What nut lubricant do you use?

ido1957

ido1957

9K Gold Member
My main guitar for the past thirty years has been a Kramer which has a locking nut. No nut issues ever and stays in tune no problem. It needs no lube obviously. I also have a Strat which I lube with cork grease - I've had the same tube for thirty years too lol. The Strat also has no tuning problems ever.

So I've been getting use to my new Les Paul. I haven't used the cork grease yet as it still has the strings installed when I had it set up last week. I think the guy used graphite in the nut. It doesn't stay in tune as well as my other two - pretty sure it's a lube issue but could be nut related. Could be the string need more stretching. I'm going to put some cork grease in there and see if it helps.

What are you using for lubricant for your guitar nut?
 
Les Pauls, particularly new ones, are notorious for tuning instability. The G string is especially bad. The saddle notches can be sharp and sticky too. You'd think such a fine instrument would be better about that, but it's really common with LPs. In my experience, they seem to get better after a few string changes. My 2012 Trad stays in tune pretty well now that it's had a few dozen sets of strings run through it. No nut lube.

A good tech can clean up the nut and saddles to get it right.
 
Well it's a lot better than it was when I opened the box. Strings were binding, going out of tune ridiculously after bends - and going sharp and flat. I've never had a string go sharp before so it was like wtf, The saddles were in a straight line so the intonation was the shits.

The tech did some work on the nut and saddles during the two setups (changed guages so I got him to recheck everything). It mostly going slightly flat now so strings stretching maybe. We're talking minor now so I think it's ok in general.

I haven't had a LP for years so it's all new. Thing plays like a dream with the 9's on it now. I'm just trying to get some stability tuning wise. For example I tune my low E string a little flat open so it is in tune for fretting. I know my Strat and Kramer so I know where exactly on the tuner to set things. I'm pretty close with the LP now. If you know what I mean - you have to know how hard to hit the string when tuning to figure out where it should tune to so it plays in tune |on average| That's part of the learning process with this new guitar.

The Les Paul tuners are a lot sloppier than the Strat and the D string is the worst - you crank and crank and it doesn't move at all on the tuner until it's sharp - actually all the tuners are a little like that. I love my Floyd fine tuners as compared - so accurate.

It's not as bad as it sounds, and I will eventually get this to work the way I want it to, I'm just ranting right now.
 
If you're turning the keys and nothing happens, then all of the sudden it goes sharp, it sounds to me like you have a nut binding up. I'm no tech, but that what it seems like to me, and it's quite plausible with Gibson's quality control lately. Seriously, Gibson's plek system and nut quality has come under fire as of late. Some are great right from the get-go, some are trainwrecks.
 
Yep - I'd say it's still binding a bit too. I'm going to try some different lubricant, and play with it a while and see if it gets any better. If not it goes back to the tech under their shop warranty.
 
I'm using this guitar exclusively now - mainly to get used to it and get it as comfortable as my two others. The strap locks were a great addition btw.
 
My buddy has a gorgeous brand new Standard that won't stay in tune for shit. He picks very hard, so that aint helping, but even with my lighter touch it doesn't stay in tune well at all. It's frustrating that such an expensive guitar has tuning problems. Mine was really good when I got it, went through a little spell of headache, and now is quite good.

Just a few weeks ago I restrung it, stretched em in, and tracked a whole album's worth of guitar tracks in one sitting with only tiny minor tuning adjustments needed between songs. Get it looked at, or give it some time to wear in.
 
I loosened the strings one at a time and put some cork grease in the slots. There didn't appear to be any lubricant in there before. I played lots of bends for an hour and every thing went slightly flat pretty much evenly. Still sounded in tune with itself. Tuning is better, don't get any binding. I retuned and played for another hour and only the G string was slightly flat the second time Still sounded ok though. I usually retune my Kramer every set so I think it's getting better.

I do find the pickups are a little treble-y so I'm turning the tone knobs down to about 7 and it helped a lot. That does affect the overall volume but not enough to concern me. I find the tone knobs have way more effect than those on my strat or Kramer. Kind of a nice gradual change.

I've been doing this all through the line out with headphones on because everyone was sleeping. The 900 high gain channel through line out is pretty fizzy but I find if I play through the clean channel and crank the gain I get dirt with a better tone. That line out is not the way to record but is cool for silent playing.
 
When I get strings binding, I like to take some 600 grit cloth, and just touch up the slot to smooth it out a bit without taking much of the nut material off, then I take a soft #2 pencil, sharpen it, and just work the tip right into the string slot.
That seems to last for a good while...and I just reuse the pencil any time it starts to stick a bit.
 
Miro's method - about what I do, except I use a 'sanding sponge' (think it's less abrasive and finer than 600 grit).
 
