When Stratocaster Nuts Drive You Nuts - Keeping The 6-Screw Fender Tremolo In Tune:

I have also started to push my strings down behind the nut to mimic some John 5 action:


So, I decided to add cleance notches to the edge of my fretboard. Some have suggested milling the edge of the fretboard at a 45° angle, but I like the look of the notches better...

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I remember a lot of guys doing this trick back in the '80s, at least a lot of guys that didn't have Floyd's to get in the way. Not one of them did something this cool though.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Hory Shiph. Ro bear. I mean to tell you. I sure hope the dust doesn't wear fast like the Tusq did.
Click to expand...

We shall see...but you could carve pieces off the GraphTechTusqXL with your fingernails., and you can't do that with bone.

i'm already making a custom nut from brass. It's 44.5mm wide with a 10" radius and 1-1/2" E-to-E spacing.

That's the backup plan anyways...
 
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With the vintage headstock and tuners, string trees are not needed. I cut the strings to the following lengths:

E: 30"

A: 31"

D: 32"

G: 34-1/2"

B: 35-1/2"

E: 36-1/2"

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Just for conversations sake, here's the actual tension for a set of .009 x .046 strings on a 25.5" scale guitar:

(Source: D'Addario Strings)

E: 16.91 lbs

A: 19.04 lbs

D: 18.38 lbs

G: 14.68 lbs

B: 11.02 lbs

E: 13.14 lbs

Total: 93.17 lbs

So, the springs need to exceed this figure by at least 15% to bring the bar back to pitch...
 
Decided to work on my luthier skills today.
Made a bone plug for a Stratocaster bone nut slot...

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Glued in place and set with string tension...

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Number #1 problem with Stratocaster tremolo performance is strings running crooked from the nut to the tuners...
 
Not a bad first effort, but I made it too short for the deep slot in the Warmoth neck...

Ok! Time to make a taller nut!!!!

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Got to looking at this and noticed my strings were out of alignment with my tuners. I pulled the nut and made a new one.

On this one, the E/A/D are shifted down towards the center of the fretboard and the g/b/e are shifted upwstdsvto achieve almost perfect alignment to the tuners.

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String gauge is .046/.036/.026/.016/.011/.009

Nut slots are:

E = .050"

A = .040"

D = .030"

G = .020"

B = .016"

E = .013"

Slots are polished with #1000 micro rolls...

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Here you can see my use of a modified Gibson/Grover tuner to improve low E string angle through the nut...

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This nut is much nicer than my previous effort...

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