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Topic: Supro - issue with nut, changing strings |
Charles McCullough
From:
Clifton, Virginia
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Posted 22 Jan 2015 11:33 am |
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Greeting from a first time poster. I'm a longtime guitar player who's just getting started in the steel world. My first step was getting a 1951 Supro Comet.
The guitar had a rusty set of flatwounds when I got it. Pretty light gauge too for open E tuning (like a .012). So I removed the strings and replaced them with a regular round-wound set customized for open E (.015 to .056 gauge). All good so far.
The problem came when I tried to remove the latest set of strings. As I started to wind down the low E string I could see the nut starting to slant downward with every turn of the tuning key - as the string loosened it was pulling on the nut. After a few more turns the nut let go and with a 'snap' it flattened against the fretboard. It's not broken - just broken loose. This didn't happen when I removed the flatwounds - I assume because the flatwounds were move slippery and didn't grab and pull on the nut like the roundwounds.
So my questions are: should the nut on this steel be glued down? Is there a better technique for removing strings so that this doesn't happen again?
I'd really value some advice!
Best,
Charles |
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Keith Glendinning
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 22 Jan 2015 11:57 am
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Hello Charles,
I think your problem is most certainly due to the different gauges of the strings you fitted. The nut will have been "cut" to accomodate the lighter gauge strings and the heavier strings are too tight in the slots. If you intend to use heavier gauge strings in the future you should widen them with the correct tools, or have your local guitar shop do it for you. As to the refitting of the nut, you could glue it back in if it's very loose. It doesn't need a large ammount of glue if you do that.  |
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Charles McCullough
From:
Clifton, Virginia
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Posted 22 Jan 2015 12:13 pm
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| Keith - That makes good sense. I'll follow your advice. Thanks! |
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Ian McLatchie
From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
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Posted 22 Jan 2015 1:30 pm
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| Charles, the nuts on Supros often come loose as the glue becomes brittle. Cleaning and re-gluing should do the trick, but you'd be better to have a new nut made and grooved properly for your string gauges. I replaced the old nuts on my double-six with well crafted ones made of fossil ivory. Big improvement in tone! |
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