Loose nut

The nut on my little old Regal tenor guitar has come loose. The nut looks like it's made of wood.
What kind of glue should I use to stick it back on with?
Or should I perhaps take it somewhere and get a new bone nut made/fitted...would this cost much? 

There are many "right" answers. The simplest and easiest one is to do nothing at all. String pressure will hold the nut on perfectly well and it will sound fine. 

I would first remove the remains of the old glue, which looks like Uhu or something similar - not the right stuff at all, and it's left a gap between the nut and the fingerboard.

Make sure both surfaces of the nut and the slot are clean and the nut fits tightly up against the end of the fingerboard and doesn't rock on the slot - sometimes it can help to file off the sharp angle at the bottom corner of the nut.

Then I would use some *hard* wood glue like Titebond Original, just enough to cover both surfaces with a very thin layer, and use the string tension to hold the nut in place while it sets - tune *down* about a semitone or so on all four strings before leaving it, so it's pulled tightly against the fingerboard.

It will probably take less time to do than to type all that :).

I'd be tempted to just use a spot of superglue.
Enough to hold it in place but still be removable if needed. 

Tannin said:

There are many "right" answers. The simplest and easiest one is to do nothing at all. String pressure will hold the nut on perfectly well and it will sound fine. 

Actually this is what I tried initially but when tuning up the nut keeps getting pulled away from the fretboard. 

^ Interesting. Two of my guitars have free-fitting nuts, both pretty high-end models. No issues at all. The others have glued in ones. They are fine too.

I’d check the nut height after scraping the old glue off, as it might end up too low

brucegill said:

I’d check the nut height after scraping the old glue off, as it might end up too low

Should be okay: the glue is coming off the face that meets the end of the fingerboard.

digitalkettle said:

brucegill said:

I’d check the nut height after scraping the old glue off, as it might end up too low

Should be okay: the glue is coming off the face that meets the end of the fingerboard.

So it is! 

While the nut is off and loose I suggest that you draw an outline of it on paper, mark the string slots on your drawing, and note the thickness.  If it ever gets dislodged and lost you can make another quite easily.

That’s a write off I’m afraid, send it to me and I’ll dispose of it safely. 

Nut is now stuck back on after removing the old glue and I’m awaiting delivery of a new set of tenor strings so it’ll have a few days to set firmly.