I am amazed how many seasoned guys can not string a guitar properly

[Maklaca]

I make my own nut sauce...but not how you guys think.

I used to use a little pencil graphite in the nut slots to reduce any possible sticking. I read somewhere that chapstick works pretty well. So I figured that I would combine the two.

I took some graphite powder that I use for locks and melted down some chapstick and mixed them together. I was able to put it back in the chapstick tube to let it cool.

It actually works pretty well. A tube pretty much lasts you forever, and no possibility of a sticky nut (Insert joke here...) on the big bends.

It actually works better than some sauce that I have bought.

Rock on

 

[Holme]

oh man look em up! lol. I don't use the stuff but they have some hilarious marketing points. they have a "nut bag" too with all kinds of filthy monickered devices for your lubricating and cleansing pleasure

I'm actually afraid to google it Die,especially at work!

 

[Holme]

I make my own nut sauce...but not how you guys think.

I used to use a little pencil graphite in the nut slots to reduce any possible sticking. I read somewhere that chapstick works pretty well. So I figured that I would combine the two.

I took some graphite powder that I use for locks and melted down some chapstick and mixed them together. I was able to put it back in the chapstick tube to let it cool.

It actually works pretty well. A tube pretty much lasts you forever, and no possibility of a sticky nut (Insert joke here...) on the big bends.

It actually works better than some sauce that I have bought.

Rock on

I feel so much better reading your previous post now I actually know what 'Nut Sauce' is!

 

[DirtySteve]

I always believed that a well cut and slotted nut doesn't require anything to lube. I must be doing it wrong.


Maklaca, that's pretty cool! I think I'm going to try it on my trem guitar because when I try to float the trem it won't stay in tune and I've fudged 2 nuts already trying to make a new one. This might work until I get the nut right.

 

[jwebb1970]

I keep a sharpened #2 pencil in my Strat case - and have done so with every non-locking nut trem-equipped guitar I've had for years. In the past, I have used crushed pencil graphite + some light machine oil (or even bore oil for wind instruments) & made "nut sauce". Graphite nuts, OTOH, just wear down too quickly.

My current Strat just gets the pencil graphite every other string change. THe graphite has gradually begun to impregnate the synthetic bone material, leading to needing to "pencil" the string slots less & less over time. Between this & the guitar's locking tuners & Am Std style trem bridge, I can generally keep it in tune just fine during even the craziest Hendrix whammy fests.

 

[jwebb1970]

I always believed that a well cut and slotted nut doesn't require anything to lube. I must be doing it wrong.


Maklaca, that's pretty cool! I think I'm going to try it on my trem guitar because when I try to float the trem it won't stay in tune and I've fudged 2 nuts already trying to make a new one. This might work until I get the nut right.

Try just the pencil graphite first.

I just make sure the pencil is freshly sharpened, then carefully grind the tip into each slot, brushing any excess graphite dust back into the slot. I usually do this AFTER installing the new string, but prior to bringing it to full tension.

 

[DirtySteve]

It's due for a restring anyway so I'll go ahead and try the pencil first just to see if it works. I just blocked it up and hadn't thought about it because I want to replace the trem anyway. It's a good trem (Schaller) but it's got gold saddles and I can't find an arm that fits right.

I want it to be black or chrome saddles and black base would be even better. I'm having a hard time finding a replacement because it's recessed and most of them won't fit the space. I've yet to find where I can order another Schallar that isn't a FR style.

I wish I could just fill the route and use a fixed bridge, but I don't know if that will work.

 

[brp]

+3 on the pencil graphite shavings. I do it all the time and it sure fixed the problem I was having on an LP.
I'm pretty sure I first heard about the pencil trick here on the MF.

 

[johnfv]

...People do that "wrap around the hand/elbow" thing...

Yes, I have been doing it "wrong" for probably as many years as you have been alive. I have quality mic cables that function well, are 30+ years old that have always been wrapped the "wrong" way. YMMV

As for guitar strings, yes I am very familiar with how to get a good wrap on vintage tuners. I have used graphite grease on the nut for decades. That said, I do like Sperzels...

 

[IbanezMark]

Pencil lead and Vaseline is the poor man's nut sauce.

