How to Lubricate the Guitar Nuts with Graphite

Video Transcript

"MATT GRAHAM: Okay, now another step that's again not crucial but I think very helpful to increasing the length of the string life when you put a new set of strings on is lubricating the nut, and locksmiths often times use graphite in new locks to make the new keys fit in the new locks better. So they'll put some graphite powder in the lock and it lubricates it. So we can do the same thing with a graphite pencil. And all you're going to do is get in here at the nut and just kinda rub and twist with your pencil in there and just kinda--you'll begin to see the graphite flake off and you can push it down into the groove. And if you've ever heard of the high-pitched kinda catching sound that guitars make sometimes when you're tuning them, it's the string actually getting caught in the nut and then slipping through, and this can cause a lot of wear and tear on the strings. And a lot of times, strings end up breaking right here at the nut as well as at the tuner and down at the bridge. And so anywhere there's a contact point of metal on metal or even this plastic or bone that comprises the nut, it's a place where string could break. And this is just one place where we can use this graphite as a lubricant and it's going to just create a small layer in between the nut and the string to allow the string to slide through freely."