Is this a manufacturing flaw/mistake? Neck a little too wide by the locking nut?

[dinkyguitar]

Hi all,

This has been bugging me. It's a 93 Dinky XL Pro. I have 2 of these and the other is fine.



Take a look at the right side where the locking nut is. The left side is flush with the neck while the right side is 1/16" short of being flush. :think:

The locking nut is 1 11/16"...the neck is 1/16" too wide...Strange?

Can I do anything about this?

dinkyguitar

[alex9152]

I remember another thread where this issue came up. There, it had something to do with the binding on the neck making it wider.

[cerberus]

Probably the original nut was replaced for a wrong sized one?

[Acesofbelkan]

If you bought it used, then its a high possibility that Cerberus is right. The past owner probably replaced it with a wrong one. Doesnt look like it causes much of an issue though, but if it does, just get the right sized nut, fill in the holes left by that nut and install the new correct nut

[dinkyguitar]

I also thought it was the wrong nut size, but I have another Dinky XL to reference.

I measured the nut and it is 1 11/16". The finger board measures a tad bit wider, not 1 3/4". I took the nut off and it says made in germany...

So, the only thing left is to swap the nut from my other Dinky and see if it fits better...

If it doesn't, than it could be that the neck was made alittle wide...is that possible?

dinkyguitar

[Rich#6]

Yes it's possible none of these necks are exactly alike. I wouldn't worry about it. If it bothers you no offer take some meds and leave the guitar alone.

[Trem]

it's not a big deal the strings are lined up nice, there are a lot of guitars that have wider necks than the nut and show a little space on either side,
there are some esp's that cost 5k+ that i know of are made like that intentionally, presumably for more vibrato room on the high and low E strings.
funny the low strings you have on that thing almost look like the high strings on my guitars, heh.

[dinkyguitar]

Thanks for all the feedback...

Yesterday I bought a 6" digital caliper from Harbor Freight and measured it.

The nut is correct at 1 11/16" so the neck is a tad wider. It doesn't interfere with playing, but I just wanted to confirm the right size nut was on there...

BTW If anyone needs or is interested in the digital caliper, you can get them for $9.99...great price since Stewart Mac has the same kind with their logo for $38.00.

Trem....those are D'Addario's xl120...9's for the high E and 38's for low. Been using this guage for years...but never bothered to try any other brand or guage.

Thanks again.
dinkyguitar

[MartinBarre]

I specifically put a nut like that on my KE3. I found the original nut caused me to bend the high E string off the fretboard a lot, so put a smaller nut on it. Problem solved.

[potatohead]

my MIJ Soloist is the same way which also has the binding. The thing that confuses the hell out of me is that although both my Soloist and my Carvin have R3 nuts, the string spacing on the Jackson is wider, which I don't really like. It just doesn't seem to make any sense. I have considered putting an R2 nut on it but then it will probably be too narrow. I think I need to do what you have done and measure them to know for sure.

[DonP]

This is the deal. You put the nut on to get the strings in the correct location, not to make the nut look right. If the nut was flush on both side, the high E would be too close to being off the fretboard.

So the problem goes back to the nut manufacturer (Made in Germany by Schaller I suppose). If the nut was molded with the strings in the right place, it wouldn't have had to be attached offset in the guitar neck.