Nut materials

[Clint 55]

Hi. I've tried a ton of different nut materials over the past few months and I thought I'd share the results and my opinions.


My favorite for a bassy mellow sound:

Plastic - Yep, plastic. A solid slab though, not a hollow preshaped one. Everything hollow ended up sounding poor and brittle to me. Plastic was the only material I used that didn't focus the tone away from the bass. But it also was balanced in the highs and gave a pleasing supple overall tone.

My favorites for bright sound:

Brass - Extremely accurate through the mids and highs and noticeably more chimey. All the overtones really ring out. It balances pretty well with the closed notes and is pretty balanced overall, but does focus the sound away from the bass a bit.

Micarta - Resonates really well but accentuates the mids. I have it on my bass and flatwound jazz guitar and it sounds punchy on them. Was too middy for the strat. Very unique sound.

Runners up:

Tusq plastic - Middy but pretty well balanced. Resonates ok and sounds pretty good for a bright guitar. Seems like a pretty good choice for a balance of pre slotted, easy to shape, self lubricating, and medium bright sound.

Resin and Graphite - Balanced ok but kind of brittle. Nothing noteworthy about the sound.

Last place:

Bone - Yep, bone was last place for me. Sounds brittle, no bass, but nothing redeeming about the highs either. Was surprised about this since it's so popular.



^^-- Beater Strat mini that I use for experimenting. Has a brass nut in it.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Nut materials

Overall I like the LSR roller nut, based on the pain in the ass that it is not. Or Floyd nut.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Nut materials

Nice. I like the sound of the metal also. I bet those perform well too.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Nut materials

Are these all on the same guitar??

 

[Coma]

Re: Nut materials

Overall I like the LSR roller nut, based on the pain in the ass that it is not. Or Floyd nut.

Aaaah, yes, the Floyd nut. For when you want to play guitar, but you also want that open, bleeding gash on your fretting hand that's all the rage with the ladies.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Nut materials

Are these all on the same guitar??

No.

I replaced the stock hollow plastic nut on my 335 with flatwounds with micarta and stuck with that. Liked it because it was punchy and articulate but the middyness of it didn't show through with the flatwounds.

I replaced the stock hollow plastic nut on my LP special 2 with roundwounds with Tusq and I liked it but it was too bright for the jazz tone I was going for. Then tried micarta and it was still to bright. Then tried a plastic slab blank and it was perfect for the bassy glassy sound I wanted.

The strat mini started with a solid plastic nut I believe that sounded pretty good but I had cut the slots too low. So I replaced it with micarta. Really resonant but too middy. Tried resin, bone, and graphite, didn't like. Finally tried brass, pretty cool.

Yes I know there's gonna be bias between guitars but I can still tell whether or not they resonate well and still ballpark the eq of it.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Nut materials

Yeah, right.

Its not really an eq test if the guitars are all different.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Nut materials

I tried all my favorites on the mini. Plastic, brass, and micarta. As well as some I didn't like, bone, graphite, resin.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Nut materials

I would consider putting a brass nut on my Roadhouse Strat. Partly inspired by a guy from Sweden? Maybe a little, but also because I want a bright sound with a lot of overtones.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Nut materials

The brightest material but pleasing. Lots of chime and the overtones really ring out.

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Nut materials

All this yap over 6 open notes.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Nut materials

Don't you ever play major or minor chords?
If you've never changed the nut from one material to another on a guitar maybe you don't realize how much of an overall difference it can make to the sound of the guitar. Personally, I'm almost always playing at least one or two open notes. And based on my own A/B experience I'd say it has a smaller but ever-so-slightly noticeable effect on fretted notes as well, at least in terms of liveliness if not eq.

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Nut materials

If you've never changed the nut from one material to another on a guitar maybe you don't realize how much of an overall difference it can make to the sound of the guitar.

I realize I've been working as a guitar repairman for 39 years (Fender & Gibson authorized), and it only makes a diff on 6 open notes. A SLIGHT difference. Most players can't tell, and the audience doesn't care. This discussion, for lack of a better term, has been going on since I started in the 70's, and apparently it will still be going when the sun burns out.

Moving on.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Nut materials

Floyd nuts are not uncomfortable to me. I've never played a guitar and thought it needed a new nut or diff. material, unless it was a poor cut.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: Nut materials

Brass nuts are supposed to be really good for overall sound. I have one on one of my Strats and it works very well. I also have TUSQ nuts on some of my other guitars and I have no complaints with them. At least the guitar stays in better tune with a TUSQ nut.



