Nut material and tone

[Inflames626]

Hi guys. I've noticed more and more import/mid priced instruments are coming with plastic nuts. My guess is designers figure the customer can't tell the difference tone wise, so if going with plastic is cheaper than a nicer looking/sounding material, so be it.

I've only had one problem with them--when an import Hamer I own had an issue with string gauge. Even as light as 10 it would buzz open until I had a new nut put on.

Do you think nut material makes a difference in tone?

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Nut material and tone

If it buzzed open, that means the slots were cut too deep, it has nothing to do with the material.


Does material make a difference?
-->Paul Reed Smith swears it does.
-->Do I? Yes

 

[Inflames626]

Re: Nut material and tone

I'm aware. I wanted my replacement nut in black plastic but evidently it was hard for the shop to obtain. I think they put a TUSQ on there, but it's off white/aged and I don't like how it looks against the black.

I usually play with Floyd Roses, so I normally don't put a lot of thought into nuts.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Nut material and tone

 

[AlexR]

Re: Nut material and tone

^ good vid. The guitar is a sum of parts......that much is clear from just about all the all the opinions and personal experience I have accumulated.

No matter where you fret, you are never actually replacing the nut from a 'holding string tension' point of view. So there is some impact however minor based on the structure of the guitar and how the vibrations in the physical sense interact.
A small test is to play the string behind the nut without fretting any note on that string. There is still a note that happens through the pickup, so you can see that there is connection of vibrations even if the vibrating place isn't over the pickup section.

 

[80's_Metal]

Re: Nut material and tone

My humble opinion is that "if the strings ring, then it doesn't matter what the nut is made from"

That being said, the only nut I ever hated, and quickly replaced was a plastic nut.