Best Nut width? Why?

[Jeff_H]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

So maybe frets should be made from bone.... or Tusq.

Again, for me, what Chris says makes the most sense to me. If my nut is well shaped and cut, I'm not going to mess with it, whatever its made of. Based on your post Chris, it sounds like nut material may be slightly more important on an acoustic vs. an electric; does that make any sense?

Doc, sorry for this thread going off the rails. I always like your discussion topics.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

Oh yeah, don’t even go down that rabbit hole. Acoustic guitar players are another whole universe

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

The material used for an electric guitar matters very little in an amplified signal.

False

Fretted notes even less because the string is vibrating between the fret and saddle. The portion of the string between the fretted note and the nut is being silenced by your finger.

Also false. What about the design of the guitar? That's not connected to the string at all and yet it's partially responsible for the huge amount of variety we have between guitars.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

Told ya :lmao:

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

False



Also false. What about the design of the guitar? That's not connected to the string at all and yet it's partially responsible for the huge amount of variety we have between guitars.

Naah...it's just visual playing trick on you. You see a B.C. Rich Warlock and believes that it sounds more metal than a Strat (all other factors being equal), when in fact they sound the same.

Yeah I think nut material is doesn't matter in electric. But I do hear differences in using picks of different thickness.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

Nope. Play a Tele then transfer the neck pickup into a Strat and you don't have the same guitar.

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

I saw you dont like bone nuts. How many guitars did you have that experience with? You prefer nylon? How about acoustics? Nevermind, read below

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

I wanted a tusq nut and my tech fought me tooth and nail(pun intended) to install bone. Je was telling me how it lasts forever blah blah. I told em IDK, I will be dead before that Tusq or graphite wears. I like compensated nuts. I try not to over squeeze any notes, but I will take all the help I can get. I have heard guitars that sound bad
with open chords. And I dont want to use 12s or something with these old hands

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

I think its kinda odd I dont hear much about picks. I mean, whats more important than how you excite the vibration? Like how guys can prefer the fingers like Kotzen. As a newb, I am constantly experimenting with picks.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

O yeah, picks definitely. I can hear how a 1-mm Dunlop Jazz elicits duller tone than that from the green one (0.8mm), playing an electric with full distortion. If a tone deaf like me can spot the difference, it's gotta mean somethin right?

Clint, being a jazz fanatic you should be more discerning than these self-aggrandizing gearhead experts. I don't think McCoy Tanner gives a f the length of the strings in his piano... lol.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

I think its kinda odd I dont hear much about picks. I mean, whats more important than how you excite the vibration? Like how guys can prefer the fingers like Kotzen. As a newb, I am constantly experimenting with picks.

You’re not alone. I’ve been playing 30 years and I’m always trying new picks.
Sometimes I try one and don’t like it and months later I come back to it and love it...go figure.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

Black nuts sound darker than white nuts. The "aged" white nuts are in between but closer to white. Bleached bone is sterile sounding. Unbleached bone kind of sounds dingy. Brass sounds brassy. Titanium sound titaniumy. And finally, my nuts are itchy.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

Black nuts sound darker than white nuts. The "aged" white nuts are in between but closer to white. Bleached bone is sterile sounding. Unbleached bone kind of sounds dingy. Brass sounds brassy. Titanium sound titaniumy. And finally, my nuts are itchy.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Best Nut width? Why?

The "aged" white nuts are in between but closer to white.

For the most part I concur with your assessment of the situation, but don’t you think the aged white nuts give a little more of that “vintage“ tone than the white ones?

Hey Doc, I really thought your opening post was a pretty interesting question… Sorry this has gone so astray!

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

Yes, I concur. The aged white nuts can tend to impart a more vintage tone but it really depends on the material. I think all the Tusq nuts impart more of a trumpeting tone but it's subtle and not nearly as pronounced as ivory nuts.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

I think I'll try a soothing ointment first ...

