why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

[Gtrjunior]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

I prefer bone myself, not for any magical properties, but because it's easy to work with. The nut only ever makes a tonal difference on an open string anyway. I'm actually starting to prefer Gibson Z-Fans and zero frets in general.

I also like bone. I have a Gibson with a zero fret too, I did replace the nut with a tusq nut but I have no issues with the zero nut.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

I also like bone. I have a Gibson with a zero fret too, I did replace the nut with a tusq nut but I have no issues with the zero nut.

I prefer zero frets. I use them on many of my instruments.


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[Clint 55]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

Clint55, it's interesting that you found that the GraphTek saddles deadened your tone. I've found the exact opposite on every guitar that I ever used them on. It just goes to show that different ears hear differently.

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I might have to take that back. It was string saver saddles that I tried. Are tusq saddles good?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

I prefer zero frets. I use them on many of my instruments.

Yeah, it's a shame that they are slow to catch on, mostly due to their connections with cheap crappy instruments from the days of old.

 

[Demanic]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

I might have to take that back. It was string saver saddles that I tried. Are tusq saddles good?

Maybe I'm the one who's mistaken, I thought that they were the same thing. I was referring to the string savers either way.

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[AlexR]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

I have nuts of practically every material ever used......roller, graphite, bone, nylon, plastic, corian and MOP. I've not come across one instance where if made and seated properly the guitar doesn't sound alive and have great vibrant tone. By far the most used for me is bone, and there is no way in hell that its a tone deadener......30 guitars is way too big a sample size for my result to be an aberration.
The only one out to the jury is the roller. The first guitar it was on was a little flat and dead. It will go on another and I'll see if the same thing occurs.

As to the original question, there is often no need to have that sort of material. Its the cut and shaping that by far makes for the best results. Any material can have that step done.

 

[Mincer]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

I think the biggest thing is that low-to-mid level guitars (on a big manufacturing scale) don't have the attention that a well-made nut needs. I think a great luthier can make any material work really well, but that ain't what you are getting most of the time on the production line, where 'cheap and good enough' are key.

 

[SAguitar]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

It's simple. Nuts are for squirrels, saddles are for horses.

 

[AlexR]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

So that makes a guitar a Squorse??

 

[orpheo]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

we get, at aristides, our nut blanks from graphtech and shape them as if they were of bone. No differences there. Cheaper plastic nuts, yeah, those are really really cheap.

That being said, PRS also uses an (in house developed) graphite composite nut.

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

Simple: Because $$

If a large guitar maker like Fender or Gibson can source synthetic bone nuts for say $0.50 a unit but graphite would cost them say $3.00 a unit (I'm just making up numbers to illustrate a point) that's $2.50 different per guitar. Now say they make 3000 guitars a month over a period of a decade. That adds up to a lot which is why there's always a cost/benefit balance with production scale products.

You could just as easily ask why Fender doesn't use a line of capacitors in their amps that are rated to last more than 5 years of use.

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[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

Graphite IS standard, even in cheap guitars. My Charvel CX291 that I bought for 245 dollars on a blow out sale from American Musical 25 years ago, has a graphite nut. What are you talkin' about?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

It's inconceivable how bad bone sounds to me.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

Here's another question, why aren't zero frets more popular. I get that they got a bad rep because of cheap foreign guitars being made with zero frets, but why didn't they come about before then?

They make it so open strings sound the same as when they are fretted, they don't need to be cut as precisely to have solid tuning stability. They also don't wear down nearly as fast as most people think, especially the newer stainless steel ones.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

Tradition and craftsmanship.

 

[mxaniac]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

I see the same thing in other industries. If you buy a new motocross bike you'll need to get the suspension re-valved, different tires, and on some a porting job and different pipes before it starts working like it's supposed to. It seems to take a pretty disruptive influence to change things and apparently we haven't quite reached the tipping point.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

It doesn't matter to me what type of nut comes on a guitar. It comes off as soon as it is in my possession and I replace it with my custom made compensated nut. And that's the biggest problem with zero frets...those can't be compensated. So I will never have a guitar with a zero fret.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: why isn't graphite a standard material nut in the music industry ?

And that's the biggest problem with zero frets...those can't be compensated. So I will never have a guitar with a zero fret.

I can understand that, but I can argue that with a zero fret there is less need to compensate the nut because there is less downward pressure on the lower frets, as illustrated from these diagrams I pulled from Wikipedia:




But I must ask about the curvature of the graphs, since you can't measure the intonation at points in between frets. How does one measure the intonation at the 4 4/8ths fret?