As with so many other things, the best way to show the importance of strap buttons is to look at what happens if they simply aren’t there, or if they don’t work correctly, or when they aren’t where they should be. The consequences include dropped guitars and resulting damage to headstocks, necks, bodies and wallets.  Conclusion: strap buttons are pretty darned important.

In future articles, I’ll spend more time on guitar design theory and how to best position a strap button from the start to maximize playability, comfort and balance. Right now, although the issue of positioning or re-positioning a strap button will come up, I’m going to focus on strap button issues in the context of collectible guitars. This is important because strap button-related issues are among the most common concerns when it comes to what should or should not be done to a collectible instrument.

First and foremost, you have to know what to look for as to whether an instrument has its original strap buttons in their original places. If you’re not sure, my usual recommendation (for just about anything) is that you deal with a reputable and knowledgeable seller and keep your trusted guitar tech in the loop. In addition, because we want to make you a Smarter Guitar Nut, you can educate yourself on this subject pretty quickly since there is abundant information on-line including pictures of almost any instrument and numerous other resources such as scans of original ads and vintage manufacturers’ catalogues.

The most common type of strap button, found on many brands including Gibson and Fender. These are easy to obtain including reliced versions like the one on the right.

You’ll notice there’s a pretty limited range of strap button types. Indeed, the most common type is used on the majority of electric guitars including Fenders and Gibsons. If these need to be replaced, they are readily available, including reasonably priced reliced versions. Just to keep life interesting, there are also, of course, a few very unusual types strap buttons and related hardware which, if missing, can be very hard to replace.

Once you’re sure what to look for, you can recognize whether a strap button has been replaced, added or re-positioned. An appropriate, well-installed replacement should- I suggest – not be a concern in terms of collectability and value. The big problems are:

• If a strap button has been added, it means there’s a hole in the guitar that wasn’t there originally. While the strap button is left in place, you can’t see that hole, but it means the button has to stay put regardless of where it is. Worse, if the installation wasn’t done neatly, there might be some additional cosmetic or even structural damage.
• If a strap button has been repositioned, this is a bit more serious because it means there’s now an extra hole in the guitar that might or might not be able to be touched up.

The strap loop on an old Kay Pro bass. If it’s missing, it will be tough to find a replacement.

Serious issues about added or repositioned strap buttons will be addressed in a future column. For now, you need to know two things:

1. As a buyer, this is something you need to ask about and as an owner/potential seller it’s something you need to stop and consider before making any changes yourself; and,
2. Strap button issues can affect the value of a collectible guitar, whether or not that alteration makes perfectly good sense in terms of improved balance and playability.

If changes or repairs have been or have to be made, you can decide if that’s a deal breaker.

Once you’ve got any issues resolved, if all that’s left is that a strap button is a bit loose, the fix is simple (that is: it’s simple if you’re dealing with a solid body guitar, hollow bodies will be dealt with in the next article):

A small piece of dowel, marked to show to show the depth of the screw hole.

Always wipe off any excess glue.

1) Remove the loose screw and the strap button;

2) Insert a piece of 1/8” dowel (or the traditional piece of match stick) into the hole and mark it to that depth;

3) Remove the dowel and cut it at the mark so it is the same length as the depth of the hole;

4) Coat the dowel with a thin, even layer of glue (white or, preferably yellow…not epoxy or super glue) and push it back into the hole;

5) Then, re-install the strap button.

6) If any excess glue squeezes out of the hole, remove the screw, wipe off the excess glue so none remains on the surface of the guitar and re-install.

An important note here about the term “tighten up”. This always means to turn something just until it stops. It does ­not mean turning it until it stops and then trying to turn it more with all your might. When tightening any component on a guitar with any tool, the rule is: Don’t force it! There are (almost) no guitar-repair situations where it is a good idea to try to force something to go more than it seems to want to go. If you ignore that warning, things can turn out very badly. How badly? Well, let’s just say there will be a future column dedicated to dealing with broken or stripped screws that remain stuck in places where you do not want them to be stuck.

