I have had one hell of an afternoon that has gone from bad to worse.
this morning a new bone nut and a set of ernie ball super slinkys arrived, soon to be fitted to my affinity strat.
I took the old strings off and took out the old plastic nut which was split at the G string, not a problem as it was being replaced anyway.
I made sure that the nut slot was clean and ready for the new one.

I opened the new nut and found that it wouldn't fit in the slot. feeling frustrated I took the bone nut off my bullet strat and found that it would fit my affinity perfectly.
I fitted the nut, cleaned the neck and fitted the new strings.
while tuning the new strings, I heard a crack and four small bits of wood splintered off the back of the nut slot, right behind the G D A and E strings.

what is worse is that it looks like it has split before and someone has glued it back on, there is super glue all over the broken bits of wood.

will I have to replace the neck or can anything be done to repair it?
I also found a bit of plastic strapping in the neck pocket when I took the neck off.
the kind of plastic banding that is used for packaging.
I had no idea if it was supposed to be there or not, I have never seen such a thing on any other guitar I have owned.

the guitar was strung with 9's and I have put a new set of 9's on, before taking the neck off the string height was perfect.
after removing the plastic from the neck pocket and putting the new strings back on, the strings were now 6mm off the neck.
the neck pocket shouldn't have anything in it apart from the neck heel should it?

I really need help here guys.

Pics would help a lot here. You can shim a nut and reglue the wood bits.

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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I highly recommend putting the plastic banding back in the neck pocket. It is not unheard of the have a shim in there to adjust the neck angle. Ideally it shouldn't be required but sometimes it is needed.

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In my opinion Leo Fender had essentially perfected the guitar amplifier by 1964.

I'm sorry guys but I don't know how to add photos.
as for gluing the broken bits of wood back in, the split resulted in 4 small bits of wood, there is no way I could get them in the right order and glue them all back in to place.

https://plus.google.com/photos/11629579 ... 9941517938

here is my broken strat.

Sure you can, it's only 4 bits with 16 possibilities but only one configuration that fits exactly...

Take the pieces, lay them out on a flat surface and match them up together, don't force them they should fit exactly as wood does not split in a flat/square split but rather where the grain is the weakest..
Once you have the pieces as they align together side by side there is only one way they will fit back on the neck....
Don't use superglue, use a wood glue..... there are plenty of threads here just do a search on the build threads section for nut repairs and replacements.

Kiss nation...you need to upload the photo's on this site/thread for us to view them, use a cloud like Photobucket or similar. it's fairly simple, but I cannot view the strat without signing in to Google for which I have no use at this moment for another site membership...Sorry..

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

thanks mate. all I can do is try.

If you scape off all of that unnecessary old glue, the new nut will probably fit just fine. You will probably have a rough time gluing the pieces back in because of the copious amount of dried glue stuck on there. Never use super glue on wood, use wood glue.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

I haven't used any super glue.
I took the old nut out to find the slot covered in super glue.
then later the wood behind the nut split.

Then go smack the person that you bought the guitar from and tell him.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

I have a better and perhaps easier solution for you after seeing the pics....
How about installing a roller nut like the Jeff Beck guitars or similar models..
This will kill two birds with one stone.
(1) you level the area towards the tuners where the old nut was. It appears that the pieces sheared off at nut level thus it is an easy modification.
(2) install the roller nut and you have no need to worry about regluing the pieces
(3) you now have a freshly planed good wood section for the roller nut to bed in...

Look into it...I think it will save you some aggravation in the long run...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I did think about that too, as a roller nut has to be screwed in place and doesn't need the support of the wood behind the nut (closest to the tuners) I have seen a few videos showing how to fit a roller nut, you simply cut a small amount of the fretboard away (on the bridge side) and fit the roller nut in to the existing nut slot that you have made bigger.

I have also seen a video of someone who cut away too much wood when fitting a roller nut, he took it to a luthier who removed all of the wood behind the nut slot and replaced it with a new wedge, he glued it in place and then used a router to trim the edges and then cut a fresh nut slot to accept the new roller nut. all was fine after that.

both are things I have considered.
who would have thought that a standard nut replacement could uncover so many problems.

Or you could just replace the entire neck for what it will cost you to repair or change the nut...It's a Squier Affinity Stratocaster, about a $100 to buy a new Strat, ( even less if pre-owned ) which then you would have an extra body and you can hold on to this neck until you get it repaired.

Scarfing in a new piece and then cutting out a new nut slot is more expensive than the entire guitar is worth, so is installing a roller nut...
The simplest most cost effective is to buy another Affinity and use that neck. This is what I do , I'll buy an Affinity and completely rework / rebuild / refinish the guitar to a MIM or Standard
Stratocaster quality.....See My Build threads links below....

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=51950&hilit=Stratopartster+build+I+and+II

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65048&hilit=Stratopartster+build+I+and+II

( Edit ) .... ( Not quite sure what is happening here but the two links above seem similar but they are not. The 1st is Stratopartster I, II & III. The 2nd Link is Stratopartster IV and Telepartster I
I changed the title some time back after the thread was created and it doesn't appear as a changed title but the link does get you to the correct thread.. )

If you were on the East Coast I would just say, send me the neck and I'll repair it, just pay for roundtrip shipping. It's a simple fix, would take but a couple days or up to a week ( if refinishing is required ) I have plenty of Bone nut material and rosewood in small pieces is easy to find in this area...

There..... that is the best advice I can give you at this point, and the most cost effective.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

a new neck would be much more cost effective. to properly place a roller nut you would have to cut a little of the board out in front of the nut to get it in the proper position.
but if you chipped the other side off and sanded it flat you might be able to get a Floyd locking nut on there.

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I would be against the Floyd Nut route as the Affinity necks are much thinner than MIM and MIA Stratocaster necks and having to drill two holes in the neck will seriously affect rigidity..
Then again we are back to a plausible cost effective solutions....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "