Zero Glide Nuts, and review.

[DrNomis_44]

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:






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





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

[keloooe]

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

[DrNomis_44]

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

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.

[wokkaboy]

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 !

[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...

[DrNomis_44]

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.

[DrNomis_44]

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...

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.

[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.

[DrNomis_44]

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

[wazkelly]

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