This weekend I am concentrating on the guitar's nut. I was worried that the strings wouldn't stay on the nut: The Aria Pro II headstock angles sharply to one side. In modifying the guitar from left-handed to right-handed, I changed the string placement so that the low E string is now where the high E string was before. Sure enough, when I put the old nut on, the lower strings wouldn't stay and just popped off the nut.

I went around town, canvassing the local music stores for a bar-type string retainer. I thought I might have to replace the nut with a locking nut so the strings would stay on it. In the end, though, I decided to use a bone high nut blank that I found; then I cut the slots with high sides for the lower strings to keep them in place. This worked, and the strings now stay on the nut just fine. I still haven't lowered the strings to the levels that I will want eventually, so the action is currently high.