ZenBasses Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 So you sit down on nice rainy evening and decided to have a bit of therapeutic cleaning and restringing time. Only to realise that there's something a miss at the headstock. My e string has been a bit dead for a while and thought a change of strings (even though they ain't that old) was in order So ordered my usual set of Elites 45-105s It would appear the g string slot has either broken or completely worn away. This was set up by Jon Shuker about 8 months ago and I am sure he would spotted such an issue. As you can see from the pictures a small groove has formed on the actually headstock itself. So it looks like that'll be route of my dead e string and time to get a new nut fitted. What do you guys think? It hasn't been dropped or anything and it appears to have cracked the lacquer. Somethings as mentioned in a miss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 (edited) That's not supposed to happen. It would take years to wear away naturally. Are you sure John Shuker (or somebody working for him) hasn't had a go at filing your nut? Edited February 6, 2014 by gjones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingBollock Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Have you had a look under the nut? If it wasn't just the wrong size when fitted I might suspect an unsuitable shim has disintegrated or the wrong glue laid on too thick that has crumbled away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 It kinda looks like it was set up for fretless. What is the nut material? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Did you spec that string gauge to him? Looks like the strings been rattling around in a (too big) slot & filed it away making it even bigger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZenBasses Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 The GB in question was bought in 2001 and it was Bernies 'test mule'for a number of years. I got it at a great price at am NEC convention. My opinion of this GB compared with others is that it was never intended to be for resale but as a testing ground. Indeed the parismic paint job was a design idea and was the first to have it. The electronics when Jon serviced it appeared to have been setup in several different combinations in the past. The frets at the dusty end aren't as well finished as you would normally expect from a GB. It's quite possible the nut was 'wrong" in the first place. I don't know if Jon did anything to the Nut when it was setup. I was never made aware of any such alterations. The bass has always had the same gauge strings on 45-105s and it was set up with strings provided by myself. It might have been shimmed at some point. Can't get a good picture but the glue/resin used to fix the nut appears to have crumbled in that area in the nut has dropped slightly and it was being Bridged on the headstock where the mark is in would assume this would lift the strings ever so slightly out of the nut allowing the vibrations to wear it away. As for the material I am not sure.. Could be bone?. All I know is I restrung it about 2months ago again with the same set elites and I am pretty sure I would have noticed this then... The mystery continues. Luckily Singlecoil.co.uk in Leeds are happy to replace the nut. I really like brass nuts but this would look odd.. Unless you can get them black coated. All the best Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.