If you manage to tighten up both strap buttons, congratulate yourself. You’ve just repaired one of the most common issues to be dealt with on almost any guitar. This fix should not affect the value of almost any instrument.

If, after going through the steps above two or three times, a screw still doesn’t tighten up, its hole has to be doweled and re-drilled.

Dowelling and re-drilling a hole is a much more complicated procedure and the typical Smarter Guitar Nut would be indeed smarter to pass it over to his trusted tech. The Smarter Guitar Nut who is a bit more experienced with basic repair work should practice dowelling and re-drilling only on very expendable guitars or on scrap wood. We’ll deal with this procedure in a subsequent instalment of the Smarter Guitar Nut.

THE SMARTER GUITAR NUT #3: Strap Buttons – Part 1 from MyRareGuitars.com

While gluing a nut is very easy, care must be taken as this small piece is one of the most essential pieces of your instrument. Here’s our step-by-step guide to re-gluing a nut. A simple and easy-to-learn, but often neglected skill.

How To Re-Glue Guitar Nut, Step 1: loosening the strings

The first thing to do is loosen the strings slightly and see if the nut is completely unglued. If it is not unglued you must take care to remove it. To remove a nut that is still attached, remove the strings and hold a block of wood against the nut from the fretboard side. Tap the wood very gently with a hammer. This applies even pressure against the nut and prevents it from chipping. If there is finish around the nut, score around the nut with a sharp blade, which will minimize chipping the surrounding finish.

How To Re-Glue Guitar Nut, Step 2: examine the slot

Once the nut is free, examine the slot- in most cases, the glue joint broke from hard movement of the case- the movement of the guitar in the case and the tension of the strings will shear the nut at the glue joint. Since very little glue is used (on purpose) the slot should only have a tiny bit of glue residue. If you have large hunks of glue in the slot, you should very gently chip these away with a small tool like a dental pick. You absolutely do not want to gouge away any wood in the slot- its levelness and straightness are important for the nut to seat back properly and the guitar to play well again.

How To Re-Glue Guitar Nut, Step 3: examine the nut

Now examine the nut- it should ideally only have just a minor amount of glue residue. Again, if there are large pieces of glue, you can remove them carefully, again making sure that you do not chip or crack the nut. I find it helpful to gently use a metal ruler to scrape away any glue, but not remove any material from the nut. These steps are important, as the two surfaces must be clean to ensure a good, strong glue joint.

How To Re-Glue Guitar Nut, Step 4: protect the guitar

Once you are sure both gluing surfaces are clean, the most important step is next, protecting the guitar before gluing the nut back on. Some use drafting tape, which is extremely low tack, and won’t damage finishes. I think that this is not needed when gluing at nut, so I just place a paper towel over the peg-head and fingerboard, under the slackened strings. This will make sure you don’t have any unfortunate drips. Also- VERY IMPORTANT- place paper in the truss-rod cavity, completely covering it. Glue and your truss-rod should never meet.

How To Re-Glue Guitar Nut, Step 5: grab your supplies

Now it’s time to grab your supplies: a paper plate, glue, a damp rag, and toothpicks. These are really the only tools you’ll need. For glue, a non-super glue that is water soluble is the best thing to use. Even white glue from your elementary school days is fine. The pressure of the strings keeps the nut down, the glue keep it from moving side-to-side. Also remember- nuts are made to be replaced, as they wear down over time. Using too strong a glue will make replacement difficult and potentially harmful to the instrument. I use a simple wood glue, easy to get, and handy to have around the house. Water soluble is also important, as you can use warm water to clean any of the glue from finish, and also use warm water to break the glue joint if necessary.

How To Re-Glue Guitar Nut, Step 6: set up space & dry-runs

Now the next step is to set up your space and do several dry-runs. Make sure the path from the glue to the nut slot is covered and that if there are drips it will not be a problem. Optimize your path of travel, as every second the glue will be hardening. Once you are happy with your arrangement, pour some glue out of the bottle on to the plate. I pour out more than I need, so that I can choose the small amount I need. Really, the only glue you will need will be a dab on the end of the toothpick for each end of the nut. I put a dab in the middle of the slot, in between the end of the slot and the truss-rod channel. Now place the nut in the slut and gently move it from side to side- this will spread the glue evenly. Now place the “E” strings in the slot and tighten them just a bit- be careful to not over tighten, as the low “E” will pull the nut off center, just even the tension with the high “E”. Now quickly check the fit- I look at the pickup pole pieces to see my alignment, as well as the edge spacing on the overall fretboard. Once you are happy with the position, put the string back in the slots and give them a few turns, making sure they don’t shift the nut.

How To Re-Glue Guitar Nut, Step 7: …and you’re done!

Now take the damp rag and look for any glue squeeze-out, it will be much easier to remove at this point. Let the re-glued nut dry for several hours, ideally overnight. Once the glue is dry, tune to pitch, and you are good to play again! If you found the nut moved and dried off center, repeat the steps and try again.

This is an easy repair that can really be done anywhere, most likely with things you have around the house. Having the right glue is most important, and doing a few preparatory dry-runs will make this easy and worry free.

Re-Gluing A Nut: An Easy and Essential Skill from MyRareGuitars.com

1. Kitchen Magnet Bar

While this is of course great for holding your knives and other kitchen tools, many of the tools you will be using on your guitar are made of metal and can be kept organized by putting one of these on your wall. Having metal tools strewn about your work bench is a recipe for making scratches and dents on your instrument, and it’s simply easier to find what you’re looking for when they’re hanging right in front of you. If you plan on doing work for others, keeping a tidy work space is a major selling point for your customers. If I went to drop my guitar off with someone and saw a work desk covered in tools, glue and sawdust, I’d be headed out the door! As a sidenote: make sure the bar is installed a safe distance away from where you’re doing the work. That is, not directly above the guitar… falling tools are even worse than ones on the workbench!

2. Tape

You can use different types of tape for many different things when it comes to guitar work. The best use would of course be for protecting the guitar when you are doing other work to it. We’ve all seen the green tape on the fretboard for when you’re doing fretwork – but that’s not the only use! Electrical tape is a must if you plan on doing any soldering. If you have any bare wires, or want to tie wires together to keep things neat on the inside, a small piece of this is the best way to go. You can use the same green tape you would for fretwork for other protective purposes, too, like if you have to do any sort of drilling into the body (bigsby installations, strap button installations, etc). On top of potential damage from hard tools, glue spillage is something that can cause you more grief in the future, and is best prevented by protecting the area you are gluing with some tape. For example, if you’re gluing in a nut or filling nut slots, lay a couple strips of tape on either side to collect spillage.
Another use would be a quick-fix for loose knobs. If a knob isn’t quite grasping the pot-tabs well enough, you can wrap a small piece of tape around the tab to “increase” it’s size, and allow for a more snug fit.

3. Black Sharpie

It may not be a professional re-touching job, but you wouldn’t believe how often a black magic marker can be used to cover up blemishes. If you’ve got a dark colored guitar with a small paint chip, some black binding with a ding in it, or a dark fingerboard with an imperfection, a simple dab with a black sharpie can virtually make the problem disappear in many cases.
In addition, if not for covering up damage, a marker comes in handy for when it comes time to level and dress frets. Drawing a line down each fret will give you a good reference point of which frets are actually “getting hit” when doing your fret level, and will also be a good indicator of the “crown” on your fret after you start using a crowning file. You can check out an article for more on that here.

