Zero Glide Nuts, and review.

Hi Everyone,


I'm starting this thread so I can post a review of the Zero Glide Nuts I recently ordered online from Stewmac, I'll be including my experience with the installation of the Zero Glide Nuts on my Gibson LP Studio guitar and my Chibson Angus SG guitar, so far I have completed the installation work on my LP studio, also in this thread I will include some audio demos so you can hear what the guitars sound like before and after the installation, along with some pics, here's what the Zero Glide Nuts look like in their packaging:


Attachment 8120



And here's what one of them looks like installed on my LP Studio:


Attachment 8121


Since I don't have any sets of strings in 46-10 gauge to put on my LP Studio, I'll have to wait till next week to buy some so stay tuned for some demo clips.


Installation Review:


The actual installation of the new Zero Glide Nut on my LP Studio guitar was relatively easy, if you can install a traditional bone or plastic nut on a guitar neck then you should be able to install one of these Zero Glide Nuts as installing one is much like installing a traditional nut, no extensive modifications need to be done to the existing nut trench like you would need to do if you were installing a Floyd Rose Nut or a Fender LSR Roller Nut on a Strat for example , all that may be needed is a bit of filing/sanding of the Zero Glide Nut bone material in order to get it to fit since it is made a bit oversized, the nut itself is made from bone according to the instructions and while I was filing the nut to fit I definitely could smell a distinctive smell of bone.

Once I had the nut filed to fit the nut trench on my LP Studio, it was a simple matter of gluing it in with some Cyanoacrylate Super Glue, next, I compared each of the included pieces of fret wire to the frets on my LP Studio and chose the one that was closest in size to the frets on my LP Studio's Fretboard, this should give a good 1st fret action that's low and buzz-free, the fret wire was then cut to size and any sharp edges were filed smooth, next I used some Super Glue to glue the trimmed Fret Wire in place just in front of the nut, this piece of Fret Wire becomes the Zero Fret on your guitar.


The only thing that was a bit difficult was the sanding/filing of the Zero Glide Nut to fit the Nut Trench, and even then it wasn't all that hard, just a bit time consuming that's all.




Stay tuned.



For those of you interested in ordering one of these Zero Glide Nuts for use in your kit builds, here's a link to the webpage:



http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and...lide_Nuts.html

Shame there is nothing for bass yet.... Should be interesting to see if this works!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by keloooe

Shame there is nothing for bass yet.... Should be interesting to see if this works!

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Zero Glide Nuts for Bass Guitars actually do exist but Stewmac don't seem to stock them for some reason, you might need to order them direct from this website:


http://www.zeroglide.com/




I might order a couple of Zero Glide Nuts for Bass guitars direct from the website for my two bass guitars, I have a Squire P-Bass and a Red Yamaha ERB 300 Bass guitar, they're both at uni at the moment though.

looks interesting Doc !

hey Pest, one more post for 3000 bro, lock it in Eddy !

haven't seen you on the forum whole of school holidays almost !

Tried these once on a customers Guitar.
The old girl had seen some use so a fret level was needed.
Installed nut then selected the correct fret wire etc.
Then the fun began. Due to the fret dress the zero fret needed some work to get it spot on across its length. Also the built in radius on the nut wasnt quite right..
This is not easy to do and get right once the fret is glued in. LOTS of swearing and pfaffing arond with jewelers files and wet and dry...

On newer Guitars, this shouldn't be an issue provided the frets are level etc.

End result, happy customer. He got the extra twang he was after.
Happy Luthier? Not so much. A lot of fiddling around on a job that should have taken an hour tops...

Update:


I just realized that I did happen to have a set of strings that I had been reserving for my PRS SE Custom 24 guitar, it was a set of Elixir 42-09 gauge strings though but I decided to use them to re-string my LP Studio, been playing my LP Studio a bit and I have definitely noticed a worthwhile overall improvement in the sound of the guitar, it definitely sounds alot more tuneful to my ears, there is practically no difference in tone when you play a string open to when you fret a note on the same string, I also noticed that the strings don't go out of tune by much if they do go out, it doesn't take much to put them back into tune, you don't get the binding in the nut slot like you do with a traditional nut, I tried playing a C-Major chord right down at the nut end of the fingerboard and it did sound alot more in tune to my ears which wasn't the case with a traditional nut, the 1st Fret action on my LP Studio is really nice now and fretting a string behind the 1st fret is real easy, I won't post a demo clip of the LP Studio as it is now because I want to wait till I get the proper gauge strings, but I will say that it was definitely worthwhile doing the Zero Glide nut-install on my LP Studio.