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

Gonna bring up the nut materials issue here instead of highjacking Jeff's LP thread. Sorry to differ with you, but I've A/B'd bone against other materials in one guitar and bone sounded the worst. Not really a preference sort of thing, bone had poor resonance, poor bass, and poor treble. There was nothing redeeming about it at all. Also, fretting notes does not remove the physics of the nut suspending the strings and transferring energy into the neck. Nut materials, in my experience, also affect the sound of the fretted notes.

Eric Clapton's early tone was the worst. He had the treble turned down so there was poor treble, muddy bass, nothing redeeming about the ("woman") tone at all. And this is not really "a preference sort of thing". He sounded the "worst". So did Stevie Ray Vaughn. And sometimes even Jimi Hendrix had that "worst" tone. Nothing redeeming about that tone! Again, this is NOT preference...it is fact!.

I knew I would open a can of worms when I said the nut material won't have an affect on fretted tone. But here are the real "facts" if anyone is even interested. The types of nut materials can have an affect on an oscilloscope reading even when the guitar is fretted. But NO human ear can hear that difference. So you can talk theory all you want and even give us some scientific reasoning to support your data, but I (and probably most other people) am concerned with the practical application of all that we know and understand about tone. In other words...what differences can we actually hear, especially when we are performing with a band.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

Being emotionally attached to a part so that you predetermine it to sound good without listening critically makes you look foolish.

Actually, no.

Not if you've already done lots and lots of experimentation to reach that "predetermination"/conclusion.

I'm not at all emotionally attached to bone as a nut material, but I am intellectually attached.

I personally have over 50 guitars and I've replaced the nuts on most of them (not just one!). I've tried different types of plastics, I've tried Tusq (black and white), a couple different types of bone, etc (again, never tried corian). And I've determined that I generally like the overall performance of bone better than the others. So I have "predetermined" to use bone on every guitar that I build. Would some of those guitars sound better with a different material than bone? Yes, perhaps. But I'm not going to waste my time trying every type of material on each guitar to see which sounds best on that specific guitar. I've already made a generalized decision what to use. It would be like trying out every type of wood on every guitar that I build before finishing it. That would be not only "foolish", but it would be TOTALLY INSANE!!! I have predetermined what to use based on my experience. Besides, in the tone equation, the nut has very little, nearly insignificant affect, on the total tone of the guitar (the amp, speakers, and pickups control at least 90% of the final tone).

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

This thread is confusing. First of all, Nut "Width" is generally the width across the fretboard, not the "thickness". Then we started talking about the materials of the nut.
For Gibson, I'm not second guessing the Nut Thickness, as it has to be the best for a Gibson in thier time honored skill and tradition, regardless of what some so called tech thinks.
I digress from the OP's topic as have others in the thread, but as far as nut "width" , in a Fender, it's a matter of how big your hands are, and if you do not mind the strings so close to the edge of the fretboard. One and 11/16'ths is about as big as I want to go for a Fender cause my paws are small. One and 3/4's is way too big for me and one and 7/8's which is superwide is flat out unplayable for me, but good for others with very large hands.
The Nut width on a Fender type neck of One Point 6.50 , is good for me, but just a bit too small on a standard width Fender neck.
You also have to factor in the neck width on aftermarket necks for a nit width choice, which can be standard, wide, or superwide.As far as ny width, it begs the quastion of your differnt Neck widths, many of which are just too wide for my stubby hands.

Your point is well taken. I should have originally referred to nut "thickness", not width. I'm sorry for the confusion.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Best Nut width? Why?

False



Also false. What about the design of the guitar? That's not connected to the string at all and yet it's partially responsible for the huge amount of variety we have between guitars.

OMG! STILL?!!!

Are you kidding me??!!!

If you want to be dogmatic to the extreme, that's fine. It seems to work for you. But there comes a time when even you must realize it's time to give it a rest. If not for your own sanity, at least out of concern for ours.