Just got my strat today. I noticed that every time I touch the tremolo arm the nut pops. Then G, B, and E go sharp. I had this issue with a MIM that my friend had. I thought the quality would be better on a MIA, guess not. So what are my options here?

You dont need a new nut.
Thats the good news.
The only time you need a new nut is when the slots wear too deep for open strings to ring clearly. Even then there are tricks to get round that sometimes.

You need the nut slots to be smoothed out, a common thing with new guitars. You can use vasceline or some pencil lead/graphite.
Myself i prefer to give them a light rub with some welding tip cleaners.
Monte Allums sells them and is a gent to deal with. They are the swiss army knife type thing on this page
http://www.monteallums.com/enut_tuning.html

He calls it a nut slotting tool.

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Maybe some nut sauce?


I have done pencil graphite on my friend mim to no avail. Ill try something now. I might take it to my tech tomorrow for him to file out the slots alittle. thanks

Dont bother paying for nut sauce. Its nothing more than vasceline in a fancy syringe. Your better off to get a cocktail stick, dip it in some vasceline and wipe that into the slot.
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Saved you $5 eh??

The slot needs to be smooth. If you do apply lubricant it just masks the problem and doesnt cure it.
With the bass strings you can get a old string or offcut and rub it through the slot lightly to take the burrs off. I do that 2 handed btw, and dont go too heavy handed or you will need a new nut.

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I dont have vasiline I do have a spare e string. But my 3 bass strings arnt the problem, it the 3 high strings that the nut grabs. Should I just get them filed out?

Thats the best option but gently is the word to remember. The E strings wont do you any good on the treble strings. Ones too smooth the others too wide. You can use a very thin D string on the Gstring slot but thats about it.

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Ok, thank niki. Im gonna see my tech tomorrow.