Mr Moto Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 The slots in the nut on my HB Artist kind of "fan out" at angles toward the tuners instead of running straight across the nut like other guitars. Hope that makes sense - wish I had a picture to post. Anyway, I've never seen another guitar like that (including the much older Gibsons that I own). Is this typical on Gibson acoustics now or on HB Artists or is mine just odd? I need to work on the nut string heights and was thinking of filling in the old slots completely and and filing the new ones straight across. Opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Due to the nature of the string angle between the back of the nut and the three-on-a-side Gibson style peghead, the fan-out should actually help eliminate the problem of the string binding in the nut and causing tuning problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 I'm going to replace the nut on my Gibson and have planned to do that, the fanning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Fanned out nut slots??????? I had that once.... Penicillin cleared it right up..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 I always wondered if angling the nut slot directly toward the specific tuner would help. It would still cause an angle break at the front, which would be the pinch point. Â It seems to me the ultimate nut slot (no jokes please), would be a gentle arc, perpendicular at the front, tangent to the tuner at the back. Â Please discuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 You could just curve the entry and exit points. That might be easier than making a gentle arc in bone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 . Yep. Just knock a tiny bit off the one 90º angle that goes against the string bend - especially the D and G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 For tone and intonation, the critical part of the nut/string interface is the leading edge of the nut, that last point where the string makes contact before making a bee line for the bridge pin by way of the saddle. The slot actually should slope down towards the tuner, beginning at the leading edge of the nut slot. Above that, the string continues through the slot before exiting, then taking a dog leg for the tuner. Especially if the dog leg is quite pronounced, opening up the slot in the direction of the dog leg will relieve some of the force and strain being applied to the side of the 'land' (that part of the nut which is not the slot) which relieves the tendency for the string to cut the land off. Â This kind of slotting is probably more common with 'field' (not factory) installations as getting the angle right is hand work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolling56 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 I think i know what you mean.......it was just hurried up when they cut the nut and not cleaned up like they are supposed to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Fanned out nut slots??????? I had that once.... Penicillin cleared it right up..... Nut slots of the 'fanned out' variety.....Don,t sound good....I will pass.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RASHARU Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 The factory nut slots on my '04 Southern Jumbo are "fanned" just as you've described. It seems like a great idea to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Moto Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 Just for the record...I decided that if the slots are to be made parallel then a new nut would be required and I didn't want to do that. Also, it has played just fine with those slots in the past so why change now. The real issues were that the strings were a tad too low and also wouldn't stay in tune. I was afraid that the slot angles had something to do with losing tune but after thinking about it I decided it must have been caused by poor slot filing by a local guitar tech before I got up the guts to do my own setups. After filling the slots with Milliput Fine White and re-filing (still angled toward the tuners)it seems to stay in tune just fine. Problem solved! No penicillin required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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