;>)/

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Nut materials

I realize I've been working as a guitar repairman for 39 years (Fender & Gibson authorized), and it only makes a diff on 6 open notes. A SLIGHT difference. Most players can't tell, and the audience doesn't care. This discussion, for lack of a better term, has been going on since I started in the 70's, and apparently it will still be going when the sun burns out.
Moving on.

Ouch! No offense intended. Obviously you have experience with this issue. But you're still saying "only 6 notes." All I am saying is "those are THE 6 notes." I am playing at least one or two of those 6 notes 90% of the time. I use open notes whenever possible, open chords whenever possible, and really do care how they sound. So for ME changing the sound of those six notes changes the sound of the whole guitar.
I am one of the players who can tell. And I don't care if the audience can tell or not - it's such a minor expense, why not use the one that is most pleasing to my own ears?

Having said all of that, I have had several guitars with plastic nuts that sounded just fine to me and I never bothered changing them, but the couple times I did change from plastic to bone I was surprised at the difference it did make, mainly in the open E and open A notes. Those are open-string notes I use a LOT.

Moving on, moving on.

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Nut materials

why not use the one that is most pleasing to my own ears?

Yes - do that.
I'm just tired of the endless back and forth.... believe me, I put up with 15 years of it in the store (What's the best guitar made? Who makes the best pickup? What is the best wood for a guitar? Blah, blah, blah - woof, woof, woof!)
My stock response? "What's the best peanut butter?" And when they tell me, I say BUY IT, and leave me alone.

That's why I moved the shop home and just pick 'em up and drop 'em off now.
No more kids hanging out in my shop with their endless and stupid questions and whining about how bad their playing is.
No more parents asking why the overpriced pawn shop POS they bought their kid needs so much work.
No more guitarists offering me weed or coke for doing repairs (sorry, the bank takes money).
No one playing Smoke on the Water, Crazy Train, or Stairway at full volume on the showroom without tuning the guitar.
I can stay home and listen to Johnny A and Andy Timmons while I work, thank you very much.

Please excuse the long rant. I'm better now.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Nut materials

I use Brass nuts on many of my Fender style parts nuts. ( maybe cause I'm partly nuts?). For mwe, they are easy to work with, and I don't have the skill to cut my own nut. Ialso do use Tusq ( they seem to have two types, the lubicated and non lubricated), but they are harder to fit..for me anyway.

I was reading a discussion and there was a concern about Brass casue of binding- here read this;

QUOTE"I think there are a few reasons that brass nut's are not used as much anymore, besides the obvious one, of debunking most of the added tone and sustain myth.

The first in my book, is that metal strings sliding through slots in a metal nut, are bound to cause binding without constant lubrication. Thats why we have oil pumps in our cars. The natural oils in bone, help a lot with the lubrication, but even then can benefit from added lube.

Another issue is that a well crafted nut, with a minimum of string to nut contact, which requires a well shaped and rolled top (unlike the flat topped one pictured), will wear pretty quickly, as brass is one of the softer metals. So a brass nut is not "forever".

After a while the beautiful golden shine of the brass becomes tarnished, and they don't look so sharp anymore, without constant buffing. END QUOTE

Another guys answered this comment-:

QUOTE "Not to argue, but brass is harder than bone, TusQ, or most any other material used for nuts. Also, I have to disagree that minimal string to nut contact is optimal. The fact such a minimum area of contact wears faster is precisely why it's not well crafted." END QUOTE


Another concern for me is the quality off brass. From what little I know, '360' Brass and 'bell' brass ( which is actually a Bronze), if they are different, are the high grades. Then theres the copper looking stuff called 'red brass' which is cheaper and less desirable . I am not certain though about this . Maybe a forum metallurgist can chirp in.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Nut materials

There's a difference between pursuing a desired conclusion from a theoretical standpoint and actually observing the results in practice. For all the different nuts I tried, I noticed a huge difference in tone for both closed and open notes.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Nut materials

My beef with brass nuts is exactly that open strings sound so much brighter than fretted notes, especially on Fenders with their longer scale and usually bright pickups. Had brass on a '76 Strat and open notes were almost piercing. I like more consistent sound across chords. Only have one brass nut on a guitar, and that's only because I'm waiting to swap out the pickups- when I do, I'll replace the nut too.

Not thrilled with the steel on my Floyd-equipped guitars either, but as far as I know there isn't an alternative. Anybody know of one? I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be interested in that; perhaps there's a niche market for a product like that...

I have graphite on a couple of PRSs and I find that pretty bright too, but I think it's worth it for the self-lubricating properties on those. Though I wouldn't rule out swapping 'em for teflon/Tusq. Frankly the possibility hadn't really even occurred to me until now- I love all three of them the way they are, despite a slight bright ring on open notes.

Anyway, to each his own. Not saying it's right or wrong, just saying I don't like brass much myself.