Ok I know this is a guitar tech 101 but I get asked this on occasion so I thought I would do a quick MLP tutorial. THIS WILL PROBABLY GET MOVED TO THE LUTHIERS CORNER. Thought I would put it here for now and give you guys a chance to see it.
I hope to post some more simple quick and easy fixes out there for guys that want to start working on there guitars but havent felt brave enough.
If your having to tune your guitar often or you have that *ping* sound when tuning your nut needs lubed. There are several materials you can use but this has always worked fantastic for me and lets face it youll always have a #2 pencil sitting around the house...or even at a show.
First go raid your kids room and steal a #2 pencil and grab a knife (switchblade not completely necessary)
Loosen the string enough to pull it off the nut and off to the side.
Put the pencil near the nut slot and using your knife shave off a small amount of lead. Try to keep it off the fretboard if it does get on the FB just blow it off after the last step.
Should look like this.
Take your knife blade or better yet a credit card and carefully push the lead into the slot.
Carefully put your string back on the slot...if your not careful you can knock the lead out of the slot.
There you have it!!! Quick simple and youve just tooled on your guitar.
Next week I will post some how to's on intonation. : )