1964 Fender Stratocaster: New Bone Nut

Related Topics: | Truss Rod | Setup/Level Frets |


1. Removing the Nut on a Fender style guitar where the nut is set into a groove in the fretboard may usually be done with a modified set of end-nippers. Should the nut not want to give easily I will cut it out using a finely kerfed saw.	2. Bone Nuts come to us from our supplier as nut blanks: oversized pieces of cowbone. On vintage instruments, such as this pre-CBS Fender Strat, we prefer to fabricate new nuts from un- bleached cow bone. The color of cow bone varies amongst unbleached nut blanks so I usually have a choice as to how dark I want the nut to appear.


3. The Radius of the bottom of the nut's channel on this instrument is ra- diused the same as the fretboard. This vintage strat recieved a replacement neck which has an Indian rosewood fretboard.	4. Radiusing the Bottom of the Nut is quick and accurate with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper layed accross the fretboard. I always ensure that the bottom of the blank is squared with the sides. Oh ya, we get our 3m fre-cut sandpaper from Stewart MacDonald.


5. The Nut's Ends Must Be Shaped. I prefer to do this with swiss needle files and sandpaper, al- though I will sometimes employ the services of a small mill file. The shop has a small bench top vice that's perf- ectly suited for use while fabricating nuts and saddles.	6. Laying Out and Rough Cutting the Nut Slots is easy to do with the nut dry fitted. The angle of the nut slots are crucial to good tone and feel. Fender style instruments have less tension at the nut making the break angle relatively shallow compared to that of a Gibson or Martin. We have a bunch of different size and shape nut slotting files from Stew Mac.


7. Gluing the Nut. We always glue the nut to the end grain of the fret- board. This prevents unnecessary splintering of the neck wood should the nut be removed for future maintenance. We use wood glue on Fender style nuts. I personally use hot hide glue on fender style instruments because of hide glue's strong initial tack and ease of diss- asembally with hot water. Squeeze out is easily cleaned up with a q-tip.	8. Final Shaping of the Nut is quick and painless with a corked lined block wrapped in sandpaper. On this project I started with 400 grit sand- paper and moved up to 600 grit sand- paper. This creates a smooth and uni- form surface that may be quickly polished with finer abrasives.


9. Polishing the Nut requires that the instrument be taped off with linted tape to eliminate finish damage from the polishing process as well as strong tape adhesion. The tape pro- tects the instrument from the abbrasives used for polishing. On this project I started polishing with steel wool and moved up through abrasive pads starting at 2,400 grit and moving up to 12,000 grit through 7 steps of micro abrasives.	10. Lubricating the Nut Slots occurs after they are cut to their final depth. I prefer to use extra fine powder graphite. Although a pencil also serve the same purpose I am scepticle of the binders used in pencil lead. I wrote a major pencil manufacturer regarding the corrosive effects of their lead binders and was unable to assertain said content. Their formula is proprietary.


11. Sealing and Polishing the Fretboard with butcher's wax gives the rosewood a nice sheen. I then wipped on a thin coat of lemon oil to give the board a faster feel.	12. With a New Bone Nut this vintage strat plays, sounds and feels like a dream, just as Leo Fender intended.