Hey, I mentioned elsewhere about the fine grit sandpaper and carefully using a piece of it folded in half to pull through the grooves in the nut to widen them so that strings don't bind up in there. If this is done properly, It will allow the strings to move freely in the nut and make the guitar tune smoothly.

Working on the nut of a guitar should be done with great care, not casually. If you are careful and only use the smallest amount of adjustment necessary, you can achieve acceptable results. Keep two things in mind, 1. A little goes a long way and 2. Remember, string guages are measured in thousandths.

Here is another thing about Fender or similar guitars which use "string trees" between the nut and the tuning machines. These string trees are notorious for causing strings to bind and therefore not tune properly. I've seen two types of string trees for Fenders, basically a cheap one and a more high end one on their top of the line guitars. I own a Fender Strat and it has the lower end string trees for the high E and B strings. The string trees gave me problems with binding so I don't even use them at all. I totally bypass them and take the strings from the nut straight to the tuning machines.

Two things I forgot to mention are these: 1. Before drawing sandpaper through the grooves in the nut, be aware that the sandpaper will act on other things it may touch, i.e., the frets, the headstock, etc. so use it very carefully. You may even want to mask off parts of the guitar that might get in the way with heavy paper and tape. 2. Remember, the grooves in the nut have a bottom to them and so best results will be achieved if the sandpaper is drawn through the nut groove parallel to the bottom. You can get an idea of what the bottom of the nut groove looks like by looking at the nut from the side to see where the string enters and exits the nut.

I would only do this with the sandpaper one stroke at a time. Check between strokes by re-tightening and re-tuning the strings in question to see if the problem is getting any better. Remember, the objective is to have most of the abrasion take place on the sides of the nut grooves--not on the bottom of it. If the bottom of the nut groove is significantly altered, the string will lay closer to the neck and fretboard and may give undesirable results like buzzing of the strings at the first fret.

Another thing to try is silicone spray. A commercially made product for guitar players is called "Finger Ease". Most music stores carry it. Loosen the string or strings that are giving you a problem. Get a Q-tip cotton swab and soak the end down with the Finger Ease. Apply to the string at the point where it moves through the nut. Re-tighten the string and see if this doesn't help. Finger Ease wont' hurt your guitar or your guitar's finish.

I hope these items help.

BH