The second instalment in a series on nut repairs - how to properly remove an old or damaged nut. Have a peek at the previous article in the repairs archive if you want a little more information on whether on not the existing nut can be salvaged. Here's a tip - when there's fretwork involved, many times the nut can be reused if it's in reasonably good shape.

Once you're sure it's time to replace the nut, well... it has to come out! It can be as easy as a simple tap or rather like pulling a tooth - Nurse?... pliers and a crowbar please.

In a best case scenario, the nut's already loose or just sitting cleanly in a right angle slot with no back edge. If there's finish on and around it, take a sharp knife and score all around the edges to avoid chipping. On some older necks with maple fingerboards you'll see the finish, usually yellowed, layed on pretty thick. Be careful around the finish, too much pressure can induce chipping particularly on vintage instruments.

Next, you'll need a couple tools. A medium sized flat-head screwdriver and a similar plastic handled instrument of some sort will do. Rather than using a hammer, these lighter tools will provide a little more control over the force applied to the nut. Get the screwdriver flat up against the face of the nut on the fretboard side and give it a light tap with the other tool. If you're lucky the nut will pop right out. If not, give it a couple more light taps.

I have to stress this because you could wind up tearing out some of the wood underneath or behind it creating a nasty problem and extra repair work.

If it's still being stubborn, try tapping it from the headstock side then the other to apply a kind of rocking action.

Once it's out, it's time to clean the nut slot.

Typical Fender and Gibson style nuts sit in a square u-shaped slot requiring a little more care and patience in removal. The same principals apply in protecting the finish as above.

Sometimes these buggers can be tough and it pays to be patient - and careful. With a few taps, you should be able to see the nut shift slightly when it's loose, then carefully try to pull it up and out of the slot.

In more difficult cases I use a small pair of flush ground end nippers to help coax them out, gently rocking them back and forth, upwards out of the slot - like a tooth.

On some Fender type instruments with thin nuts, none of these efforts may seem to work so we'll try a different approach. Use a fine saw and carefully cut the nut in half then collapse it in upon itself by squeezing the two halves together. Of course this totally destroys the nut but be sure to keep the fragments to help determine the original string spacing.

Cleaning The Slot

There are some fine specialty tools available from various suppliers for cleaning and squaring up the nut slot but the same job can be done quite easily with some basic tools at hand. A sharp 1/4" chisel and a small mill file will do fine. You can use the chisel to scrape off any leftover glue and the file to square up the slot. Be careful when filing not to oversize the slot or create an uneven width from side to side.

Coming Up... Preparing And Fitting A New Nut!

If you would like more information about this subject or instrument repairs in general, check out Dan Erlewine's book -  Guitar Player Repair Guide. It goes into much more detail and is indispensable as an all around how-to shop manual.