Lock nut slight off center...... Advice?

[gemini8026]

Hey guys, what are the tolerances on a locking nut installation in terms of "if its this much off, lets move it"

I just got my custom in. The night was about 2/32nd offset to the bass side. I emailed the guy who built it and advised, but he didnt seem overly interested, and i didnt want to spend $$$ to ship it back....

Anyhow, I loosened the nut and SLIGHT moved it over. It'll still not perfect (mebbe 1/32nd)....

Is that acceptable? On a USA Jackson, do they often have a nut that doesnt perfectly line up?!?

I think im being anal, but im curious if you guys would dowel the holes, re drill and make it PERFECTly dead on?!?

Like i said, I reseated it, and screwed it in to shimmy over a slight bit, but I tightened it up one screw at a time, and I have heard that isnt a good idea. Any tips/suggestions?!?

[blitz]

it depents on many different factors including you. If you that aggravated about it fil the holes and re drill some new ones. Make sure you mark your bit so you dont go all the way through the neck.

[ulijdavid]

It's extremely hard to move the nut left or right once it is drilled since the screws are countersunk. I can understand why they use the countersunk heads because once they are tightened the nut will not move. But, it also means that you only have one shot to line up the nut perfectly. If it plays well leave it. But for the cost of a custom shop guitar, you would think it would be dead nuts.

[Matt_B]

But for the cost of a custom shop guitar, you would think it would be dead nuts.

Yeah but guitars that are built by humans are still subject to human error.

Everyone has a bad day but they shouldn't let it affect their work because someone always pays the price.

[Newc]

It also depends on if the frets have been dressed to compensate for the nut being off-center, however, that's not likely.

I'd dowel the holes, or see if you can force the screws in at a slight angle. Usually the nut mounting holes are off such a small degree that the only way to fix it is to dowel them. Toothpicks without glue should be enough.

[dg]

If you decide to dowel & redrill, it's all going to depend on what you find when you take it off and have a look. Sometimes the truss rod channel won't give you much room to work. It's possible that that is why it's a little off to begin with. Can't hurt to have a look.

As far as the shifting that you did, that may be fine, but my concern would be that you're putting a little sideways stress on those screw holes. Since they're countersunk into the nut and will try to center as you tighten, as Uli said, most or all the sideways movement is happening in the wood. Also, you may not be able to tighten it down all the way & it may start to shift with trem use.

[gemini8026]

so I took off the nut, did a little peeking, and put it back on carefully while being patient and keeping it as close to "perfect" as possible. This time around, I got it real close, maybe 1/64th off, which in reality, is good enough.

the custom itself is unique, it was a "project" for a luthier and I ended up paying VERY little for it. Total cost of the work was 700$ shipped to me.

the frets are great, and I went to a local music store to check out various guitars to see how many guitars have "perfect" nuts. Quite a few higher end guitars are off ever so slightly, its the nature of the beast. trying to screw in two bigger screws within 1/64+ is a crapshoot.

Ill post a review and pics later.

technically I COULD redowel and re-set it for COMPLETE perfection. But I think all that effort for such a SMALL degree is quite bad. Even for a guy with obsessive compulsive disorder!!!

[Axewielder]

My tech did the dowel/redrill thing to move a nut over a few thousandths, and made the job look easy. That guitar was suffering from slightly narrow fret margin on the high E (opposite of yours). Very worthwhile repair! My Predator had the same issue, and that one I fixed by replacing the R4 nut with a R3. That did the trick as well. There is nothing worse than fret margin issues IMHO...I've been plagued by that!

[gemini8026]

a few thousandths?!?

Wow, you must be twice as picky as me, hah!!!

Understandable though. You spend so much $$$ on a guitar, and we're spending that to have the most optimised/best performing guitar we can have. In terms of intonation and spacing, it's all very small #'s that can have a big effect.

[Model1VH2]

If the nut is bolted through the back of the neck, I'd just oval the holes slightly to give you room to shift it. I've had to do it on a few guitars and it works out fine.
If it's a top mount nut, just dowell the hoiles with toothpicks and drill new ones.

[MartinBarre]

My Predator had the same issue, and that one I fixed by replacing the R4 nut with a R3. That did the trick as well. There is nothing worse than fret margin issues IMHO...I've been plagued by that!

Yeah, my KE3 had a high E that kept slipping off and I was going to move the nut. But putting on the slightly smaller nut sorted it.

[Axewielder]

a few thousandths?!?

Wow, you must be twice as picky as me, hah!!!

OK, it was probably closer to 1/64" or 1/32". I'm no good with math in my head!