Nuts!

[LowB_FTW]

Can we take a moment to talk abut nuts?

I'm totally at a loss for selecting one for a bass build.

What's the 'best' nut to use?

By 'best' I guess I mean what are the relative benefits of one material over another?

What files do you recommend for the grooves? Files seem to be the preferred method, are there any others?

How deep do the nuts need to be (steady on in the cheap seats)?

My fretboard is gonna have an infinite radius (ie it's flat!), do all nuts come radiused, so will I have to file the top flat?

Does the thickness of the fretboard have any bearing on nut depth/type?

For reference, it's a 5-string build with 45mm nut requirement.

 

Anything else I should know about?

 

As you can clearly see, I know nothing about this subject, but I'm here to learn.

 

Mark

[Lozz196]

Whenever I’ve had a new nut I’ve chosen Graph Tech, not sure whether or not they do what you need but if they do they’d be my tip.

[Aidan63]

As it's flat then make your own from a piece of bone I'd say, or have one made for you by local tech/luthier who can explain the process and dial it in for your neck and string choice and playing style

Lots of videos showing how to on YT, twoodfrd channel is ace and shows lots of nut making, including some basses including fretless

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

My Fretless Precision bitzer has a nut I made out of a fake ivory chopstick which works as well as any nut on my other instruments.

[Baloney Balderdash]

I would personally get a graphite one.

[Norris]

I made the last one from a piece of bone from a luthier supplier. Use hacksaw, metal files and progressively finer sandpaper for shaping. Beware - it smells while you're working it. Sticking the sandpaper to something flat will help greatly (small MDF offcut perhaps?). I find aluminium oxide sandpaper nice to work with and you can buy quite fine grits for lovely smoothness 

 

Use proper nut files (Hosco are good value). They are slightly spendy. Don't be tempted to buy cheap ones - they will be rubbish

 

Top tip for getting the slot depths right: sand a pencil down half way, so it's as if it's sawn down the length. Place it flat on top of the frets then draw a line on your nut. Cut to just above the line, don't go too deep at first - you can take more off, it's not so easy to put it back on.

 

Try it with strings, take them off and fettle: rinse & repeat until happy. Finally use a couple of dots of superglue to hold the nut in place - it will hold it firm for general use, but still be relatively easy and clean to take off if you ever need to 

[Baloney Balderdash]

Make one out of spare clay from Christmas decorations, and then when an appropriate form is achieved quick dry it in your micro oven about half an hour at max wattage....

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

And watch it fall apart...

 

As soon as the strings are inserted.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[LowB_FTW]

On 11/12/2023 at 01:28, Baloney Balderdash said:

Make one out of spare clay from Christmas decorations, and then when an appropriate form is achieved quick dry it in your micro oven about half an hour at max wattage....

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

And watch it fall apart...

 

As soon as the strings are inserted.

 

 

My wife does a lot of work with clay, she's got proper potters wheels and a kiln and everything, so this is a possibility.*

 

The Hosco nut files are a little outside my financial means at the moment, so I got a brass bar and I'll see what I can do with the files I have available - or buy a cheap set to see how I get on with them.

 

Mark

 

*not really

[MoonBassAlpha]

I'd have to agree with a comment above,  the cheap nut file sets are poor quality and not worth bothering with. I  use a needle file set which are OK for making small adjustments. Dunno if I'd want to start from scratch with those though.