That's what I use

 

[SmokeyDopey]

Yes, I have been doing it "wrong" for probably as many years as you have been alive. I have quality mic cables that function well, are 30+ years old that have always been wrapped the "wrong" way. YMMV

As for guitar strings, yes I am very familiar with how to get a good wrap on vintage tuners. I have used graphite grease on the nut for decades. That said, I do like Sperzels...

I see!
But how do the cables look? Is it perfectly straight, or is it kinda squiggly?

 

[johnfv]

I see!
But how do the cables look? Is it perfectly straight, or is it kinda squiggly?

Nice and straight. If it is good quality cable and you do it gently, the "hand/elbow" wrap can work fine. The important part is going with the natural coil of the cable (no matter how you do it) and don't be rough on it.

 

[scat7s]

This is Nut Sauce and actually lubes the slots...

or you can make your own with a number 2 pencil and a little dab of grease.

shave the lead into a pile, mix in the grease, and apply as necessary w/a toothpick.

editops, you guys already have it covered.

 

[SmokeyDopey]

Nice and straight. If it is good quality cable and you do it gently, the "hand/elbow" wrap can work fine. The important part is going with the natural coil of the cable (no matter how you do it) and don't be rough on it.

That's the key. Then you're fine
But Some people do it that way wrapping it really tight and it ends up twisting the coil inside making it squiggly, and eventually weakening it.
Another example is the game controllers, some just wrap it around the actual controller pretty tight, and the cables end up looking like the squiggly telephone cables

 

[StratoMarshall]

Another thing.
How to PROPERLY put away your guitar lead/cable.

People do that "wrap around the hand/elbow" thing. Not sure if someone knows what I'm taling about. WHY?! NO! DON'T DO THAT!

I've thought about it, and I think I should make a video tutorial.
It seems really dumb, but I've seen guitarrits/bassist do it ENDLESS times. Well, not just musicians, but workers on job sites putting away the extension chords, for example. Ugh.

+1 on that. all should learn to do a stage tie!

 

[DirtySteve]

or you can make your own with a number 2 pencil and a little dab of grease.

shave the lead into a pile, mix in the grease, and apply as necessary w/a toothpick.

editops, you guys already have it covered.

I gotta tell you...I'm a do it yourselfer and I can't wait to try all these evil concoctions! aaaahahehehe!

 

[SmokeyDopey]

I gotta tell you...I'm a do it yourselfer and I can't wait to try all these evil concoctions! ahahehehe!

lol

 

[kamran]

I was left speechless yesterday when my friend came over and asked me to help him restring his guitar. He pulls out of his gig bag a flat top les Paul style guitar and says that it only has the low E on it right now, but that "it needs to be adjusted cause its hitting the pickup." well that didn't sound normal to me so I took a look and saw that the string was fed straight through the compensated wraparound tailpiece, instead of the top wrap over the back that's required with those bridges.

So I thought it was a little bit of a face palm moment, but also knew that my friend knows nothing on the technical side of guitars so it's not all that ridiculous, how should he know? Well...a minute later he tells me that it was actually a local GUITAR SHOP that fed the string through the wrong way when he took it in for a restring. If that's not bad enough, they couldn't figure out the right way to do it even after realizing that they'd messed up. They just gave up and gave the guitar back to him with one string, strung the wrong way.

I mean, that's the most basic shit ever and the freaking shop didn't know how to do it. Don't get me wrong, I love these guys. Super nice sales people working at a very small store with lots of really cool gear, the guitars are always in tune. Bought my JVM there. But then again, this is also the same shop that told me that "caps are more of a fender thing" (no joke) when I came in looking for some new pots and caps for one of my les pauls.

 

[richieG]

A dab of Vaseline works fine as well.

I knew a guy that used KY (seriously) and he thought was great.

This thread threatens to degenerate into bad jokes, puns and innuendos

 

[richieG]

People drive cars every day. Not all of them can even tell you what oil weight goes in the motor and even fewer can do even minor maintenance or repair. Same applies for geetars.

I work on my own guitars and my truck.

True that.

But I see stringing a guitar properly like putting petrol in the car.