4. Pencil / Nut Sauce

If you find that your guitar is falling out of tune easy, or strings keep “catching” when you tune them, it could be that you need to add a little lubrication to the nut slots. An age-old trick would be filling in the nut slots with a bit of graphite, most easily accomplished by drawing into them with a pencil. It seems silly, but it works! There are also products that exist that work in the same way. such as “Big Bends Nut Sauce”, which works just as well, if not better than the graphite.

5. Glue

OK, so typically you shouldn’t need glue for your average guitar set-up, and it’s sort of the last thing you want to use when it comes to “minor” repairs – but sometimes it’s necessary. Two types of glue would suffice for general work: a white wood glue, and a super glue. Sometimes frets can lift a bit from use (especially at their ends), and buildup getting underneath them. Before jumping to filing and fret leveling, you’ll want to make sure they are seated properly. An application of super glue with some downward pressure (clamps would be best if you have them) would help seat them, and keep them in place for when it comes time to take the file to it. Another common piece to come loose is the nut. Some would argue that if the nut on your guitar is loose, to just leave it – but I prefer to have it at least secure enough that it will stay on its own without string tension. Not so much glue that you need to saw it out in the future, just a dab; enough that a gentle tap while knock it out. While we’re on the topic of using glue for the nut, it will also come in handy should you find the need to fill in your nut slots. If a string sits too low and causes fret buzz, the simple solution is to use a concoction of super glue and baking soda to fill in the slot, and re-file so the string sits at a good height. An alternative to baking soda would be some tiny shavings of the nut material your nut is made of.

6. Razor Blade

This can be your fingerboard “deep cleansing” tool. You can lemon oil your guitar neck as much as you want – the fact is, sometimes dirt and grime gets stuck in the wood fibers and right close to the frets. In order to get it out, you’d need to get rid of some of the wood that’s holding it in. Here you would use the razor blade as a scraper – stand it up so it’s 90 degrees to the fingerboard, and scrape along the wood-grain (from fret to fret.) You can use sand paper to do the same thing, I just prefer to scrape, and easily get close to each fret with the blade. When finished, some steel wool will help polish up the board, and you can then apply your lemon oil.

7. Sandpaper

As mentioned before, this can be used for cleaning tough spots on the fingerboard like the razor blade. More often, however, sandpaper will be your best friend for everything that involves fretwork. Leveling? Sandpaper stuck to leveling-beam or straight edge. Polishing? Different grits of sand paper, starting from a low grit and working your way to a higher one.
Aside from this, sandpaper makes for a good shimming material if you need it. Save a few strips of your used sandpaper – that way, if you come across a bolt-on neck that needs to be raised at the heel, you can use however much sandpaper you need to act as a shim for the neck.

8. Toothpicks

Whenever you have a loose screw, toothpicks can help tighten their bite. Simply remove the screw, and put the toothpick (or part of it) in its hole. Tighten up the screw again, and the toothpick will act as a wood filler, making the screw bite securely into the guitar again.

9. Flat Shoelace

This is a great leverage tool. Sometimes volume and tone knobs are just on too tight to be lifted by hand, and many people would jump straight for a flat-head screwdriver to pry them off. This doesn’t always end so well – plastics can crack or break, and it’s easy to slip and potentially damage the guitar. A flat shoelace slipped underneath the knob will apply even force to its underside, and it’s a soft material so you can pretty much guarantee you won’t end up breaking the knob!

10. Water and Cloth

If you’ve got a guitar that is in desperate need of a wipe-down, before jumping to the WD-40 and chemical cleaners, first try a dry cloth, then a damp cloth. You don’t want to give your guitar a bath here, so be sure to dry any wet spots as you go. In many cases you’ll find this will be enough to get the cleaning job done, and you can add a little guitar polish to shine it back up. As an added note: even before you go at it with the cloth, you may want to blow or use some compressed air to get rid of any particles that may be on the guitar. Wiping the cloth around on it without doing this may drag leftover particles and leave behind nasty surface scratches.

Ten Cheap and Handy Tools for Guitar Work from MyRareGuitars.com