Guy_Gallo Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) Question: are the nut and fingerboard usually discrete pieces of ebony? Or are they usually carved from a single piece? Does it signify anything one way or the other? Edited January 31, 2012 by Guy_Gallo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Lynn Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Discreet pieces? They are two separate pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANFIO Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 They are made in two pieces, the grain in the upper nut being in 90 degrees (transversal) to the grain of the fingerboard, in order to make the nut stronger and resist to the string's atrite. If both had the same orientation the strings would "carve" and dig in the nut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy_Gallo Posted January 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Interesting. The fingerboard of the violin in my avatar came loose and I saw it apart from the fiddle today... the nut and fingerboard are carved from a single bit of ebony. So the question it, does it signify anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANFIO Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 That would be unorthodox... aren't they just glued togheter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy_Gallo Posted February 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Perhaps my eyes played tricks on me, but I saw no seams. The bottom had come loose, so when he came out of the shop I expected to see the fingerboard off and the nut still on the neck. Instead he handed me a single piece which I examined... But, hey, perhaps I need new glasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANFIO Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Guy, in many cases the nut will remain glued to the fingerboard when it gets unglued. There are 4 alternatives: 1 - fingerboard gets loose and nut remains glued to the neck; 2 - Just the nut gets loose, 3 - both fingerboard and nut gets loose and unglued from each other; 4 - fingerboard gets loose with the nut still glued to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiddleDoug Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 It would be very difficult (bordering on close to impossible) to do the fingerboard and nut as one piece. In order to plane the fingerboard to the correct profile, you have to shoot the plane over the spot where the nut is. If the nut were there, the plane would hit on it, and prevent the plane from going the full length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy_Gallo Posted February 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 That makes sense. So it must be the join was just near invisible to me... and I wasn't expecting it to come off in a single piece... thanks all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Holmes Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Guy; Here's a thread with nuts-in-progress (be patient... they start a few posts down into the thread). It's sometimes difficult to see the joint if you're not looking for it. Link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarylG Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 It's good practice to glue the nut to the end of the fingerboard with a single drop of glue. The single drop allows for easy removal and gluing it only to the end of the fingerboard prevents any maple from chipping off the neck. When I remove the fingerboards on my violins for varnishing the nuts often come off attached to the fingerboard. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNewbie Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Here is one of those instances where"Belt n' Braces" is not needed. What you don't want to do, is glue the nut onto the end of the fingerboard AND onto the maple neck. It becomes a pain to then try and remove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~ Ben Conover Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 You can use bone for the nut too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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