cjd-player
Senior Member
I had the day off so I finally replaced the nut on my D-55 with one with wider spacing. A recent post about a new nut on a D-50 showed that lots of you have had a more widely-spaced nut put on a Guild dred. I wanted wider spacing but I didn't want the hassle and expense of files to cut new one myself to try out the spacing. So I purchased a preslotted Tusq nut from Graphtech.
I just want to pass on that the Tusq nut PQ-6134-00 has worked out very well. The E-to-E spacing is 1.496 inches (38.00 mm), and that feels very comfortable to me. Its about 0.070 inch wider than the original E-to-E. They have some with even wider E-to-E spacing, but I would be concerned about getting too close to the edges of the fretboad.
Getting the original nut out of the guitar was the hardest part. The nut is in a slot between the fretboard and headstock veneer, and the neck was finished after the nut was installed. So I had to score the finish along the headstock side and all around the ends with an X-Acto knife. It was glued in pretty solidly and was hard to tap out. Once it was out, I cleaned the slot and then filed and sanded the Tusq nut to fit. I had to take about 0.010 inch off of the back face and about 0.020 inch off of the bottom. Then about 0.010 inch off of the treble end and about 0.020 inch off the bass end.
It was a nice snug fit, and I tightened the strings and have been playing away. I really like the wider string spacing, as many others have said. Next time I change strings I'll probably glue it in. For now, the strings are just holding it in place.
I'll anticipate the question and say that no, I have not noticed a difference in tone between the Tusq and the original bone. Now that I know what string spacing I want I may make a bone one someday to have a harder material, but for now it seems just fine.
I just want to pass on that the Tusq nut PQ-6134-00 has worked out very well. The E-to-E spacing is 1.496 inches (38.00 mm), and that feels very comfortable to me. Its about 0.070 inch wider than the original E-to-E. They have some with even wider E-to-E spacing, but I would be concerned about getting too close to the edges of the fretboad.
Getting the original nut out of the guitar was the hardest part. The nut is in a slot between the fretboard and headstock veneer, and the neck was finished after the nut was installed. So I had to score the finish along the headstock side and all around the ends with an X-Acto knife. It was glued in pretty solidly and was hard to tap out. Once it was out, I cleaned the slot and then filed and sanded the Tusq nut to fit. I had to take about 0.010 inch off of the back face and about 0.020 inch off of the bottom. Then about 0.010 inch off of the treble end and about 0.020 inch off the bass end.
It was a nice snug fit, and I tightened the strings and have been playing away. I really like the wider string spacing, as many others have said. Next time I change strings I'll probably glue it in. For now, the strings are just holding it in place.
I'll anticipate the question and say that no, I have not noticed a difference in tone between the Tusq and the original bone. Now that I know what string spacing I want I may make a bone one someday to have a harder material, but for now it seems just fine.
