Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on September 10, 2016 at 8:42pm

I'd go back to fixing the box 1st, if you can take the belly out of the box, at the bridge, that alone will reduce fret buzzing, by raising the strings more as they leave the nut. I'd suggest a brace under the soundboard , in the bridge area, it doesn't need to be very heavy, or large, about 1/4" thick, 1/2 " high in the middle, and tapering to each end, and about the width of your box,minus an inch or so at each end, if i was just putting 1 brace on a sound board, i'd place it passing through the scale length point on the treble string, and slanting towards the tail of the box on the bass side by about a 1/4", if you glue that soundly, that should help withstand the downward pressure from the strings without deadening the sound at all, because at the moment, your sound board is offering little resistance, and just bowing, in fact it will most likely improve volume, have a look at some soundboard bracing pictures on the net, or on CBN, and get an idea what you can do easily, i think just 1 glued well will make a large difference, but you can easily add a series of them without a lot of effort, once that's done , you can fiddle with your nut,if need be, but i'd guess you'd be needing to lower it instead of raising it now, if anything. I just re read your post before posting this, and realised you've glued the box shut, you'll have to use a bit of gentle heat to soften the glue to get inside, but it will be worth it

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Permalink Reply by Kieran Anderson on September 13, 2016 at 2:51pm

Heh... Well, I wish I had thought of bracing the sound board before I had glued the box shut, because that sounds like it would help a great deal, but the box is glued good and shut now. I highly doubt I could open the box up again without damage. I think I can unclamp the box soon, and if the glue holds, then I will be able to test the fret buzz again. However, it the glue doesn't hold, then I might be able to implement the sound board bracing. Problem being, the box is still really thin... And thanks for the ideas, all! I think I should be able to sort out the whole thing from here on. I contacted the buyer, and I think I should be able to tap out the nut, so a shim is possible, but it might be a little risky.

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on September 11, 2016 at 2:30am

well  ,  without  doing  the  actual  repairs  needed   , the   quick fix answer  is  to get  or make a   half pipe  nut  cover   ,  like the slide  guitar adapters   that  just  sit  over the nut ,  but  this will   most  likely  raise  the strings  a bit  much  to  be a good    finger playing guit   . but a great slider  .   you  can   adapt  these   concrete  anchors  to  make them  .  just  split them in  half  . 

or  if  you  just  need a bit  . you  can   file   new (shallow )  notches  in the  nut right  beside the  original  string groove  and move each  string  up and  out  .  and  can  probably   compensate at the bridge     with a  bolt  bridge  shifting each string over  . 

thats the answer  you  want  ,  but   the answer  you  need  is  more along the  lines  of what  Darryl said.  . 

or  .  use it as a slider  . many a great  blues man  used  a warped  / bowed  parlor guitar  with a nut adaptor  . 

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on September 11, 2016 at 2:53am

There is a temporary fix that might help you. It's a mixture of superglue and baking soda. This is made into a paste and used to temporarily fix broken guitar nuts. You would have to get this paste into the bridge slots and then let dry. 

Here's a link,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slCMkvEfK_U

Hope this helps

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on September 11, 2016 at 6:13pm

You can easily shim the nut.  If it's superglued on, a tap with a light hammer will remove it.  Scrape off the superglue.   You can then cut a shim from a business card and superglue it to the bottom of the nut.   Superglue works great for holding a nut in place. you don't need a lot, just a couple of small dots to hold it all together.

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on September 13, 2016 at 1:45pm

To throw another option in the fire, you could raise the bridge instead and play with a slide.

If the nut won't come off and you are set in raising it you could glue a shim on top of it and file new slots on top of it.

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Permalink Reply by Kieran Anderson on September 13, 2016 at 3:07pm

The bridge is actually surprisingly high already, but it's soooooo low at the nut I can't even play slide at the 7 fret without buzz, using a light hand and the lightest slide I have. I'll probably end up tapping out the nut and shimming it, but if I don't I'll definitely try your method. The nut is just so ridiculously low right now. Maybe cutting the frets deeper would help...

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on September 13, 2016 at 4:28pm

What you are saying doesn't make sense, at the 7th fret, if your bridge is high as you say, and you can't apply a slide, raising the nut, will lift it, but even if your nut is below the 1st fret, you should be able to slide at 7, albeit with lousy intonation, can you run a straight edge along the frets? As long as your nut is not lower than the 1st fret you should ,be ok, then run your straight edge from bridge to nut, it seems to me either your bridge is low due to the sagging box, or your fretboard/neck is bowed. I'm trying to work this out mentally, and might be missing something, if you could post a pic, side view, with a straight edge from bridge to nut, someone may be able to help more

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Permalink Reply by Kieran Anderson on September 13, 2016 at 6:33pm

Yeah, I actually realized what I said didn't work out, so I took
[TL;DR] it's the neck relief. The neck is bowed.

another look and it s actually the neck relief that's the problem. The nut height wouldn't have anything to do with a fretted sting buzzing, but neck relief would. So as it turns out, the one this I can't fix is the problem :P the maker made the cigar box well and truly impossible to fix the neck relief. I'm hoping that with time the neck will bow a little bit in the proper direction and provide more relief, but that's a looooooooong shot. I guess I will have to just really jack up the nut height and use it exclusively for slide... not the worst problem in the world, but definitely annoying.I will just slowly try to raise the nut and find the sweet spot I guess.

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on September 13, 2016 at 6:41pm

Glad to hear you've sorted the issue' I'd still try to open the box, and take the sag out of your soundboard if it was me, you might not find the bow such a major issue then, and maybe able to finger 7-10 frets ok

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on September 13, 2016 at 7:27pm

If it is bowed the wrong direction (back bowed)  you can always clamp a 2x4 to it, with a block in the center... can't hurt it too much, I guess...

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on September 14, 2016 at 2:14pm

Are you saying the neck is bowed opposite of the way the string tension would pull it? If so, you could put some thick strings on it and really tension them up. If it is the other way I agree to steam it. I prefer to set it over a pot and hang weight on the ends, then measure the drop as the steam does the work. Go about 25 percent further than you need as the wood will go back some after it dries.

It can be painful but at some point you may decide you have nothing to lose so take a shot at fixing it.

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