Boogie Bill
New member
Re: Bigsby and Tuning
I agree that a properly cut nut is essential.
While you make some very good points, I must disagree with you regarding the use of Big Bends Nut Sauce. One of the main reasons to use Nut Sauce, even on a properly cut nut, is that it MAINTAINS the health of the nut (and saddles, too). Over time, a properly cut nut will become worn, regardless of the composition. Be it bone, brass or graphite, your guitar's nut will benefit from Nut Sauce. The same is true for saddles, which can become deeply grooved over time and develop burrs causing string breakage and intonation issues. While pencil lead is an easy solution", it simply does not provide the protection or the lubrication of Nut Sauce. It turns your nice white bone nut an ugly gray, and it gets all over everything. Nut Sauce is fast and easy to use and stays where you put it, and will minimize wear to the string slots. And you only need to use a tiny, tiny amount. So yes, it costs more than a No. 2 pencil, but the cost is certainly not extravagant. Pretty good value in my book.
Not every nut requires re-cutting or replacement. Not every player can afford constant nut maintenance; not every tech can get it right the first time (or ever, for that matter); not every player even has access to a tech. I've used Nut Sauce for more than ten years, on a variety of guitars with excellent short and long-term results.
I simply cannot recommend this product highly enough. It delivers everything it promises. It's better than anything I've used for nut and saddle maintenance in my 50 year career.
Bill
With all due respect to the others, 2 things should be added.
1. While products like nut sauce do work, simply rubbing pencil lead on the bottom of the nut slot is endlessly cheaper and time tested.
and
2. In over 25 years, I have never seen a properly cut nut need any form of lubricant to avoid going out of tune in any concievable real world scenario, including insane Floyd whammyage with locking tuners instead of a locking nut. If you´re getting tuning issues stemmuing from the nut, the cause is always either an improper cut or long term wear. Neither is IMO an excuse to sell someone a 10$ bottle of funkly fluid that will at best only mitigate the problem, but can never alleviate it.
I regard nut lubricants as a crutch for people who do not have easy access to a competent tech, and expensive ones as snake oil capitalizing on the ignorance of teh customer and the incompetence of most of the people that like to call themselves "techs".
In my professional opinion the only reason there is to pay anything at all for nut lubricants (especially more than a few cents in your lifetime for a simple pencil) is being swayed by flashy marketing and the parroting of other people that simply don´t understand the subject as well as they think they do.
The same holds true for roller bridges being "necessary" in Bigsby guitars according to some.. Again, total hogwash, just get your bridge saddles cut and deburred by a professional and save money in the long run
I don´t judge people for using nut sauce or similar products, they just want their guitar to stay in tune and every store in the world will gladly sell you some without telling you there are dirt cheap alternatives. But if someone "needs"it, that tells me they either don´t know or they can't afford /refuse to adequately pay a competent tech. And if they refuse to pay a competent tech but would rather use a crutch-product, they entirely deserve to waste money in this fashion. Everyone else just needs to try the pencil and /or find a tech worthy of the title.
I agree that a properly cut nut is essential.
While you make some very good points, I must disagree with you regarding the use of Big Bends Nut Sauce. One of the main reasons to use Nut Sauce, even on a properly cut nut, is that it MAINTAINS the health of the nut (and saddles, too). Over time, a properly cut nut will become worn, regardless of the composition. Be it bone, brass or graphite, your guitar's nut will benefit from Nut Sauce. The same is true for saddles, which can become deeply grooved over time and develop burrs causing string breakage and intonation issues. While pencil lead is an easy solution", it simply does not provide the protection or the lubrication of Nut Sauce. It turns your nice white bone nut an ugly gray, and it gets all over everything. Nut Sauce is fast and easy to use and stays where you put it, and will minimize wear to the string slots. And you only need to use a tiny, tiny amount. So yes, it costs more than a No. 2 pencil, but the cost is certainly not extravagant. Pretty good value in my book.
Not every nut requires re-cutting or replacement. Not every player can afford constant nut maintenance; not every tech can get it right the first time (or ever, for that matter); not every player even has access to a tech. I've used Nut Sauce for more than ten years, on a variety of guitars with excellent short and long-term results.
I simply cannot recommend this product highly enough. It delivers everything it promises. It's better than anything I've used for nut and saddle maintenance in my 50 year career.
Bill