Also I would like to add that the strings do not buzz against the 1st fret despite the low 1st Fret action, I also don't hear any wavering in tone when I play one of the strings open too, the string seems to sustain alot better with absolutely none of the Sitar-Buzzing that can plague traditional nuts if the nut slots aren't cut properly.


The Zero Glide Nut basically takes all the guesswork out of getting the nut slots and the 1st Fret action right.


My experience with the new Zero Glide nut has so far been a good one and I'm happy.


So, for me the new Zero Glide Nut is a keeper.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dingobass

Tried these once on a customers Guitar.
The old girl had seen some use so a fret level was needed.
Installed nut then selected the correct fret wire etc.
Then the fun began. Due to the fret dress the zero fret needed some work to get it spot on across its length. Also the built in radius on the nut wasnt quite right..
This is not easy to do and get right once the fret is glued in. LOTS of swearing and pfaffing arond with jewelers files and wet and dry...

On newer Guitars, this shouldn't be an issue provided the frets are level etc.

End result, happy customer. He got the extra twang he was after.
Happy Luthier? Not so much. A lot of fiddling around on a job that should have taken an hour tops...

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No worries, on my LP Studio it does seem to work really well probably because the frets on it had been Pleked, the radius that the nut was cut at seemed to fit my guitar well so I experienced no issues like the ones you've mentioned.

Update:


I haven't really been too thrilled with the quality of the set of 3-A-Side Kluson Grover Deluxe Tuners I recently bought from Stewmac, some of them exhibited some backlash which made it hard to tune some of the strings on my LP Studio accurately to pitch, so, while I was at the Top end sounds Pro Shop buying some strings, I decided to buy a new set of Chrome Grover Rotomatics to put on the LP Studio, before i put them on I checked them al and they were all good, the new Grover Rotomatics have an 18:1 gear ratio and they definitely feel alot smoother than the Kluson Grover Deluxes, the LP Studio has the correct gauge strings on it so I'll record record a demo for you a bit later on so stay tuned.

Update:


Here's a short demo clip of my LP Studio with it's new Zero Glide nut installed, at the start of the demo I play all the strings un-fretted so you can hear what they sound like, then I play a few chords so you can hear what the open strings sound like compared to fretted strings (chords are played at first position next to the nut), all played with a clean tone:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...o%20Record.wav

Nice sounding LP Doc. As you said, couldn't pick the difference in tone between fretted and open.

Sounds good Doc. I'm tempted to try the zero fret system myself

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

Update:


Having had the two Zero Glide Nuts installed on my SG and LP Studio for a few days, I've been noticing a couple of issues with these nuts, firstly the tuning of my guitars has started to get a bit unstable due to friction, I've tried putting some Big Bends Nut Sauce lubricant in the nut slots and on the zero fret which helped a little bit but didn't cure the friction problem completely , secondly, the zero-fret on the SG has ended up with some grooves worn into them from the string-tension, I was giving each of the strings on my SG a good stretch when the D-String broke and I found that I had no spare sets of strings, so, I've decided to leave the SG un-strung for the time being.

sounds like they live up to their name and have zero glide...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DrNomis_44

Update:


I haven't really been too thrilled with the quality of the set of 3-A-Side Kluson Grover Deluxe Tuners I recently bought from Stewmac, some of them exhibited some backlash which made it hard to tune some of the strings on my LP Studio accurately to pitch, so, while I was at the Top end sounds Pro Shop buying some strings, I decided to buy a new set of Chrome Grover Rotomatics to put on the LP Studio, before i put them on I checked them al and they were all good, the new Grover Rotomatics have an 18:1 gear ratio and they definitely feel alot smoother than the Kluson Grover Deluxes, the LP Studio has the correct gauge strings on it so I'll record record a demo for you a bit later on so stay tuned.

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Let Stewiemac know that you are not happy with the tuners.
I have found them to be excellent with this sort of thing and they will stand behind their products.

Grooves already?
Sounds like they need to switch to stainless fret to cure that and the friction problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dingobass

Grooves already?
Sounds like they need to switch to stainless fret to cure that and the friction problem.

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My thoughts exactly, I think half the friction problem is caused by the Back-Angle of the headstock on my LP Studio and SG, these Zero Glide nuts are probably more suited to guitars with headstocks set at more gentle angles, like Acoustic guitars.

