Cloth behind nut

zero element

New member
I saw a band live and they had a piece of cloth behind their nut on their guitar then saw this picture. This pick shows what im talking about what does that piece of cloth behind the nut do?
trott.jpg
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

I'm sitting here watching Myth Busters, so this sounds like an experiment for Gear Nut Busters! LOL

I'm thinking that it'll only dampen the headstock's resonance, which means you could MAYBE hear the difference while in a quiet controlled environment, but onstage with a loud amp miced into a big PA system......not a chance.
You probably wouldn't even notice it sitting in your room. Try it, and report back!
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

i had a few MIM strats that the G string would ring out behind the nut and quite loud too.... it gave overtones like sounds thru the amp and sounded awful..... The G string would ring with any G or A notes... It could give off a weird Sitar like sound as well...

It really drove me mad trying to find a way to stop it... I Managed to quiet it down but not get rid of it completely.... some axes do it and some don't...
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

i had a few MIM strats that the G string would ring out behind the nut and quite loud too.... it gave overtones like sounds thru the amp and sounded awful..... The G string would ring with any G or A notes... It could give off a weird Sitar like sound as well...

It really drove me mad trying to find a way to stop it... I Managed to quiet it down but not get rid of it completely.... some axes do it and some don't...

Yep, got the same ringing on my Tele from the D and G strings. A string tree would help (as there's one for my B and high E strings) but until then I just stuff a small piece of foam under the strings. No more ring.
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

Sounds like the nut groves are worn. I suppose a new nut, and a setup could help. Though I admit the cloth is cheaper!

It might just be a cloth impregnated with 'Fast fret' though!
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

Exactly, it stops the strings from resonating behind the nut.....because as with some guitars you can play a chord and stop it real fast...you'll hear the strings resonate behind the nut...sometimes it's soo bad it comes through the amp...it's just used to dampen the strings enough so they don't do that...my Nighthawk's like that...so I got a peice of foam behind the nut:P

~Mitch~
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

Sounds like the nut groves are worn. I suppose a new nut, and a setup could help. Though I admit the cloth is cheaper!

It might just be a cloth impregnated with 'Fast fret' though!

I'm sure the worn nut slots on any axe will cause noises... but this seems to be more the fact that the G string (in the Fender cases) from the Nut to the tuner is just the right length to be a G note... close enough to a G note when plucked behind the nut.. so any G note played on the axe causes the string to ring out loud behind the nut..

In my case the axe was new and i filed the nut slots and had some pros look at it.. no real cure i found... Oddly some of Fender stuff does it and some does not
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

Strings resonating behind the nut is really unnerving, especially when playing more technical high gain stuff. my seven-string is a reverse headstock and there's a lot of the low strings to ring out because of the distance to the tuners. That sound comes through the amp as nasty overtones and muds everything up. I use velcro to basicly sandwich the strings between the two parts and mute them that way.
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

I'm sure the worn nut slots on any axe will cause noises... but this seems to be more the fact that the G string (in the Fender cases) from the Nut to the tuner is just the right length to be a G note... close enough to a G note when plucked behind the nut.. so any G note played on the axe causes the string to ring out loud behind the nut..

In my case the axe was new and i filed the nut slots and had some pros look at it.. no real cure i found... Oddly some of Fender stuff does it and some does not

Isn't that weird! I must be lucky as I've never NOTICED that I have a problem with mine. At least I'll know what it is when I do get it. Weird!
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

Some guys use a pony tail/hair band for the same thing. It's a cheater thing so they can sound cleaner than they really play, because they can't mute the strings with their hands to avoid sympathetic string vibration.

It ain't about the tools, it's about the player..the hands.
Learn to do it with your hands, that's where the skill is at.
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

I'm sitting here watching Myth Busters, so this sounds like an experiment for Gear Nut Busters! LOL

I'm thinking that it'll only dampen the headstock's resonance, which means you could MAYBE hear the difference while in a quiet controlled environment, but onstage with a loud amp miced into a big PA system......not a chance.
You probably wouldn't even notice it sitting in your room. Try it, and report back!

MYTH BUSTED!

But we better blow something up just to be double-triple-mega sure.
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

I use foam pieces behind the nut of one of my guitars, too. I confirm that this is to suppress the unwanted string noise due to the heavy E string vibration behing the nut when you use palm muting under distortion. That guitar is a rare Steinberger with a reverse headstock and the note that the part of the string behind the nut is vibrating at is a minor second, so it sounds really unpleasant.
The problem is inherent to the most of reverse-headstock guitars. I also own a BC Rich Assassin with a reverse headstock, and it has the same problem, with the difference that the ghost note is totally in tune with the open E string (what a luck!) so it sounds really well and I don't have to filter it out.
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

I just tried this myself and I didn't notice any difference at all between having the cloth and not having it. Having it stop the strings from resonating behind the nut makes sense.
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

It's not cheating!it let's you play two handed tappings without mud and feedback issues.Not every guitar needs it.Mostly the guitars with greater headstock or less angle than 13° has it!It's killing some sustain ,but if you play one million notes per sec ,you won't need that sustain anyway!
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

Isn't that weird! I must be lucky as I've never NOTICED that I have a problem with mine. At least I'll know what it is when I do get it. Weird!

not all guitars have this issue... i owned 5 MIM guitars at onetime before i sold 1.... and 2 of them made the noise behind the nut and 3 didn't do it noticeable... The one strat i sold that did was extreme!!! it would ring out like crazy.... like it had a Fernandes Sustainer under it or an EBOW... The pickups would pick up that high pitched ringing and it sounded awful. I worked on it and got to quiet down but never went away.. came close to installing a 2nd string tree for the D and G strings... but sold it before i did..

The 2 one i had/have that makes that noise i managed to quiet down to the point it is no longer an issue... Took a fair bit of messing around with a nut file.. I use that axe for 90% of my playing these days
 
Re: Cloth behind nut

Some guys use a pony tail/hair band for the same thing. It's a cheater thing so they can sound cleaner than they really play, because they can't mute the strings with their hands to avoid sympathetic string vibration.

It ain't about the tools, it's about the player..the hands.
Learn to do it with your hands, that's where the skill is at.

just not true...even with full lefthand muting get those overtones from behind the nut. I play clean but i can't mute strings behind the nut and therefore they sometimes still ring out and that's seriously annoying when we are talking about a reverse headstock design where the low strings have those noises.
 
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