Standard nut size?

I have an '84 Electra/Westone Futura with a Phoenix neck which has a nut that's worn out. I only have .012" clearance between the first fret and the strings, and of course any open string buzzes a little too much. I believe the neck on the Spectrum is the same neck, and was wondering if there was a specific precut nut any of you had fitted to a Phoenix neck Westone? It looks suspiciously like a Stratocaster nut to me.......any suggestions would be appreciated!

Cheers - Drizzit

Just measure what's in there and go accordingly.

You'll still have to do some work on it to set it for your liking.

The nut is the main part of setting the action.

You could also try the ole' baking soda + crazy glue trick to build up the slots and refile.
Less invasive and you can retain some originality if that's a concern for you.

If not there are good alternatives out there, including Tusq which should be a close replacement, and of course bone.

I've never had much luck for in building a nut back up, unfortunately. I'll definitely be replacing with the TusqXL, I have found them to be the best replacements out there. Going to have to go in the garage and get the digital caliper out and take some measurements, I was trying to take the lazy way out, lol!

Drizzit wrote: I was trying to take the lazy way out, lol!

Just put a shim under the nut...the lazy way.

Westbone wrote:

Drizzit wrote: I was trying to take the lazy way out, lol!

Just put a shim under the nut...the lazy way.

Oh, I've done one better than that......just loosened the strings and cut a bit of business card to fit the slots......don't think you can get any lazier than that! Well, other than to live with the string buzz and the poor setup 

That's the way to do it....

Drizzit wrote:Oh, I've done one better than that......just loosened the strings and cut a bit of business card to fit the slots......don't think you can get any lazier than that! Well, other than to live with the string buzz and the poor setup

Hey Drizz, you'll notice Westbone's emoticon is not in agreement!  

If you are going to shim a nut, or an acoustic saddle, or a neck pocket, a business card is really not the best material to use. Cardboard compresses,  dampens string vibration transmission, and ultimately is not stable over time.

A new nut is best, but if you are going to shim I would prefer using a piece of wood veneer.
You can buy various woods in small rolls. Just crazy glue it to the bottom of the nut and sand on a flat surface to the required height. Much more stable, and cheap, a roll of veneer will last you the rest of your life!

Oh no, lol! I went even lazier than that! I didn't actually shim the nut with cardboard, I just put a bit of cardboard between the string and the nut!

Oh yippee, that should kill the string vibration very nicely!

In all seriousness i just did it to the few strings that had excessive open string buzz, just to be sure I was on the right track