The above Tradition guitar is one of son Isaac's first "real" musical instruments. This is what he used from middle school through college to pound out everything from Metallica to Hendrix to the hardcore stuff he did later. It holds a lot of memories not only for him, but for his mother and me as well.
He has 3 guitars with him in Atlanta, and this one he left at our house (along with a couple of my own). Somewhere along the line the nut broke in half. I finally decided to replace it the other day.
I googled how to replace the nut, and it seemed easy enough. So I swallowed hard and went to Guitar Center to buy one. Ugh. I hate going there - it's the musicians equivalent of going to Walmart - but they had what I needed. A young girl waited on me and when I told her I needed a guitar nut she thought for a moment, then showed me the wall where they hung. She told me I could just go behind the counter and find what I needed. It's not that she wasn't helpful, but... anyway... I found one that was close enough to what I was looking for.
It wasn't really all that difficult to replace. The old one snapped right off, and this one needed some sanding to sit at the same level. I also adjusted the string height from the other end somewhat. I used a 50/50 mix of glue and water to seat it (something they suggested on the google video). So now the Tradition works again.
I did manage to also find out that this particular guitar was made in October of 2001. It is listed in the 2002 catalog.
While at Guitar Center I also picked up a drum key for the drum set in the basement. They sound much better (as much as is possible anyway). I still have no idea what I'm doing on the drums, but at least I have a key to keep them somewhat in tune.