That old nasty nut

I bought a string height gauge like Spacey uses to check out the action on a used guitar I bought recently on ebay.
 
The tool made it easy for me understand how screwed up the nut on this guitar is.
 
It seems like someone tried to lower the action by filing on the nut like a mad man instead of using the truss rod adjustment.
 
I've got a chunk of bone and a truss rod wrench. I hope I don't find out that the truss rod is whacky, because there is a lot of relief in the neck :-)
 
I want to try it with the skinny strings I put on it. You can see that the guitar was prepared for a much beefier set of strings, so the nut needs to be replaced for many reasons.
 
I'm slowly working up the enthusiasm to do the job. I think the hard part will be getting the old nut out cleanly.
 
I took these photos and they show me what I had figured out by using the string height gauge, and playing the guitar. The B string is a LOT lower than all the rest.
 
Just babbling...
 

 

 
:-)
 
Thank you for the tips about removing the nut. I admit that I'm a bit apprehensive about it.
 
I'm looking forward to getting this guitar playable, because it is one lively box that vibrates and projects with a hear me roar sort of attitude. It seems like it was played hard despite how bad it was set up.
 
I am procrastinating by cleaning up the work bench... and the dishes and the bathroom. :-)
 
 
best,
mike

 
The nut popped of pretty easy, and the truss rod still seems very effective.
 
Goodness, I feel a lot better now.
 
:-)
 
Time to grind some bone. Yuck. :-)