Diagnose a nut

[alex1fly]

Would you all mind lending experienced eyes on this nut? I picked up this Santana SE off of Reverb last month - 2015 model, seller said he bought it new and barely played it. The high E and B strings sound choked, and those nut slots look a little off to me, like the strings gouged their way down into the slots. As a result, the open E and B strings don't ring. When I asked him about it, he had a very "how dare you" attitude about it. However, I don't have a lot of experience with diagnosing this kind of thing - what do you all think?

 

[Boogie]

If I had a psychiatrist, I could ask them for assistance. Figuring me out would certainly qualify as ‘diagnosing a nut’.

On a serious note, the truss rod probably needs a slight twist major nut problems (insert snicker here) are rare for a PRS, regardless of model line.

Upon review, those nut slots need to be dressed. Not sure what the hell they were doing to make those strings creep sideways.

 

[Wakester]

That nut has been roasted. I would buy a new one.

FWIW, we are all Nuts here, that is an easy diagnosis.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Yep. Get a core nut on that baby.

Not a huge investment and it will help your guitar sing!

 

[alantig]

So much for Testicular Cancer Awareness month.

 

[Draconomics]

Ok, according to my backwoods nut doctor prognisis, here goes: Your nut is gooched. It can be fixed, but honestly you'll be a happier person by upgrading the SE nut. The material used for those SE nuts is kinda soft to me and I've gotten similar issues on new instruments. On my SE Paul's, the low E and the G gouged in and bit down and to the left about .3mm. On my 35th Ani, the strings would bind and whenever the trem was used it pinged. As said above, get a core nut, or try a bone/tusq nut. The core nut will basically fit like a glove whereas the Tusq or bone nuts will need some work to get them to the right height, but I prefer Tusq or bone material. I went the bone route on my PG and Tusq on the 35th ani, and no issues since.

Also, check that truss rod anyway. Sometimes buzzing like that can be caused by a backbowed neck, but judging by that pic I'm 95% sure the nut is the problem. BTW, the guy you bought it from sounds as bad as that nut looks. That nut didnt get that way from shipping. Probably got it, lost interest, and she was sitting there collecting dust bunnies while the strings were busy making the grand nut canyon because nobody was doing routine maintenance.

 

[alex1fly]

Thanks all. Glad I'm not nuts for thinking this nut is nuts. I'll order up some nuts and see if I can get 'er going. Then I'll... nut? (Sorry.)

I am a nut though, for not being able to link photos correctly (I work on computers all day, LOL)... is the Imgur URL I linked in the first not the right one to put in the "Image URL" field??

 

[alex1fly]

Forgot I'd ordered a core nut a couple weeks back. It does seem to fit perfectly, the intonation is better across the neck and the strings go out of tune less with trem use.

 

[bodia]

Forgot I'd ordered a core nut a couple weeks back. It does seem to fit perfectly, the intonation is better across the neck and the strings go out of tune less with trem use.

Glad to hear it.

 

[Wakester]

Thanks all. Glad I'm not nuts for thinking this nut is nuts. I'll order up some nuts and see if I can get 'er going. Then I'll... nut? (Sorry.)

I am a nut though, for not being able to link photos correctly (I work on computers all day, LOL)... is the Imgur URL I linked in the first not the right one to put in the "Image URL" field??

For imgur links, i copy and paste the bb Code into the text field of the post. Works every time.