So i decided to change the nut on my Fender dreadnought some time ago because my action was just too high, and preferring 13s, the thing was just plain difficult to play. I had already sanded down the saddle, tightened the truss rod to what i believed at the time to be its limit, and had shown it to a guitar teacher and gigging player who agreed it was an egg cutter. So i figure, lower nut, maybe a little tightening of the truss, and see what happens. After wasting the original plastic nut by sanding it down too far, i decided to try carbon. The carbon nut looked and sounded ok, but this nut too was a little low to begin with. The low e buzzed tolerably when in e standard, but tuned down to e flat it started to get annoying.

Since i had recently had a luthier replace the nut on my Strat with ivory, i wanted to try bone. Although the work of the guy i gave my Strat to was good, it occurred to my that it was nothing special. Some of my friends who i ask for advice had given me the impression that it was not something i should try myself, and in fact most referred me to the local false idol of guitar repair who shall go nameless. So I says to myself, i sez "i'm a lot smarter than many of these guys i'm asking for advice, i'm gonna make me my own damn nut."

I bought a bone blank from the music store where i work now, and using a broken off hack saw blade and nail file, i'm getting very good results so far. I used the old carbon nut as a rough template, making adjustments to compensate for my particular setup. It is shaped, and now needs to be slotted. I have to go to work now, so i figured i'd put it out there and ask for any input you guys may have. I want to transfer over the slot positions from the carbon nut, since i liked the way it played very much. Any suggestions on how to do this accurately?

nrn