I think I need to replace the nut on my bass. It’s a Yamaha RBX170. The only thing I find in the specs is the original nut is Urea. The aftermarket nuts I find aren’t like car parts where they say what model they’ll fit, so I’m kind of at a loss for how to find the part. Guitarpartsresource.com has some measurements I can pull (looks like distance from 1 to 4 is important), but do I just make sure that’s good and sand down any other dimension? On Sweetwater.com it doesn’t even give that, just “P-Bass style” or “Jazz Bass-Style.”
It’s my first foray into handy work on an instrument and a little lost.
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You are almost assuredly gooing to need to sand and file, and maybe shim, any aftermarket nut you get for this. It’s not hard but I would head to YouTube and look for some videos on it. I just used sandpaper and a thin $3 diamond file and it worked fine, no special tools really needed. The nut I ordered was too short so I shimmed it with business card stock.
Basically the last time I did this I took the measurements of the nut and just ordered a similar one from Graphtec, and then sanded the sides and shimmed it.
Since this is a Yamaha you might be able to order a replacement from them. Their US parts site:
Did the nut completely break (like mine did) or is it some other issue?
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In Canada you can order directly from them. I ordered a couple nuts from them a few months back and they were only a couple of dollars each.
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Thank you! I think it’s just worn down where the A string slots through the nut.
I got into the Yamaha site and tried to search, but must call the bass something other than RBX. More searching to come.
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Cool. You can tell if it is too low pretty easily - fret in the third fret on the opposite side from normal (up against the second fret wire.) The string should just barely clear the first fret. Try tapping it - if it moves at all, the nut is fine. If it doesn’t move and is touching the first fret, the nut slot is too low.
There should be barely any gap at all but the tap test works well. If there is a visibile gap larger than a sheet of paper or so, the nut slot is relatively high. No gap, and it’s too low.
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Just phone them. I found them very friendly.
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