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Will new nut help lost tuning after bends?


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I love my 72 Les Paul Deluxe, bought around 1977. Its been re fretted and had a lot of maintenance over the years, but the one annoying problem this guitar always had was the tendency, mainly on the G string' to go flat after bending notes. Eventually it comes back in tune, and I've been told this is likely due to sticking at the nut. That makes sense because the g and d strings have the longest span from the nut to the tuning peg. And of the course the D, being wound, probably doesn't slip much during a bend. So I've tried widening the nut grove slightly and have tried various lubricants, and the lubricant usually helps for a while. But I'm wondering is a switch to a BONE, Graphite, or TUSQ nut might make a more permanent difference. I'm told by gibson the original nut material for that model would be Corian. I have the proper equipment to make the change, but I'd like some opinions first on how likely it is it will be successful. Its annoying because I often have to switch to a clear sound and play open chords, and I always feel like "uh oh... I'd better mute that G string for this song".

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Hi there...

 

Well we get this a lot on here as you can imagine... The short answer is yes it will help...

 

But making the nut slot wider is not a good thing, you don't want the string to be moving about..... One of the really important parts of a nut on a Gibson is the way that the nut slot should slope at the back... Without that slope it will bind on the back of the nut....

 

So yes you can do it yourself, if you haven't widened the slot too much check the slope at the back.. Theres plenty of info on the web about this... And yes graphtech nuts are great.. Made from a permanently lubricated material (as you probably know)...

 

So like this

nut_slot_problemi.jpg

 

and the graphtech ones should just slot right in place... you can see they do the slope bit really well

BN-2804-00G-web_zps5j1c9piz.jpg

 

 

Theres also the baking soda/super glue trick where you can re-fill the slot and cut it again

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Thanks for the info! Thats a good reminder about the nut the angled/curved cuts. I will take a closer look at this angle and curve in my existing nut before doing something more drastic. But just FYI, the only reason I slightly widened the grove was because I tend to go for a G string gauge thicker then usual, typically 18 or 19. My best guess with feeler gauges was that it was originally cut assuming a .016 string, so I thought the widening would prevent binding some. Its tough to get really good intonation on open chords with a typically light G string, so I opted to learn to put a little more muscle into bends. But the fact is, the loss of tune after a bend was also worse before i went to the heavier string.

 

I really want to fix this, but only if the chance of solving the issue is good. I's going to be a lot of work because i don't think I can even use a pre slotted nut. I may be being too picky, but most pre-slotted nuts for my guitar (at least the ones at Stewmac.com) have a string spread of. 35.56mm. Near as I can measure, my string spread is about 36.75mm. I know that sounds like nothing, but having had this guitar for 42 years now, I'm reluctant to change anything I don't have to. So that means I have to shop for blanks in whatever material I choose to keep the original spacing.

 

If I can get my mind past the 1mm difference, I might consider the pre-slotted graphtech nut (I don't think they make a blank one). But really, how much does it matter that they are already pre-slotted with the right shape. I don't believe it would ever happen after installation, the grove depth would be perfect. You have to err on the side of slightly high anyway, and then take it down from there.

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Ahh I see what you mean.. If you indeed use heavier strings then yes maybe widening it is a good idea...

 

they do make blank nuts

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Graph-Tech-GT-4025%C2%A000TUSQ-Black/dp/B003U79OHK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467656333&sr=8-2&keywords=graphtech+nut+blank

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Tusq-XL-PT-M100-00-Martin/dp/B002NLNJ4S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1467656333&sr=8-4&keywords=graphtech+nut+blank

 

 

And yes... The most you may have to do is take some material off the bottom of the nut with the pre-slotted ones... that's easy enough, you just place some sandpaper on a flat surface and rub the nut across it as evenly as you can...

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