Nuts

[wazkelly]

Nope, not these ones....



Nah, not these ones....



Ahhh, that's more like it! https://www.pitbullguitars.com/bone-nuts/

Bone, Brass or Composite....which is best?

Standard nuts on most guitars are deadset tone killers and one of the 'Essential' upgrades that should be undertaken when setting up the neck and action.

So which is the best type of nut? This is a very personal question and delves deep into one's beliefs as to what their ears hear and make them perceive.

Most of the big brands use some kind of composite.....Rickenbacker supposedly use Bakelite, Gibson use Tektoid, Fender Synthetic Bone, all on guitars with a price point usually north of $2k with a nut that probably cost somewhere between $5 - $15 bucks.

If price is the main issue that explains why composites such as Tusq & Graphtec are so popular.

Next step along the price point is Brass which was very popular in the 1980's as it was supposed to provide increased sustain. Sure made open strings ring like a bell for a hell of a lot longer.

Next step up is Bone.

On all my guitars I have upgraded with Bone except 1 Tele that has a rosewood fret board and went with Brass to give it a more chimy sound. Personally I prefer Bone as it seems to have warmth as well as a brighter sound when compared to the plastic nut just replaced. Brass is just a lot brighter and takes a lot longer to shape and file down to size.

On my Basses EX5 is composite, Fretless P Bass has Graphite, Yammy 5 stringer is Urea, with Bone on the J Bass & MMB4 builds. Each Bass has it's own distinctive voice and tend to find that bone gives a bit more growl and clarity whereas composites are more subdued which works well on fretless.

Upgraded nut on my EX5 is a ripper and shall create a separate review.

I look forward to your thoughts, comments and feedback.

Cheers, Waz

[Dedman]

I'm a bit like you Waz, bone on most of my builds, brass on 3, plastic on 2 I think. I seem to get the sound I like with brass nut and a set of 9's. On guitars with a trem I tend to use bone and 10's. Don't ask me why it just seems to work for me.

[dave.king1]

I have a soft spot for a zero fret and the nut as a string guide, having said that all of my 6 stringer builds have bone nuts.

My Shergold has a zero fret and I've owned a couple of no names in the distant past that had them as well

[Andy123]

I've found myself in the market for a carved nut. On my travels I stumbled upon a local luthier's web page advocating for the use of Brazilian Bloodwood for guitar nuts. Can't vouch for its successful use or tonal qualities, but it sure looks nice:



https://guitarrepairers.com/brazilia...s-and-saddles/

[Simon Barden]

Bone for me.

Not keen on the synthetic nuts. The ones with graphite in always seem dirty looking as the graphite comes out and spreads over the surface.

The downside of brass is that it's a lot softer than steel, so over time the strings will cut deeper slots into the nut, which if you've already taken the slots to their lowest level possible before buzzing for the lowest action, does reduce the lifetime of the nut. Gibson found this out very quickly with their 2015 all-in-one zero-fret nut arrangement, which started out as brass but had to be swapped to titanium fairly quickly. Less important for saddles, where you can simply raise the saddles up to compensate for wear.