Gibson Les Paul Custom: New Bone Nut

Note: The Les Paul photo-documented here belongs to Trace Davis, the president of Voodoo Amplification. Aside from being a really friendly group of guys, Voodoo Amps also happens to be a leader in their field: electric guitar amplifier design, manufacturing and modification.


1. Loosening the Nut is done by gently taping a block of wood against the nut. I'm replacing this Les Paul's original nylon nut in conjunction with a refret because the new frets necess- itate a taller nut. Also, a bone nut will give this guitar's owner clearly articu- lated tone with increased sustain.	2. Removing the Nut with a flush cutting pair of large end-nippers is done with great care to ensure that the finish around the nut sustains no damage.


3. Clearing the Old Glue from the end of the fret board is necessary to ensure that the new nut fits prop- erly. I prefer to do this with a sharp chisel.	4. Sanding the Nut Blank square on two sides is the first step of shaping the nut blank. After I've done this I'll sand the blank to thickness. I'm achieving this with 220 grit 3M fre-cut sandpaper (from Stew Mac) on a dead flat granite slab.


5. Rough Shaping the End of the Blank is pretty quick when I use the shop's disc-sander.	6. Final Shaping of the End of the Nut. I'm accomplishing this with 600 grit sandpaper placed on a rubber- ized cork lined block.


7. Polishing the End of the Nut. I like to do this with micro-mesh sanding pads. I use these fine abrasives up to 12,000 grit. I'll repeat this process of shaping the end of the nut (#'s 5-7) for the opposite end before laying out the nut's height.	8. Laying out the Height of the Nut. A Pencil ripped in half laying on the frets gives me a good line to sand and file to.


9. Filing the Nut to Height. I prefer to leave a bit of excess material over the line at the 6th string and file to just under the line at the 1st string (this is a lefty guitar). Filing the top of the nut in this fashion will result in the ideal final string pro- trusion (the amount of each string protruding above the top of the nut).	10. Contouring the Top of the Nut. I'm frequently checking my work to ensure that I'm accurately replicating the contour of this guitar's original plastic nut.


11. Polishing the Top of the Nut with micro mesh pads.	12. Laying out the Nut for Slotting. I'm using this handy tool sold by Stew Mac. It compensates for the gradual increase in diameter from string to string to ensure an even feel.


13. Slotting the Nut. I'm only rough slotting the depth. Next I'll string up the guitar and cut each slot to it's final depth. I've found that the best feel is obtained by gradually decreasing the depth of the slots in relation to the first fret as the string diameters increase.	14. A New Bone Nut will likely outlast this guitar's new nickel-silver frets. In order to ensure that the strings both remain in their slots and tune with ease, I slot nuts so the string protrusion increases as the diameter of the strings increase.