I've thought about going finer than 600 grit....but I apply very little pressure, and the paper goes slick after just a few passes, so it's not removing much.
I think on some of my new reissue Hagstrom guitars, the slots for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd strings were just a bit tight to begin with, but the stock nuts are all Graph Tech Black Tusq, so they're pretty smooth in operation overall with little binding.
 
i have a set of nut files and i used to widen and round out the slots

that always worked well
 
This probably sounds counter intuitive. But I find that putting some extra wraps around the tuning posts helps reduce binding on my Gibsons. The extra downward force creates more tension between the nut and the tuning post which helps overcome the friction that causes binding. Especially on the G string.
 
Not My Name said:
This probably sounds counter intuitive. But I find that putting some extra wraps around the tuning posts helps reduce binding on my Gibsons. The extra downward force creates more tension between the nut and the tuning post which helps overcome the friction that causes binding. Especially on the G string.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. By increasing the break angle you do not increase the tension. It creates slightly more downward force on the nut which would if anything increase the problem.
 
So mutt, you being a builder, what do you recommend for Les Paul tuning instability?

I'm of the opinion, just my own reasoning and stuff I've read, that the G string on the LP/SG is problematic because of the headstock shape and where the tuning pegs are located. The G string crosses the nut and makes a relatively sharp kink to reach it's tuning peg. The D string does the same, but being thicker, and wound, the kick doesn't affect it as much. Firebirds and Vs don't have this issue because they don't use the standard open-book Gibson headstock shape and the strings take a straighter shot to the tuning pegs. Is any of that truth? It just seems that way to me.
 
To stay in tune a string has to maintain the same tension, mass per unit length and string length. Anything that changes any one of those those will alter the pitch.

With a bigger break angle such as on a nut or saddle on a LP or SG style guitar increasing the break angle increases the product of the friction coefficient at the nut or saddle. The greater the break angle or greater the friction created by a wound string the more attention you need to pay to the nut or saddle slot.

The fixed points on a string are the tuning post and the stop bar. The nut and saddle act as fulcrums and the string needs to be able to pass over them smoothly or bends will result in sticking and slipping. The tension in the string has to remain constant for it to maintain pitch. The coefficient of friction is also constant but the downward force increases it's effect. Hard to explain but thats why people use lubricants, to reduce that coefficient.

If you have a well cut nut and clean saddle that allows that and it still goes out of tune something else is going on. Returning to my first statement it requires that either the string length has altered or that the material in the string has. In the case of SG's and to a lesser degree LP's movement in the timber itself can cause problems as the neck and body geometry can subtly change. Its a long standing issue with some SG's and I know people that have got rid of them because of just that. Get a good one and it should be OK.
 
Ok, so that break angle on an SG/LP isn't the problem, it is what it is. It's just that break angle combined with what is probably a less-than-great nut on stock Gibsons adds up to tuning problems. With a perfectly cut nut, it should be fine.

I've noticed that my SG, which I had set up before I bought it, stays in tune significantly better than my LP did when it was new. By now, my LP does a very nice job staying in tune, but it had to like "wear in" I guess.
 
Greg_L said:
Ok, so that break angle on an SG/LP isn't the problem, it is what it is. It's just that break angle combined with what is probably a less-than-great nut on stock Gibsons adds up to tuning problems. With a perfectly cut nut, it should be fine.

I've noticed that my SG, which I had set up before I bought it, stays in tune significantly better than my LP did when it was new. By now, my LP does a very nice job staying in tune, but it had to like "wear in" I guess.
Click to expand...


Thats about it. The nut and saddle play a crucial role in maintaining the tension. The bigger the break angle the more friction force has to be overcome and a sloppy nut will hinder that. Normally a good setup is all that is needed. If as sometimes things still go out of tune it's got to be another root problem.

There are so many myths about guitars and the physics behind them and this break angle/overwrapping thing which is essentially the same thing is just one of
them.
 
I've never heard of extra windings around the tuning peg doing anything. Seems to me that would compound the friction of an already sticking nut. But I don't know, I've never tried it.

My LP actually has no windings at all. It has Grover locking tuners. You just pass the string into the hole, lock it down, and tune to pitch. They never slip. Neither do the standard Klusons on my SG or Hallmark Mosrite clone. I don't believe tuners are ever a problem unless they're physically damaged. A healthy tuner, even a cheap on, will be fine.
 
It's never the tuners. Two wraps is all you need on a normal tuning post. On most guitars the amount of string to leave slack as you wind it on is the distance to the next post. Locking tuners ditto for me I always leave at least one and a half wraps when I string up which I do about 50 to 100 times in a good week.
 
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