Looking  for ideas on supporting a nut from the back side on a scarf joint other than grooving out a notch for the nut to fit into.

Seems I saw a pic of a build once where their was some support behind the nut on the tuner side so it was supported from the front on the fretboard end and back

Thanks

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  • A good break angle down to the tuners, nut slot bottoms that arch/curve toward the tuners, and a nut where the thickness is almost as much as it is tall to the slot bottoms, will hold itself in quite tightly without needing any support on the tuner side.  The break angle will wedge it in solidly to the corner between the neck and the fretboard end.

    I also am using glue stick to hold the nut in place while it's unstrung and keep it from slipping sideways when tuning a new set of strings, and it breaks free easily without damage when you need to change the nut.

  • When I first saw just the title of the thread, all I could think of is that the best ides for supporting nuts is actually a tree... Just make sure you get there before the squirrels! ;-D

    But more seriously, I did do a few nuts using acrylic and it worked OK.

  • As a side question, can you use a fretted bridge as a nut????

    • Hi Brent, anything that has a dense/solid material, is able to fit at the end of the fingerboard and give correct intonation and hight over the first fret will work.

       Taff

  • Hi Brent, lots of good ideas here. Most of the time I just glue my bone or ebony nuts up against the end of the fingerboard and the surface of the peghead. Never had an issue, may not work in every situation but when I do use it, it works fine.

    Taff

    • Yup . . . that almost always works. No need to reinvent the wheel on this.

      I generally use a zero fret, but glue a bone or plastic nut against the end of the fingerboard for use as a string guide.

      Prior to the gluing, test fit the nut both for width and string spacing. Then, file the string slots deep enough that they're right at fingerboard level. A couple drops of super glue and you're good to go.

      It's quick, simple, and effective.

    • Agreed

  • They have those at guitar fetish if you’re not feeling adventurous?

    https://www.guitarfetish.com/Floyd-Rose-Headstock-String-Retainer-B...

  • I’m not sure, but are you describing the support in my pic?  If so it is a CB Gitty product.  By the way, this is more of a string placement, because the “nut” is a fret, a zero fret.  

    2650086987?profile=RESIZE_710x

    • That's very similar to the one I was describing, but it was bone or plastic and the screws were countersunk.

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