Upset at having to shim a new nut

[Lord Summerisle]

I am pleased to have some time off over the holidays. I picked up a new-old-stock Yamaha Pacifica 112v a little while ago on a whim, for a very good ebay deal. The violin burst looks like something from the 1950s, so I thought I'd use a day of my vacation to make a few vintage-esque mods to it. Nothing drastic, think of it as a Yamaha Classic Vibe if you will... The only mods I have planned are: replace the bridge humbucker with something P90-ish (a GFS Dream 90 ended up as the choice for this); replace the Yamaha tuners with some Grovers that look the part.

 

So, to work:

 

 

 

 

Normally Pacificas are great guitars for the money. This one, though, arrived with a problem - an horrific open G buzz. No biggie - I got the guitar very cheap, so I thought I'd just play around with it and try to sort it out. Tweaking the truss rod did absolutely nothing to solve the problem, so I guessed it must be the nut. The old superglue and baking soda trick worked, so it seemed my guess was right. The Yamaha nut is plastic crap, so it made sense to replace it at the same time as working on the other mods.

 

I sat down this morning with a pre-slotted black tusq nut. First thing I noticed was that the Pacifica's nut slot wasn't especially well cut, once the Yamaha nut had come out easily with the tap of a block of wood. I sanded the black tusq nut until it fitted the slot beautifully though, a very neat job I was very pleased with. I was careful not to take much off the bottom though - I left the new black tusq nut slightly proud of the Yamaha nut in terms of height...put it in the slot, tuned the guitar, hit the open G string, and...you guessed it. More buzz than the original crappy Yamaha nut.

 

So I had to shim it. I didn't have any veneer to hand, and I was feeling a bit dejected about it all, so I used sandpaper - for two reasons: 1./ I had some in the house and couldn't be bothered to drive to Lowes for veneer; 2./ If I get really annoyed and tear out the new nut, it's super-glued to sandpaper and I can soon clean the sandpaper out of the nut slot.

 

So (sigh) I now have a shimmed black tusq nut, which is better than a shimmed plastic nut...I guess. The guitar now plays nicely, the action is actually quite low after I worked on the set-up. It really annoys me that the new nut is shimmed, and because Yamaha uses a Gibson-style nut slot, you can see the shim from three sides rather than two, as would be the case with a Fender-type nut...Probably irrational, but part of me wants to order a new (taller) black tusq nut and start over, yet again.

 

Here's how it looks now. What do you think, honestly...?

 

 

 

 

 

I'll do the tuners and pick-up after Christmas, when I'm in a better mood! The Pacifica must have a high fret somewhere that causes that awful buzz, but I've looked and looked and can't find it.

[capmaster]

Your Pacifica looks nice, congrats!

 

My self-awareness tells me that I would be upset about the nut issue, too. :angry: It would take me several days to cool down and think it all over.

 

Not sure if I ever considered replacing the bridge pickup, let alone machine heads nicely working - I guess they do? I think I would let some weeks pass and monitor the neck well, in particular if I had changed string brand and gauge. Checking for high frets will make sense after the neck adjustments finally settled. This may save some ineffective fret jobs and possibly lots of fret life.

 

To my experiences time and care can heal a certain period of negligence. Patience will often help much more than taking overhasty actions.

 

Stay cool. I'm sure this will help to make it work out fine!

[Lord Summerisle]

Your Pacifica looks nice, congrats!

 

My self-awareness tells me that I would be upset about the nut issue, too. :angry: It would take me several days to cool down and think it all over.

 

Not sure if I ever considered replacing the bridge pickup, let alone machine heads nicely working - I guess they do? I think I would let some weeks pass and monitor the neck well, in particular if I had changed string brand and gauge. Checking for high frets will make sense after the neck adjustments finally settled. This may save some ineffective fret jobs and possibly lots of fret life.

 

To my experiences time and care can heal a certain period of negligence. Patience will often help much more than taking overhasty actions.

 

Stay cool. I'm sure this will help to make it work out fine!

 

Thanks Capmaster!

 

I have a bit of a weak spot for Pacificas - I've had a few pass through my hands over the years. I have my original one from 1994 which I have kept as stock, and, like I mentioned, I bought this one on a whim.

 

I'm not normally one for modding brand new guitars, either - but I think what typifies a Pacifica is that it has the potential to be a really good guitar with a little work. Yamaha insist on putting cheap, plastic nuts in the 112, which is a shame, for a couple of dollars more it needn't be that way. The tuners are just OK. The humbucker is an acquired taste. The single coils are really nice, actually. The humbucker - I don't know, it harks back to the Pacifica's origins as as a Superstrat in the late 1980s. I wanted something a bit more mellow, a bit more, well, 1950s-ish.

