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I was wondering if anyone has any advice on making nuts and saddles from raw bone. Blanks seem pretty overpriced to me.

Thanks for any advice,

Dylan

I make my own out beef marrow bones. It has to be well aged otherwise it will leach oils into nearby timber. Our new dog unearths bones that our previous dog buried years before. Each one that turns up (if it has enough wall thickness) gets thrown onto the shed roof to whiten up in the sun for a month or two. I cut it with a hacksaw in the same way you would quarter-saw timber.

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I've got a mind like a steel......whatsername!!?

I make my own from butcher shop bones. I just boil for about an hour, let dry in the sun for a week or so. The next step is the important one. Cut the bone into the general sizes you want then put them in a quart jar filled with DA. Let them sit for a couple weeks, pour the DA out and refill. Let sit for another week then you are good to go. The DA soak removes the grease. You don't want any in your bone. It may slowly leach into the surrounding wood.

There was a good article on the subject that someone linked to on the OLF. If I can find it I'll post it.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Thanks very much, that's very helpful.

Here is a link to the article I was referring to. It appears he uses white gas to degrease. I believe that is the same as naphtha.
http://direct.hangoutstorage.com/banjoh ... 112012.pdf

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Excuse me for asking, but what is DA mentioned in this post?

Thanks, Gorjan

Denatured alcohol, Methylated Spirits, meths.

Man luthiery work seems to be more overpriced in the US... Best I can do is 15 dollars for each and people still have second thoughts about having a bone nut make (seeing how nearly all factory guitars don't even use bone). I have to buy from ebay or else I'd make next to nothing for an hour of work making them. You can buy it at around a dollar each on ebay if you're willing to tolerate specs that may not be to your liking...

Has anyone tried pig bones for making nuts? Cow bones don't really exist in Taiwan at reasonable prices (last I checked they wanted 30 dollars for a leg bone, not the whole leg but only a small section, for the purpose of making soup)

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Todd, is all ordering with Chrislin by phone only? Their website is sparse, unless I went to the wrong place.

Mike

It's not. I usually have it handy so I use it. Seems to work OK.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

What, not where. Seems a lot of folks find the term DA or DNA confusing. Refers to denatured alcohol. BTW, I find it odd that DNA would be a solvent for grease in a bone. Seems Naptha would work better.

I thought that too, once upon a time. After making several nuts and saddles from petstore bones, the price of blanks seems much more reasonable, unless you really like that "dentist office" smell...

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I've never managed to find cow bone at a pet store. All they have is processed ground up bone meals molded into the shape of a bone.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Average wage in Taiwan (actually minimum wage, because it's impossible to get raises in Taiwan since the boss is very frugal) is around 3 dollars an hour... you get a tiny bit more with a college degree and working as an engineer but they still get maybe 5 dollars an hour if they're lucky. Monthly salary seems ok but when you're working 12 hours a day 6 days a week, on top of having to be on call 24/7, you actually do better working at 7-11. The economy works for that kind of wage but inflation has taken its toll since wage has been stagnant for over 10 years while cost keeps rising.

People aren't falling head over heels getting me to make bone nuts/saddle for them. I can convince them all day the benefit of bone but in the end they still go back to the crappy soft plastic nut/saddle that virtually every manufacturer use. I only offer bone because the amount of work needed is enough that customers wouldn't see any real savings if I used plastic (basically I'd charge the same) however most of the time they'll go to a music shop to have them do a "setup" for them. However all they can do is sand the saddle down since factory guitars always have a super high action. They don't do any truss rod adjustments or nut adjustment.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

in Macedonia the average wage per month is around $400. And cow bones, the biggest and best ones cost around $2. That is why I am currently in the process of making my own. I read somewhere that after boiling and cleaning the bone you should leave it for a couple of weeks in water mixed with washing detergent. thank you could cut it up and leave it in white gas (coleman camping fuel). The problem is that I am at the white gas stage, but there is no white gas in Macedonia (at least I couldn't find any).

Do you think pure alcohol could work? We can buy purified medicine alcohol that is either 75% of 97% pretty cheap here. I don't really like handling denatured alcohol

Gorjan

Don't you have gasoline? That would work too. White gas is basically Naphtha, if you don't know what it is look for paint thinner or something.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Naphtha is sometimes referred to as "white gas", but that term is also used to describe refined petrol without additives -- not the same at all. Cheapest access to naphtha is often as "panel wipe", sold by automotive paint suppliers as degreasing and cleaning solvent before paint application. Just make sure naphtha is noted under ingredients. (Also works as Coleman fuel substitute in camping stoves).

Methylated spirits will work fine. It doesn't need to be denatured. If you have any acetone lying around, that will work. If it dessolves fat and doesn't leave a residue like kero, it will work. Some things will just work faster than others.

I've been using African Blackwood for nuts. Quite hard stuff, and dirt cheap. I thought I'd use it until I got more experience (and stopped ruining my bone stock), but I've grown rather fond of it. In any event it's head-and-shoulders better than plastic.

Concentrated dish detergent will remove oils from cocobolo. I'll bet it would work for removing oils from bone also, although I haven't tried that.

another good source for high quality, generously oversized blanks is euphonon. the last time I sought some they were $2 each. they also have very long blanks for odd sorts, they also are a very good source for bulk, unpackaged strings. in reasonable quantities under $3 a set.

Detergents dissolve grease/oil. I guess they would work. Just might take a little longer and you might have to warm the water.
It's nearly 30 years since I last made a Nut from raw bone. I'm thinking of doing so again just to avoid the bleached ready made blanks. I'm after slightly cream/yellowed inlay pieces.