Slots

Oversight - the slots here were not deep enough to contain the strings so a good part of these strings were virtually sitting on the nut material instead of being inside the slots. 

Deeper slots. Did I use a file? I don't own one. I use the excess wound G string to floss out the slot cavity. Verdict - no buzzing at the nut & strings sit in the slots. Crude approach but it worked.

DC stuff

These are the bird's eye maple spotting on my Kiesel DC400H fretboard. I have no idea what's the fixation on bird's eye maple, personally, I don't find them attractive. Then again, I'm not a fan of such features, flame stripes & quilts included.

Top marks for this - look at how well the nut slots were cut. I prefer these V-profile nut slots, strings rest better this way, very little room for nut materials from the sides to choke the strings during tuning. Yes, I remove all strings during re-stringing regardless of the guitar's bridge type. This way, I have better access to the fretboard surface for cleaning. 

Washburn revival

Howdy, folks. This sleek looking guitar here is the Washburn D12SCE. This is the revived look as I've brought it back to life recently. Sort of. It's passed to me by a colleague who requested a simple re-string but seeing some things in dire need of attention & replacement, I couldn't just ignore those anomalies. Here are some highlights leading to this manifestation.

This is how the headstock looks like. From just the looks, I could tell that something was amiss. A renowned name like Washburn do not blanket their brand name with a layer of tinted overcoat. We'll get back to this in just a bit. If you are wondering why it's nut-less...

... it was in bad shape & had to go. If you look closely, some slots were chipped & the rust in the B & E slots was permanent. I'm the type who insist that nut slots should be rust-free. Trace amounts of rust could infect fresh strings. Rust also cuts into strings so the chances of new strings snapping at the nut end would be higher than rust-free slots. 

The deserving replacement is a Tusq nut. As you can see here, it's an affordable replacement & it's good stuff- I've tried it in another guitar (Yamaha) & it had proven to manifest a tad more clarity. While at it, I also purchased a set of replacement bridge pins as the current ones were terribly chipped & scratched. These Hosco ones are also good, affordable replacements. 

The tuners were also removed & cleaned up. Mind you, these are quality Grovers that would salvage some value should this guitar be scrapped one day. There is a ready market for a set of Grovers because they had beed proven to be worthy in terms of reliability & stability. This here is an example of a post-polish condition, a far cry from the initial state it was in.

Folks, there is something about this headstock that screams tragedy. Over at the flip side, I had to fill up the tuners' screw cavities with wood filler (those pale dots you see there) because all screws were loose. At the base of a headstock, I could see a crack running across the width & that pick holder there might have been installed to cover this up. 

Compounding the situation would be this revelation, so to speak. As I was polishing the surface, bits of the overcoat came off & it revealed the brighter, livelier Washburn decal. Whatever happened to this instrument, the neck was a major casualty & cover-up took place.

The replacement nut was glued in place & left to set in overnight. That's my standard; a wet application on an instrument must be left to dry adequately before moving on to further rectifications.  I like Tusq nuts because they address a lower action profile & the slots were rounded at the factory unlike some replacement units where the incisions are V-profiled. As you can see here, a new nut simply injects life into an instrument's aesthetics. Unlike previous iterations, Tusq now proudly proclaims its presence on the product surface & the brand name really deserves the attention.

Frets were cleaned & polished- just look at the rejuvenated fret (yellow arrow) vs the neglected counterpart (blue arrow).

Not forgetting the fretboard- moisturized (blue arrow) vs the drier bit (yellow arrow).

Finally, a set of Elixir strings & it's ready for action.

This Washburn has some good tones in there; it's down to the solid top & an overall heavy build. With a fresh set of strings & that spanking new nut, notes ring clear & there's a marked loudness coming from this one which makes it likeable, just pity the headstock condition. Judging from the fret wear, this guitar is a chord-intense player; I didn't notice any wear beyond the 8th fret. The neck was surprisingly straight despite what it'd been through & no adjustments were made. By the time you read this, it's on its way back to its owner & getting ready to belch out hundreds more songs before a deserving retirement. This guitar was handed over to me without a bag. I just feel that it deserves some form of protection due to its rather worn condition. This guitar was resident here for about two weeks. I was waiting for the replacement nut to be in stock & wasn't interested in the plastic ones in store. This guitar model had been discontinued. To date, Washburn had re-designed the headstock for this series of guitars.

FYI, D12SCE stands for:

• D = Dreadnought
• 12 = Series reference. The lower tier models feature a single digit & those are the more affordable versions with laminated tops.
• S = Solid top
• C = Cutaway
• E = Electro-acoustic. 

Strat set up (2)

Usually, I would re-condition the rosewood fretboard of a new guitar on its first re-string. This is what I have been using- wood conditioner from the hardware store & it's not a guitar product. Usually, guitar-related manufacturers would alleviate product desirability by adding scent to the formula & this would more often than not increase the acidity to the content (eg: lemon or other citrus ingredients). Acidic fluid, when applied frequently to fretboards, would soften the wood & it becomes less resistant to scratches or dents. It might eventually weaken the neck strength altogether.

I'm easily bothered by nut choke (& how it affects tuning) so I make it a point to address this by lubricating the slots. I'm using commercial vaseline (bought this one at Mustaffa Center) & again, it's not a guitar related product. Use a pointed implement to apply the vaseline into the slots, in this case, a satay stick does the job. 

No vaseline in the house? Vicks Vapo Rub works as well.

If you are particular about what goes into those slots & would want a safe bet, look for slot lubricants in the stores such as this GHS product. The reason why I stopped using them- they cost more & don't necessarily work better. Some guitar techs would tell you just rub pencil lead into the slots, that's the least costly way to do it but that stains the lighter coloured nut & might prove to be a point of contention during re-sale situations.

Not the way

This is the wrong way to wind the strings round your instrument's machine heads (left). In many cases, strings were designed to have a straight travel to the posts so they sit parallel in the nut slots to supplement tuning stability. Anything sitting in a slant in the slots will experience more resistance upon tuning & affects responsiveness- one of the reason why the Les Paul's G & D strings are the most stubborn in this aspect. Also, if you continue to wind the wrong way & your nut material is not up to it (especially for basses), expect cracks in time to come.