How-To Slot a Banjo Nut
Added 2020-04-01 13:00:14 +0000 UTCThis is my process for cutting and filing nut slots in any stringed instrument: banjo, guitar, violin, &c. I use a set of StewMac nut saws and a cheap triangular needle file.
Comments
Michael, I put the bone into a vice or clamp of some kind, then hacksaw it into a rectangular shape roughly resembling a nut. From there you just work it down, slowly, using a coarse file, sandpaper, and or a belt sander. Helps to wear a dust mask when sanding bones.
Clifton Hicks
2023-06-17 14:55:35 +0000 UTCHello Clifton. As a sort of precursor to this video, I would really like to se how you fashion your "nut-blanks" from your raw bone source material. For example what tools you use in cutting or squaring-up the blanks, as most bones have a curved or convex outer surface, with a concave interior.
Michael J Schreiber
2023-06-17 14:26:36 +0000 UTC👍👍
Clifton Hicks
2021-04-01 11:20:48 +0000 UTCThanks so much for the information on the neck angle! i am building my first banjo neck right now and was confounded by the concept of neck angle. no neck angle it is.
Jesús de María Navarro
2021-04-01 03:57:31 +0000 UTCTitebond will make it stay put, for sure! The only reason I use Elmers is so that bone/wood won't be damaged if/when somebody tries to remove the nut. The best way to seat the nut is to chisel a tight channel that it taps into snugly _without_ glue. This is how William Boucher, for example, installed the nut. I always do an easier method where the nut lays snug into a 90-degree shelf where the fingerboard drops to the peg head. With this method, the nut is held in-place only by Elmer's and string pressure. If a future luthier needs to remove the nut for any reason, it'll pop right off with one or two taps.
Clifton Hicks
2020-04-03 11:48:55 +0000 UTCGreat info.I did mine all wrong and used Tite Bond 3 to glue,it.
Kenn Kid
2020-04-02 23:56:49 +0000 UTCKapel: I am just as happy to use cherry, maple or even walnut for a banjo nut. The only reason I prefer bone is it's durability and the admittedly brighter "punchy" tone it helps produce. My neighbors are all deer hunters and my dogs have a big collection of old deer bones they allow me to scavenge from. Antler is even stronger than bone and will make the best nut, I think. A thick piece of horn should work as well, though I've never tried it.
Clifton Hicks
2020-04-02 15:49:25 +0000 UTCHowdy Clifton, great job there, that is turning out to be a really nice Banjo. have you ever used anything other than bone for a Banjo nut? do you happen to know if horn is to soft? I like the way ya cut the angle for the strings there makes good cense to do it that way for sure.
Kapel Coolac
2020-04-02 01:31:12 +0000 UTC