I've ended up removing the Zero-Glide nut from my LP Studio because I was having too much trouble keeping the guitar in tune, even tried applying some Big Bends Nut sauce lubricant to the nut slots and zero-fret, made no difference.


Sorry Stewmac, Sorry Gold Tone, these Zero-Glide nuts didn't work for me.

Oh man, what a f*** around. I hope you figure it out soon Doc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pablopepper

Oh man, what a f*** around. I hope you figure it out soon Doc.

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Cheers mate, yeah I've been having a real rough time with my guitars not wanting to stay in tune, I got so frustrated about it I was seriously thinking of giving myself a good long break from doing anything musical last night, I wasn't in the best of moods at all.

Those Zero Glide Nuts cost me almost $50.00 each, not to mention probably about 4 or 5 hours of my time just to file/sand them down to fit, I don't think I'll buy any more of them, a pity because I was thinking of buying one to go with the strat kit I was planning on buying soon, it's actually getting harder for me to justify spending money on the guitars I own, considering I'm not that well off.

I guess all I can do now is chalk it down to experience.

Gee Doc, that really does sux...
Send Stewmac an email with your observations, I have a feeling we will be seeing these zero nuts in the close out section before too long....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dingobass

Gee Doc, that really does sux...
Send Stewmac an email with your observations, I have a feeling we will be seeing these zero nuts in the close out section before too long....

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Stewmac invited me to write a review on the Zero Glide Nuts last night so I did, after I submitted my review I had to wait for it to be moderated,not sure if they have posted my review yet though, I gave it a rating of two stars out of five.

And you're absolutely right about it mate, I might see if I can get the dimensions of the original nut and pm them to you so I can order a bone nut if you're able to make one for us, maybe that's what I should have done in hindsight.


Actually, if I were to order one of the Bone Nut upgrades for LP kits what are the chances that it would fit in the nut trench on my LP Studio?, I think the nut trench is about 5mm wide.


Update:

I just checked on the Stewmac webpage and they still haven't posted the review I submitted last night.

Update:


I've come to the conclusion that I feel like I'm done with Gibson Guitars and their tuning-stability issues due to their design flaws, so, I'm thinking of junking the Chibson Angus SG for spare parts since I can't justify spending any more money on it, I've probably put more money into it than it would have been worth brand new, it's a Chinese Gibson fake after all, if it had been a real genuine Gibson like my LP Studio it would have been an entirely different matter, anyway, the SG is going into storage in my bedroom wardrobe for the time being, going to use the pots and pickup switch for my PRS SE Custom 24 guitar.


I'm going to leave my LP Studio alone for the time being rather than continue futzing with it, I'll probably only end up making it worse.

Doc sure down the track you will pull the SG out and finish off the upgrades. Can you just put a bone nut in ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

Doc sure down the track you will pull the SG out and finish off the upgrades. Can you just put a bone nut in ?

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Yeah, I guess I suppose I could order a PBG Bone nut for it later on wokka, I will need to invest in a set of fret-leveling tools at some stage to get rid of the severe fret-buzz at around the 14th or 15th fret on the high E-String, I had a look at the fret-leveling tools on offer at Stewmac, a bit expensive for my budget at the moment, I might see if I can get the tools I need later on this year mate.


I'm planning on ordering my very first PBG kit this coming fortnight, it's the STA1-M kit, so after that my money's going to be a bit tight.

No problems with cutting you a nut to suit, just put the relevant measurements in the customer notes box and it will happen.

Sometimes it takes SM a few days to update feedback, I have left a few less than flattering reviews and they posted those...
Sure hope they haven't changed their policy of being up front on their product reviews.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dingobass

No problems with cutting you a nut to suit, just put the relevant measurements in the customer notes box and it will happen.

Sometimes it takes SM a few days to update feedback, I have left a few less than flattering reviews and they posted those...
Sure hope they haven't changed their policy of being up front on their product reviews.

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No worries mate, I'll wait till next Tuseday to get it all sorted out, then I can get the nut ordered at the same time when I order my first PBG kit.

Will pm you the dimensions, cheers DB.

stewmac arent the only sellers of tools, I've found Realparts here in Aus good to deal with

DB bone nut will be the goods surely.

Larry Carlton uses a graphtec nut on his number 2 guitar, and gives it a good wrap.

Hee hee hee
Let's not get started on synthetic nutz :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stan

stewmac arent the only sellers of tools, I've found Realparts here in Aus good to deal with

DB bone nut will be the goods surely.

Larry Carlton uses a graphtec nut on his number 2 guitar, and gives it a good wrap.