 

I got the guitar for $215 (normally they go for $299, new). GFS Dream 90: $30, Grovers $45. All I've spent on the nut so far is $6 for the pre-slotted tusq nut, and a piece of sandpaper. Might make my other mods and then send it to a tech to sort out the nut and G string buzz for good and all...

[capmaster]

Thanks Capmaster!

 

I have a bit of a weak spot for Pacificas - I've had a few pass through my hands over the years. I have my original one from 1994 which I have kept as stock, and, like I mentioned, I bought this one on a whim.

 

I'm not normally one for modding brand new guitars, either - but I think what typifies a Pacifica is that it has the potential to be a really good guitar with a little work. Yamaha insist on putting cheap, plastic nuts in the 112, which is a shame, for a couple of dollars more it needn't be that way. The tuners are just OK. The humbucker is an acquired taste. The single coils are really nice, actually. The humbucker - I don't know, it harks back to the Pacifica's origins as as a Superstrat in the late 1980s. I wanted something a bit more mellow, a bit more, well, 1950s-ish.

 

I got the guitar for $215 (normally they go for $299, new). GFS Dream 90: $30, Grovers $45. All I've spent on the nut so far is $6 for the pre-slotted tusq nut, and a piece of sandpaper. Might make my other mods and then send it to a tech to sort out the nut and G string buzz for good and all...

Well, I also developed some weak spots for specific guitars many years ago, so I can relate to what it's all about... Old love never dies. :) Or more exactly, when about me, guitars and basses, old loves never die :o A well-known, all-legal sort of polygamy ;)

 

Happy Holidays, and may it all work out great for you and your new Pacifica! Keep us posted, please.

[Aoresteen]

I wouldn't worry about it. It now plays properly. If the shim really bothers you then get a larger blank Tusq nut and carve it to shape. You know the proper height so it shouldn't take much effort.

 

All in a days work. My guess is that the front row customers will not notice :) !

[vomer]

Hi Lord S. Setting up a guitar and diagnosing string buzzes (not from any other source) involves looking at both ends of the neck, i.e the saddles and nut, and in between, i.e. the relief of the neck, and the level of the frets. It looks to me like the height of your open strings over the first fret is way too high, which would imply that the buzz is coming from somewhere else. Cutting a nut involves every other aspect of the setup, but a basic guideline I use for the height of the open string over the first fret, is the height of the string over the 2nd fret when it's fretted at the first. This will look very low! But if the string rings cleanly then the height of the open string over the first fret doesn't need to be any higher than the height of of the string fretted-at-1st-fret over the 2nd. In practice I usually add a tiny amount to take into account the extra length between fretted-at-1st-fret and open string, and for safety/peace of mind/cowardice.

 

When diagnosing a string buzz I'd usually start with a reasonable saddle height, and the question, is the buzz present on open or fretted notes, or a combination. If the buzz is at the top (nut) end, it could be that the relief of the neck is too flat. If the other end, too deep. If neither, or the relief seems OK, I'd check individual fret heights with a fret rocker. And each string 'lie' for high or flat spots.

 

And then there are other causes for buzz to consider if the setup is OK; loose tuners, truss rod, bridge parts, etc.

 

Hope this is useful, as it doesn't look to me like the problem is the nut slot height. I'll see if I can get a pic of one of my nuts up later. (Can I say that?)

[Lord Summerisle]

Well, the Grover vintage style tuners went in relatively uneventfully.

 

 

 

The screw broke when installing the 5th string tuner. I have since read a consensus on many forums that the little screws provided with the tuners are junk - personally, I think it's because I didn't drill the pilot hole deep enough. Anyway, in case you were wondering...brass screws with nickel tuners? The answer is that I was very lucky. A tiny bit of the broken screw protruded, and I was able to grip it with pliers and carefully unscrew it. The only #2 1/2" wood screws I could get locally came from Lowes, and they only had them in brass. Actually, the brass doesn't bother me at all.

 

The GFS Dream 90 went in uneventfully. The GFS pick-up ring was too big (it overlapped the Pacifica's pickguard), so I had to put the Dream 90 into the pick-up ring from the original Yamaha humbucker. Truth be told I then cheated: spliced into the existing wiring to avoid having to solder to the pots themselves.

 

A quick test...I was very impressed with Dream 90. For a $30 pick-up it sounds simply wonderful.

 

And so to the nut. I just couldn't stomach that bodged job with a sandpaper shim. Also, incredibly, bends on the B string around the 4th and 5th frets were unseating the G string from its slot. A moment of angry frustration, and out came the nut! I cleaned up the slot, and now the guitar is in the hands of Rob (local guitar tech) to sort out its nut problem. His inclination is to work with the original plastic Yamaha nut, actually...the old adage of a well-cut nut being more important than what it's made from. I have no doubt I'll like his set-up when I get the guitar back.

 

Oh well, when I do get it back, photos and a sound sample will be posted!