Hey, I want to put an LSR nut on my Strat. I have decided that I should not attempt this job myself as I do not want to mess up my guitars fretboard. In fact, I have already taken the guitar to a couple of guitar shops and they are actually turning down the work.

So the question is: Does anyone know of a guitar shop in the central New Jersey area that has experience in doing this installation. I have been told that there is some type of a bench machine that is used for cutting the slot for the nut. I think lack of the machine/setup is why people feel un-confident in doing this work for me.

Any Info will help,
Thanks

You are wise not to do it yourself.

There are several bench machines which can trim that bit of the fingerboard off. There are several hand machines which can trim that bit of fingerboard off. It can be and also is done with equal success by simply using the proper hand tools. Regardless of the method used, mounting that nut is not a difficult task to a competent tech.

The fact that a couple of shops have turned you down speaks volumes that they are simply incapable of performing this and many other procedures as well. At least they were honest enough in the sense that they know their limitations and realize it is one of thousands which can't be accomplished merely reading a, "How To" type book with your disemboweled guitar prostrate in front of them.

Where in Central NJ are you?

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Hey, Thanks for the reply, i'm in the Edison area.

I know some people MUST have the ambience of a musical facility. However, if you would consider a now private, semi-retired, NYC tech with well over 35 years experience, I could hook you right up. He's in Linden, about a mile inland off of 1&9 North (near Linden Airport). If you're interested, e-mail me.

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Ok, sent you an email.

I haven't received your e-mail but I did speak to the subject tech this morning. Unfortunately, he has like a month's backup and is not accepting any new work at the moment. Not to worry though, here is someone who is a bit further away (not too far) yet does outstanding work as well:

http://www.timeelect.com/

Ask for Ritchie, he is the owner.

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Martian maybe me and you should look to open a guitar shop together I think we would do alright. Hey if you are coming into .NY one day and would like to hang let me know.

Thank you!!!

I'm flattered! Yea, I bet we'd do alright!!

The only times I go to NY these days is to Staten Island and that's at best, sporadic. I think the last time I was in Brooklyn believe it or not, was for a wake several years ago. Ironically, throughout college (St. John's University), I was always over there. As I remember it, I was one of four in my freshman class from SI, everyone else was from Brooklyn. Certainly, if I ever do have a reason to head over the VZ Bridge, I'll positively let you know.

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So true!

I told this story once before, but it was a long time ago, so...

I was in a small guitar shop in the styx I thought it would be nice to support. While I was mooching about a guy came in with a mid-range acoustic guitar. He wanted the bridge lowered and maybe some attention to the nut if the "expert" thought it necessary. He also wanted the frets checked to see if they were thought ready for a redress.

About five minutes after he'd left I heard one of the young chappies behind the counter ask the other; "How do we do that, then?" "Dunno: look it up on the internet..."

It became clear they were not going to hand the guitar over to a tech but intended to attempt the work themselves, and plainly had no idea what it involved. I tried talking to them about it but they definitely didn't want to hear from some guy who'd just wandered in. I'd have gone after the guitar's owner - but he was long gone.

So we can only hope they did nothing too expensive to put right.

An object lesson. We must interview our "techs" carefully...

Cheers - C

Amen!

Taking your point a step further to the same object lesson, it has been my observation in over forty some odd years in this business that many shops will if at all, only temporarily have a competent in-house tech. Once the store gets a decent reputation for tech work, said tech is then, "dispatched" and replaced with bottom feeder hacks. I've also seen where when the hacks are too afraid to take a task on, the shop actually tries to get bids from real techs. And when they realize they are going to have to pay a fair price to a competent tech for the task at hand, they refuse and ultimately tell the customer, "Your guitar has to go back to the factory for that type of work."

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The few shops that I do work for do not tell the customer that it has been done out of house. Its cheaper to get me to do some things then to keep a tech for 40 hours. Some just get back logged others may not take in enough for multiple techs , hence me the side job guy. I don't need to bid because the cut is already there per agreement.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Martian,

Thanks for the link. I will probably call the guy up early next week as I need the guitar this weekend. I'll let you know how it works out.

Glad to help. He's been around for as long as I can remember and his work is top notch. Definitely let me know how it goes.

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Well the job is finished and it came out great. Here are some pics of the installed LSR nut. Also here is a link to the original project. Finally, I have decided to stop upgrading at this point. It sounds great and I want it to stay that way.

List of upgrades:
Duncan Alnico 2 Pros (Bridge and Neck)
Neck on Push/Pull
Neck Reverse Phase Push/Pull
Lace Sensor Gold (Middle)
Straplocks
Graphtech Saddles
Schaller Locking Tuners
Fender LSR Nut

Electronics: http://www.fender.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8473&highlight=

Pics:

Looks Good