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RE: Info on making bone for saddle/nut (in reply to Guest)
Well, what you need is a bone nut blank and a set of nut files. You use a sanding board to sand the exterior of the nut to the right dimensions of the nut slot. Then use the nut files to file grooves into the nut to accommodate the strings. nut files are quite pricey, so you may want to buy just one or two and improvise. Or do a search on Ebay. As for the technical details, get yourself a good book on setting up Guitars. I believe Dan Erlewine has published one:
Posts: 230
Joined: Jul. 13 2003
From: West Des Moines, IA USA
RE: Info on making bone for saddle/nut (in reply to Guest)
Something is wrong here.
Once a guitar's action is set up, it shouldn't change in any relatively short period of time. In particular, the nut should not need changing for years. The saddle and frets should only change from wear - and again, this will take months. if not years. Most action adjustments will be made with the saddle, not the nut.
If the action is changing as often as you imply, something else is changing. Possibly the neck is warping. If the neck is changing angle from humidity or temperature changes, it's not a stable neck.
I'm sorry to say that I suspect you have a more serious problem. Cheers, Norman
RE: Info on making bone for saddle/nut (in reply to Guest)
I am new to flamenco guitaring, and did not reallize thast some musicians went to all this trouble to set up there guitar, apart from not being able to afford such expensive items i have found trial and error to work well for me, i agrre with lukemoon, needle files, and junior hacksaw for the nut and a sanding block for the saddle(My Words)
I agree it is more tricky setting up a flamenco guitar, but i have had great success setting up a classical guitar from scratch which now has a very low action and i can still play it buzz free with a capo on the 7th fret, and i have set up many steel strung acoustic guitars by trial and error.
there are ebay shops that sell Bone saddle and Nut for £5.00, at this price you can afford to to learn by Trial and error.
I do not make my living from the guitar, if i did, i would probably get someone else to set it up for me, im sure a proffessional Musician would not have time.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: Info on making bone for saddle/nut (in reply to Guest)
I just moved to a new neighborhood, and it turns out there is a professional violin-maker right across the street. I paid him a visit and he's a nice chap from Winnipeg (but aren't all Canadians nice?), and he has also studied guitar making. The reason I went to talk to him is that I want him to make me a new nut. My Cordoba gig-guitar is quite wide down by the nut (probably under the assumption that people will use capos on a flamenco), but I play a lot of classical on it. I'm going to have him make me a smaller nut. (don't laugh, Florian)
I got the idea from a female player down here who did the same thing to Tezanos Perez classical. She said it helped a lot...
RE: Info on making bone for saddle/nut (in reply to Guest)
Hi Nealf,
Replacing bone is a pretty simple process if you know the measurements etc. for the string clearance. Check out www.frets.com for some handy info on setup. This site has piles of info on guitar repair and construction. Also check out this site: www.bearmeadow.com/build/materials/html/bone-clean.html It's run by a guy who builds dulcimers, but the info on bone degreasing is pretty important if you ever decide to make your own blanks. Gathering your own saddle material is a lot cheaper than ordering it from a supplier and it lets you make hearty beef broth in the process.
RE: Info on making bone for saddle/nut (in reply to Guest)
I was wondering. A lot of you have already stated that the bone saddle makes a great difference to the sound of the guitar. What I was wondering was, does changing the nut as well make any difference to the sound? I purchased a blank bone saddle today, and was advised to change the nut as well. I took the advice, but I was wondering if it really made that much difference. I thought it was just the saddle that the sound travels down through into the body. I would'nt have thought the sound would be affected way down the other end of the instrument through the nut.
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