floyd rose nut is too thick, help?

[killer86monte]

I'm a new Jackson guitar owner. My stubbornness led me to buy a new Jackson KE3 Kelly, which are only made for right handed players. Since I'm left handed, I bought a left handed floyd rose liscensed lock nut to solve the problem. The length and width are to spec, but the depth is off, making the nut sit too high in the notch. I an looking for ways to make it sit at the right height. The only two solutions I came up with are taking it to a machine shop or getting a vice and a file...
Any tips or suggestions?

[straycat]

Lay a piece of sandpaper down flat and sand the bottom of the nut until you get it where it needs to be in thickness.

[nor]

Lay a piece of sandpaper down flat and sand the bottom of the nut until you get it where it needs to be in thickness.

Be sure to tape off the fretboard edge first.

[metalchurch79]

I have this problem all the time being a lefty myself.
I use a Dremmel with a cutting disc, and I either cut the slots wider and deeper, or I shave the under side of the entire nut down. It all depends on the setup, cause everytime I've done this, I have to use a different approach.

I suggest to stack the appropriate amount of feeler guages onto the fretboard at the first fret, (or use whatever you have) and insert the grinding disc at a slow speed into the nut slot and take it down to the level of your feeler guages.

It may be better for you to simply widen the slots out, and just shave the under side down, so that you have a constant thickness throughout as opposed to doing it my normal way, cause it's real easy to go too deep and mees up your string radius if you aren't careful.

Besides, if you shave too much off of the bottom, it is easier to shim it to bring it back up, as opposed to grinding the string slots too deep, cause then you're screwed.

I hope I explained it ok for you, if not shoot me a PM and I'll be more than happy to help you out.
You could even send me your nut and I'll do the mod for you and send it back to you with a weeks turn around.

Joe

[TommyD]

floyd rose nut is too thick, help?

> I haven't worked on a Floyd nut,but am about to graduate machine shop school,maybe my input will help here.

It will be better to take the material on the bottom off rather than messing with the slots,unless it's radically easier to do it that way,but the slots must be 100% free of sharp burrs.

I suspect that the nut base is not hardened. If not,it can certainly be filed down,but great care must be taken to make the surface remain flat. The proper technique here is called draw filing.

If the base is hardened thru heat treating,no file will do you any good,nor would using a flycutter or endmill to machine the bottom down. In a case like this,the bottom should be GROUND on a surface grinder.

It may be easier to take the shelf on the neck down to the proper height than tweaking the nut. Unfortunately,I can't make that assessment without it sitting in front of me. Tommy D.

[nor]

Wait a moment - are you playing a kelly upside down?

[quadperson]

Wait a moment - are you playing a kelly upside down?

That's what I was thinking...that's gotta look strange.

[MartinBarre]

This must be a wind-up. How could anyone play a Kelly upside down?

[Newc]

Well, it'd be about the same difficulty as playing a Les Paul - 3 or 4 frets into the body.

The Licensed locking nuts are not as tall as OFR nuts, so you'll either have to find a lefty licensed nut (say from a lefty neck or other lefty Jackson model on Ebay), grind down the bottom of the OFR nut, or have the neck cut deeper for the OFR nut.

[Joelski]

Get a Gotoh L4 nut. They have a shallower profile than the OFR stuff.

[nhspike]

Remove from bottom of nut is best.
Don't mess with the wood/neck.
Remove too much of that, and you may end up too thin, and crack the headstock off if you bump it the wrong way some day.
Nuts are cheap.

[DonP]

Grind the nut.

Don't F' with the wood.

Just like Spike said.

[MartinBarre]

Well, it'd be about the same difficulty as playing a Les Paul - 3 or 4 frets into the body.

It would look completely ridiculous though! :think: Not to mention your arm would be hitting the switch and volume knob constantly.

IMO.

[toejam]

This must be a wind-up. How could anyone play a Kelly upside down?

Probably easier than the Reverse Explorer.

[GuitariSteve]

I did this for my RR3:

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84436&highlight=customized+rr3