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Cheers stan, I might see how my budget is and check out Real Tone's range of tools, I may be able to get what I need from them at cheaper prices, thanks for reminding me about that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DrNomis_44

Cheers stan, I might see how my budget is and check out Real Tone's range of tools, I may be able to get what I need from them at cheaper prices, thanks for reminding me about that.

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Also, you can get some reasonable tools off fleabay, if you intend to only use them occasionally that is.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dingobass

Hee hee hee
Let's not get started on synthetic nutz :p

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I know what you mean DB....lol.


That Chibson SG had a really terrible plastic nut on it and the plastic was junk, so I'm not surprised that the high e-string buzzed like a sitar.

Geez Doc, you have invested heavily in many parts that have mostly turned out duds. Hope your luck changes for the better soon.

Quite often the simplest upgrades or modifications end up working out best. For those buzzing frets have you looked at raising bridge level a small amount on that side. Sure it will compromise the action a poofteenth but if it gets rid of the buzz, job done. How is the string length and overall intonation as they may be contributing factors too. Whilst on strings what gauge are you running as sometimes really light gauge doesn't have much tension and can also be part of the fret buzz problem.

If it was my guitar I would look at string height at the nut and if ok gradually raise at bridge until buzzing disappears. If neck bow is too concave see if there is enough adjustment left to straighten it out a bit and after every change re-check the intonation. Eventually you will get rid of the buzz and hopefully still have an action that is playable. If not, finish off best you can and hang on the wall as a conversation furniture piece.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Geez Doc, you have invested heavily in many parts that have mostly turned out duds. Hope your luck changes for the better soon.

Quite often the simplest upgrades or modifications end up working out best. For those buzzing frets have you looked at raising bridge level a small amount on that side. Sure it will compromise the action a poofteenth but if it gets rid of the buzz, job done. How is the string length and overall intonation as they may be contributing factors too. Whilst on strings what gauge are you running as sometimes really light gauge doesn't have much tension and can also be part of the fret buzz problem.

If it was my guitar I would look at string height at the nut and if ok gradually raise at bridge until buzzing disappears. If neck bow is too concave see if there is enough adjustment left to straighten it out a bit and after every change re-check the intonation. Eventually you will get rid of the buzz and hopefully still have an action that is playable. If not, finish off best you can and hang on the wall as a conversation furniture piece.

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I actually tried raising the bridge on the SG till the buzzing went but found that the 12th fret action was too high, I was using 46-10 gauge strings to string both the SG and the LP studio, I also adjusted the SG's neck relief to Gibson factory specs too in the end I found that the sitar-buzzing was caused by the original nut and bridge, the fret-buzzing was caused by some frets that hadn't properly seated near the edge of the fretboard binding, the 1st-fret string height was fine and wasn't causing any buzzing, I'm starting to suspect that when the neck for the SG was made it was made slightly lop-sided, also the nut shelf hadn't been cut exactly 90 degrees to the neck centreline when the neck was made, the only bits of hardware that didn't turn out to be duds were the Nashville TOM bridge and the Entwistle HV58 pickups, they were fine.


Wokka suggested ordering a PBG Bone nut for the SG which I'll do later on, I'm just taking a break from working on the SG and LP Studio that's all, will definitely be coming back to them later on.


Meanwhile I'm going to sort out getting my first ever PBG kit ordered next week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dingobass

Hee hee hee
Let's not get started on synthetic nutz :p

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Ok, but I've heard him play it and it still sounded like Larry Carlton...

Good idea mate, if you are over it , it's time to step away for a while

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stan

Ok, but I've heard him play it and it still sounded like Larry Carlton...

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Lol....although I don't know who Larry Carlton is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stan

Good idea mate, if you are over it , it's time to step away for a while

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For sure, I'd only end up making it worse if I persevere, see sometimes when I work on something I get obsessed with it and sometime it can be detrimental, I need to learn how to let go sometimes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DrNomis_44

For sure, I'd only end up making it worse if I persevere, see sometimes when I work on something I get obsessed with it and sometime it can be detrimental, I need to learn how to let go sometimes.

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The hardest thing to do... put it down and walk away......
The most valuable lesson I learned at Art School was not to be precious about stuff, it has certainly helped me to climb back out of my own bum and leave things before I totally munt it up..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dingobass

The hardest thing to do... put it down and walk away......
The most valuable lesson I learned at Art School was not to be precious about stuff, it has certainly helped me to climb back out of my own bum and leave things before I totally munt it up..

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I'll chalk it up as a lesson learned.