Making a lap steel nut

[John Keefe]

Hello Steelers,

I am making a nut for an old guitar, 6 strings. I plan to use a dobro nut from Stew Mac (not sure of the manufacturer), which I know will have to be cut down to a more reasonable size.

YouTube has plenty of videos showing making a nut for standard guitars, and I suppose most of those principles apply. But does anyone have any guidance or techniques that are specific to lap steels, as to the height of the nut relative to the bridge, string angles, and that sort of thing?

Looking forward to your ideas. Thank you.

John Keefe
New York

[Michael Kiese]

Hi John,

String height above the fretboard varies. It doesn’t really matter, in my opinion. You just get used to it.

My ACE Rickenbacher has a fairly shallow string height, my bakelites are a bit taller, and my Frypan has a fairly high string height.

I think string spacing matters more than height. Usually the spacing fans out from the nut to the saddle.

String spacing matters for the intonation of slants.

As a player, you’ll immediately notice if the string spacing feels off. It’ll negatively affect your playing. String height, not so much.

[Gary Meixner]

Hey John,

You probably won't find many differences in the requirements for making a raised nut for Hawaiian playing over a nut for standard playing. As Michael posted, you do have some flexibility in how you layout the string spacing, and in this regard I would suggest you try to match the spacing on the guitars that you already have.

I play a number of guitars, with different tunings and find adjusting to variations in the string spacing to be the most bothersome aspect: so much so that I am in the process of making three guitars that match the layout of my Rickenbacher B6 so I can quickly switch tuning - of course none of my home made guitars will sound anything like the Rick.

The one thing I have noticed is you might want to slightly widen the string slot on the backside of the nut. The break angle created by the additional height can cause the string to bind more than on a standard guitar, particularly if you cut a v-slot as apposed to using gauged nut files. Even so, this isn't a big concern unless you find you are breaking strings often our having trouble with getting the string in tune or sounding clean. I bought a set of nut files years ago but still create some "relief" on the back side of the nut.

Best of luck,

G. Meixner

[Greg Forsyth]

You didn't mention if this guitar is acoustic or electrified. If it has a pickup you'll need to factor the height of the pickup into the height of the nut.
Stew Mac sells nut slot files. They are quite pricey but you can buy single files that you can use to make several sizes of slots that are the size of the file or larger. You might find cheaper files elsewhere.
https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-a ... wmEALw_wcB

[Michael Kiese]

...and in this regard I would suggest you try to match the spacing on the guitars that you already have.

G. Meixner

I second this. Very good and pragmatic advice given by Gary.

Go with what you know, what you're used to, and what you like.