String Binding At Nut Sure Cure

String Binding At Nut Sure Cure

I recently noticed that I was getting a little string binding at the nut on my Hamer Studio. The nut on this guitar is supposed to be some kind of permanent self lubricating material so I got out the magnifying glass and had a look. I could see it wasn’t the smoothest surface inside the grooves, but I didn’t want to replace the nut. So after some serious consideration I had a flash of an idea! While I have no doubt that I’m not the first to think of this I will say that I hadn’t heard of it before either. I figured that a smooth surface would be more apt to let the strings slide through the grooves so  formulated a plan. I went to the hardware store and got a Dremel #423E EZ layered polish wheel and some polishing compound. This wheel is made of layers of cloth so with my trusty scissors I began to cut. Layer after layer I removed material until I was left with 2 layers in the center of the wheel (for balance). I then chucked it up in the Dremel, removed the strings from my axe, covered the the entire guitar in an old pillow case (except for the nut) and went to work.
Carefully holding the Dremel so the wheel was straight up and down and on a med/low speed I started polishing the inside of the groves on the nut with a smooth back and forth motion. I kept adding compound to the wheel every 10 or 20 seconds (it flings off pretty fast) I just kept at it until I could see the groves were shiny and smooth. It took about 4 minutes. I cleaned everything up, unwrapped the guitar, replaced the strings and tuned her up. No nut sauce or graphite or any other lube. Guess what, no more string binding and the process had no negative effect on the nut. The grooves were same size as before only now they’re slippery as Hillary Clinton when she gets caught red handed doing something illegal. And that’s pretty freakin’ slick, man. Bottom line is this sure beats replacing the nut. Just don’t get in a hurry, and cover your axe because that shit goes all over the place when the Dremel goes to spinning.  As always YMMV.
What method do you use to correct for string binding? Leave an answer in the comments below.