Nut issues on Nash 54 Telecaster

I came across a Bill Nash 54 Telecaster style guitar with a Lollar humbucker in the neck position. It's sort of a Keef Richards knock off but with one extra string.

The guitar is well put together and has a great vibe. However, the "B" string buzzed like a bee when I sounded that string in open position. Therefore, I decided to replace the nut and cut new string slots. I bought a simple pre-cut nut (later I'll put a unbleached bone nut on).

I suspect that the nut that came with the guitar is not the original as I know Bill Nash prides himself on the quality of nuts he supplies on his stock guitars. I found a lot of glue, and not the type glue I expected.

The glue was used as sort of a filler instead of a adhesive. I want the nut to be flush to the wood so as to be a vehicle of tone transmission. Excessive glue is a tone robbing medium and it should be used conservatively.

You can see how much glue is in the slot - too much!

I cleared out the glue and installed a new nut. I used a TUSQ nut from Stew-Mac.

 Using files specifically sized for string I set about cutting the string slots.

Measure twice and cut slowly! 

I used this Stew-Mac string nut slotting gage to monitor my string slot depth.

 Just about done - Need to trim and round the edges.

Almost done - just need touch up with a small fine file.

Nice tight fit.

It's important to have the string follow the radius of the finger board and the string heights match!

Buzzes gone! Now I had to adjust the set up and then set the intonation. Ready to go, Feels and sound great. Now I can't wait to replace it with a bone nut to give it the final vintage vibe. More on that later. This project didn't take too long and is always fun when the end results helps your playing and makes your guitar happy.