this my composite gets hard immediately. I have no time to mix and transfer to the nut. What am I doing wrong? I'm using Krazy glue and baking soda.
Why not to use a bone dust? Is there some better bonding reaction between the baking soda and super glue?
It would be nice to protect the fingerboard with some tape before apply superglue in the nut...
And, what happens with the first and second strings?, they are to small to insert a string with paper grip.
thank you soooo much for this i used a rotary tool and went too deep🤦♂️🤦♂️ didn’t do any research at all
Great video
Great trick thank you! how long do you think this Glue+Soda trick can last?
Phil, Can you give us some advices to keep our guitars good when winter will come?
Brilliant. Great tips. Thanks.
"Fun with glue". Many, many hours of entertainment, right there :)
THANKS KING ALL THE WAY FROM MALTA TNS
What about using bone powder for a permanent fix?
Thanks Phil! The super-glue trick is definitely a temporary solution. Would only resort to it if I didn't already have a new nut. I mean, expensive nuts are still less than $20.
Great video Phil! When doing the baking soda trick I generally file the slots out a little to give a little more area for the glue paste to sit and grab on to, plus it cleans the surface to prep it. I also pack in the baking soda first then add the glue. I'll have to give your way a go as it seems to create less mess... plus the tip with the straw pure gold! :)
sweet very helpful ty phil
Thanks great video. How long does it the mixture take to harden before you can file it?
I don't think the sandpaper trick will fit in the high E string slot ..........will it?
You can a no.2 pencil to "lube" the nut slot so the string itself can
Have a little"give". It's the graphite in the lead-think I saw this tip on
A Dan Erlewine/🍲 StewMac video.
Great vid Phil, will this work on a black nut?
Great helpful video! Thank You :)
Very educational
My Alvarez artist elite acoustic guitar high e string is cut too low. I was doing an experiment with using a left handed string set on right hand nut.
Why is it a temporary fix, if it's hard like a stone? Just to calm down your OCD by installing a brand new nut or it becomes fragile after a while?
Skills. Great tips
So what do you do if you don't have that tiny fancy little saw?
Intersting but why dont you use graphite powder instead of bakig soda to mix with the super glue?
From what little information I've been able to find online, the super glue reacts in a certain way with the bicarbonate to form strong polymer chains, so keeping the baking soda in probably results in a stronger material.
Wow, great tips!
what string gauge I am supposed to take for the high e string then ? 9 on a .10 gauge slot, for instance ?
could this work with flower or startch as well? .... being serious its late at night and i need a fix for gigs tomorow lol
Very informative as always 👍🏻👍🏻
I’ve got a guitar with Floyd rose and the 3rd string buzzes when played open, the neck is well adjusted, could it be sitting too low that it touches the 1st fret? Thank you Phil 🙂
Yeah, or it's not sat right on the locking nut. But that rarely happens to pain strings
Yeah it's probably cut too low
I've done this with a string after watching Phil do it! If I can do it anyone can!
That's a last ditch effort if you don't have anything else. At least glue it to the edge of an icicle stick to give it some stability.
Can I do this with ALL of my strings? I don't want to replace my nut but all of my strings are way too high
How about on guitar saddle? it is applicable also or its changeable?
What can i do if there's a gap in the nut space? Like the nut is too thin... and i replaced it... think its the guitars problem was cut to large, but can i just fill it?
Does this work if you want to change the strings for lower tuned guitars? ie instead of E standard you go down to A standard. I guess if you have the correct width files, right? Anyone got a link to good files?
Have you done a video on heel truss rod adjustment Phil?
I've got a Japanese 68 reissue and I'm scared to think about taking the neck off.