Nut - the least friction

[CarlosG]

Hi!
As always, I apologize in advance for my English, it's bad, I often use a translator, but I like this forum.
I've noticed that many people have a favorite nut material, mainly based on sound.
I would like to focus on friction.
None of my hardtail guitars stay in tune as well as those with double locking tremolo (Floyd etc.) or my headless one.
I've noticed that when I press the string down behind the nut (on the headstock), the tuning raises by a few cents. When I bend harder, it drops by a few cents.
My luthier said it was normal, I would like to minimize it. I use TUSQ XL because it's self-lubricating. The grooves are perfectly formed; I even tried applying grease.
The luthier in the workshop had guitars fitted with bone and they had the same effect.
I looked at my TUSQ XL nuts, and they seem to be soft plastic. There are obvious marks in the nut grooves from the bass strings.
My other friend, who repairs guitars, recommended a brass nut. It's the hardest and shouldn't jam the strings. He described brass as "self-lubricating," which is why it's used in slide bearings. From what I've seen, Malmsteen uses them with a tremolo and it seems to work.
I play a lot of Van Halen, Mr. Big, and other 80s music. These chords often have four or five notes. Even the slightest detune makes the guitar sound terrible on distortion. I'd like to try to improve my hardtail guitars, and if they don't work, I'll stick with headless guitars (but they're awful) or Floyd/Edge.
Any advice?

 

[uOpt]

Could also be the winds around the tuner pegs shifting.

 

[marcello252]

Nut is the usual suspect but winding on the tuner and the tuners theirselves cause strings slipping as uOpt says.
I use bone and tusq, I think they are good, are you sure the width and shape of the grooves are ok?
Have you already tried putting some pencil graphite on the grooves?

 

[Mincer]

I like TUSQ myself, and it wears better than brass (sounds better too). I dig the tone, too.

 

[Chistopher]

A zero fret and locking tuners is the way to go. Nothing for the string to bind on

 

[ehdwuld]

Roller nut was created just for this

Get the LSR not the WD music version

The LSR has balls that the string rests between, use no oil or lubricant. It will attract dust and cause it to not work

The WD version had three rollers with two shallow grooves for the strings on each roller.
The strings come out of the slots when bending. You don't want that.

Locking nut would prevent the string from moving at all across the nut

Edit:
Titanium is harder than brass
Gibson had brass adjustable nuts on the 2016 series guitars and had to switch to Titanium when those started to get grooves in them

Brass self lubricates because it wears quickly and is a soft metal
Its dense not hard.

 

[Mincer]

I really like the LSR- have it on a few Warmoths, but it is limited to a very specific nut width. The nut shelf also has to be very carefully prepared.

 

[Securb]

I really like the LSR- have it on a few Warmoths, but it is limited to a very specific nut width. The nut shelf also has to be very carefully prepared.

Love my LSRs! I am wondering if the OP has tried Nut Sauce, I use it on all of my standard nuts with every string change.

 

[CarlosG]

Roller nut was created just for this

Get the LSR not the WD music version

It doesn't fit every guitar and only has a 10-inch radius.

Love my LSRs! I am wondering if the OP has tried Nut Sauce, I use it on all of my standard nuts with every string change.

Nut sauce seems like a scam, so much money for a little grease (probably PTFE).
I use a lithium one like Gilmour's. I've used graphite, but it gets dirty. I also bought a PTFE one (theoretically the lowest friction), but it stinks, so I haven't tried it.

 

[marcello252]

The guilt shifts then to the strings winding

 

[Securb]

It doesn't fit every guitar and only has a 10-inch radius.

Nut sauce seems like a scam, so much money for a little grease (probably PTFE).
I use a lithium one like Gilmour's. I've used graphite, but it gets dirty. I also bought a PTFE one (theoretically the lowest friction), but it stinks, so I haven't tried it.

I have been using Nut Sauce for years it works as advertised. Especially on my trem guitars. I also have graphite, but as you said, it is dirty and IMO it doesn't work as well.

 

[GuitarStv]

A locking nut will always hold tune better than a nut where the strings are held in place by just tension over the nut. That's just the nature of the design - a locking nut literally can't impact your tuning after it's locked. That said, there are a variety of ways you can make a regular nut stay in tune better. Some of them, like searching out different materials or lubricants will help to a certain degree. I've found that certain guitar designs seem better at helping this too (In my experience, the straighter the strings are between the post and the nut, the better . . . Gibson style designs where the strings are angled off a lot seem to hold tuning worse than fender style designs where they're straighter for example) so maybe if it's really bugging you it would be worth checking out some different headstock designs.

 

[uOpt]

Graphite is a good material for slippage. You mix it with Vaseline to prevent it from floating around. Use very little of course.

 

[Chistopher]

A locking nut will always hold tune better than a nut where the strings are held in place by just tension over the nut. That's just the nature of the design - a locking nut literally can't impact your tuning after it's locked.

If I could expand on this, a perfect nut will either let the string move without any friction, or it won't let it move at all. Anywhere in between is bad.

My way of doing it where I lock the string at the tuner and use a zero fret for essentially no friction at the nut is almost as stable as a locking nut, but without the drawbacks.

 

[80's_Metal]

Titanium!

 

[ehdwuld]

If I could expand on this, a perfect nut will either let the string move without any friction, or it won't let it move at all. Anywhere in between is bad.

My way of doing it where I lock the string at the tuner and use a zero fret for essentially no friction at the nut is almost as stable as a locking nut, but without the drawbacks.

As I stated above
Rollers or locking

On my headless guitars
I have the strings locked above the zero fret

And they are massively stable
I did have an issue last month when I flew out to AZ I had to tune up on either side of the flight as the neck moved a bit on either side . I don't think that was the strings though more of a neck / truss rod thing

 

[Mincer]

Yeah, on my headless guitar, I use double-ball strings, which is about as stable as you can get. Just drop the string in each slot and a few turns it is in tune.

 

[Bill Dennis]

Hi!
As always, I apologize in advance for my English, it's bad, I often use a translator, but I like this forum.
I've noticed that many people have a favorite nut material, mainly based on sound.
I would like to focus on friction.
None of my hardtail guitars stay in tune as well as those with double locking tremolo (Floyd etc.) or my headless one.
I've noticed that when I press the string down behind the nut (on the headstock), the tuning raises by a few cents. When I bend harder, it drops by a few cents.
My luthier said it was normal, I would like to minimize it. I use TUSQ XL because it's self-lubricating. The grooves are perfectly formed; I even tried applying grease.
The luthier in the workshop had guitars fitted with bone and they had the same effect.
I looked at my TUSQ XL nuts, and they seem to be soft plastic. There are obvious marks in the nut grooves from the bass strings.
My other friend, who repairs guitars, recommended a brass nut. It's the hardest and shouldn't jam the strings. He described brass as "self-lubricating," which is why it's used in slide bearings. From what I've seen, Malmsteen uses them with a tremolo and it seems to work.
I play a lot of Van Halen, Mr. Big, and other 80s music. These chords often have four or five notes. Even the slightest detune makes the guitar sound terrible on distortion. I'd like to try to improve my hardtail guitars, and if they don't work, I'll stick with headless guitars (but they're awful) or Floyd/Edge.
Any advice?

I find your techs conclusions dubious at best... Brass is notorious for issues with tuning. Tusq / bone etc are fine but the use of a lubricant in the slot of any nut is strongly recommended. I like Big Bends Nut Sauce which appears to be a silicone based product but good old pencil graphite works well to...