Official Luthiers Forum!

Do you glue in a bone nut and if you do what glue do you use? I know a properly fitted nut doesn't need glue, but for those that do glue,what do you use on bone?

Frank Ford recommends a tiny drop of super glue wicked in after the nut is in place. All you want is to keep it from falling out when the strings are off.

For guitars I build, I get better intonation if I remove about .008" from the bass side of the fingerboard. This makes for a slight wedge shaped nut that is easier to make a good friction fit with. Nothing worse than too much glue on your nuts....

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Two small drops of Titebond ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Two small drops of Elmer's goo.

I agree on the friction fit and try to make my nuts.... snap into place.

Never glued one in, if it fits, it fits. Do you glue the saddle in, no, so why the nut.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Colin my friend the drop of glue is added insurance for when someone, other than us, attempts a string change and depending on the methodology, or lack of same, may loosen or slide the nut to one side. I agree with you that a well fitted nut really does not need to have a drop of glue on it in a perfect world but my world is unfortunately not very perfect.

As Tony said, I'll have to use titebond on it .There isn't a channel to wedge it in and the nut bottom is level with the bottom of the board.There's no overlay on the headstock to help hold it either.Think Gibson J-45. Same as mine except where they used mahogany, i used ash neck and body both.

two drops of CA. And--this is important--on the side of the nut facing the board. This avoids tearing wood out when you knock it loose to change it.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I do the same, but with one small drop of medium viscosity CA. Glue the front of the nut to the end of the fretboard. I made the mistake of using Titebond on the bottom of the nut channel and when I removed my nut, I had a lot of cleanup to do later. The front of the nut offered a much easier cleanup.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Ok, rookie, nerdy question, but why would you need to change it? Do they wear out? Or is it if you want to change the action?

Darrin

Amen.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Cange in string gauge could be one reason, change to a higher action could be another and then there could be a refret down the ine requiring a full set-up. Oh and the clinets that think they need to lower the action some more only to find out the don't know what they are doing

Gotcha. Thank you, and thanks for not laughing and pointing at the dumb question guy. I am not much of a player, and a recent builder. I haven't been around guitars my whole life, so nearly all of this is new to me. Thanks again.

Darrin

That is a good tip Howard! It's always easier to break loose from the end grain than the side grain on the headstock.Less chance of damage too.