Let's Talk About Guitar Nuts

[@Uygkuyfkutfkytfkutfv]

I seem to get notifications about notifications from this channel; i’m unsubscribing for this reason. “Who cares?” You might ask, well me, enough to let you know how best you might hold on to your subscribers.

[@HighlineGuitars]

I do it to weed out the undesirable. Buh-bye!

[@LeviBulger]

Welp... BYE 👋😎🙋🧑‍🎤💃

[@mechajabo]

You just lost a premium contributer Chris. Might as well kiss your KZbin career good bye. In any case thanks for the video!

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@mechajabo 😪

[@danielmiller2886]

Having been on KZbin for 16 years, I would think you should know how to turn off notifications for a channel.

[@CarvedTop]

Great Info! I have a fretless bass that always sounded a bit too brite, even with flat wound strings. So I made a nut from Madagascar Ebony, and it did mellow the tone a bit.

[@TheEpeli89]

My favourite nut/saddle material is moose shin bone. Takes a bit of work to prepare those after hunting but great material in ecological way too. Greetings from Finland!

[@JasonGeoffrey]

Thanks for giving me the option to subscribe instead of all the usual crap that every other channel does "like and subscribe"! If I did subscribe to every channel that tells me to I would never have time to do anything except watch youtube videos and that would lead to much boredom, considering most content is boring as hell and aimed at getting advertising revenue. I have subscribed to your channel due to your politeness in asking to do so and also your informative videos that actually have some value to viewers rather than gimmicky misleading titles and thumbnails. Well done for proving an "old school" channel with worthwhile information :) I do believe I learned how to file and re-crown frets from your channel as well. All the best mate.

[@picksalot1]

I'm a player that does my own mods, including making Nuts, and Saddles. I've tried Bone, Graph Tech, Ebony, and combinations. Each imparts a signature tonality and warmth/brightness in my experience. I don't like overly bright/harsh tones, so have stayed away from various metals. I think the choice of material should be made based on how the individual guitar sounds, and what the player wants. Tuning stability is an important consideration as well. Graph Tech sounds bright, Ebony sounds warm, and Bone sits tonally nicely between the two. One thing with bone that I've noticed, particularly on Acoustic guitars, is that there is more chance of tonal inconsistencies within a single piece, which may lead to open string variations in tone. I got a Graph Tech Nut for use on my Strat to minimize tremolo bar related tuning instabilities, but don't know if it made any difference or not. Just curious, have you ever tried a "Zero Fret" guitar? I'm pretty sure it's a non-starter for custom guitars such as yours, as they are seen as a cheap feature. But, on the couple of guitars with them that I've tried, they actually sounded good and the guitars played very well. But, you do lose the extra rich sonority on open strings.

[@Oldtanktapper]

As a jewellery maker who occasionally works with bone carving, definitely wear a mask when using it. The dust is highly irritating if you breathe it in, you’ll be hacking like a pack a day smoker with bronchitis if you aren’t careful.

[@alexanderguestguitars1173]

My go-to material for nuts is brass. It's available everywhere. Go into any old garage and you'll probably find an old hinge or door handle you can make a brass nut out of, if you can't get hold of proper flat stock. With respect to you Chris, brass is a very soft metal and you shouldn't find your files wearing out quickly on it - especially not after one nut! I'd say change your brand of file, personally. Good quality files should rip through brass no problems. If they clog, get a stiff wire brush and brush out the swarf in the file teeth, but that's another good thing about brass, it generally doesn't tend to clog up files like aluminium does. Also, it's only a small thing, but with bone and especially horn, they do make an awful pong when you're cutting them. Brass doesn't. You make a good point that brass does have a distinctive sound, or rather (to my mind) it keeps lots more of the top-end sound than other softer materials. It's worth bearing in mind that the bridge of your (electric) guitar is probably going to be made out of a metallic alloy not too dis-similar to brass. So why not the nut too?? But the most important thing to remember about the bright, top-end focused sound of the brass nut, is that if you don't like it that bright, there's generally a little control on the front of the guitar which people often forget about entirely. It's called the tone knob, and it will take off as much top-end as you want. Start out with lots of treble and you can dial out as much as you want. But if it's not there to begin with, you might miss it! Having said that, in my experiments, not only is aluminium not nice to file as it's often too soft and "claggy" for the file, it has a tone which really IS far too bright (for me). I used to always cut a compensation on all my top-nuts, to mirror the intonation adjustments of the bridge. I always found that it helped with the intonations, especially when you think they're good but you play all the open chords, they sound fine, then you pay an open A chord and the top E is flat. Now I always thought that the compensation on the nut was responsible for cancelling that out. But in actual fact I later found out that that issue is basically caused by having too high an action at the nut. Lowering the action will aid intonation significantly. Then you just simply don't need the compensation on the nut. Zero frets? If the customer wants it. Otherwise pointless (IMHO). I have tried dedicated nut slot files, but I've always found them to be rather useless. They don't cut well, or quickly (mind you, I never buy anything from Stoomack). I've always found that I've had much better service from a nice, crisply cut, good quality triangular file (from a very cheap CK warding file set or similar). They just work! And don't wear out quickly. If they have nice clearly defined "corners", you should be able to use them all the way from bottom to top E's. Just a few thoughts.

[@sgt.grinch3299]

Thank you for discussing this important topic. I’m still learning, I love learning new techniques and subjects.

[@jesusgom0245]

I’ve tried a lot of different ones. To me it’s a question of taste of sound and how important is to you the tuning stability. Grafite is to me the best one for tuning stability, but it feels like having a more scooped sound which can please some players. My taste goes to the Fuller sound of the bone nut ,even though I bend a lot. It requires a finer work filing and sanding the slots, and you can then apply a little grafite powder info the slots, this is my perception of it. Love and peace to you all!

[@sparrowhawk81]

I like graphite. Seems to hit all the good points. Hard, slick, easy to work with, not too expensive, readily available, very consistent.Comes in black, I think you can even get it white somehow if you want that.

[@clemguitar63]

I sincerely find your video content useful/helpful, thank you!

[@ianrose5505]

Thanks I find brass is causes tool wear quickly, I agree bone is great to work with and polishes up really well, at 110 pounds for a set of nut files then bone fits the bill and sounds good

[@TheDarkmore]

Just made my first steel nut, cut off the end of an old file, shaped it with a powertool, slotted the E,A,D with a small file, the G,B,e with a steel knife ;-)

[@RahulSharma_JaiMataDi]

Bone NUT, Tusk/Bone Saddle and Buffalo Horn Bridge pins cant go wrong

[@tsiggy]

i've got nuts made of steel. 0:00 brilliant highs, the mellowest of mids and such soothing lows.

[@prestoncarter8689]

Everybody probably knows this but here it goes. Antler is pure bone, but horn is a bone core covered by keratin (fingernail stuff). I was really excited to try and make me a buffalo horn nut. However the keratin did not hold up well for me it kept tearing (de laminating would be a better term), especially when I was cutting the high and low e slots.

[@victordu4694]

i use roe deer antlers as i often find them in nature when hiking, and i love to use materials from mother nature. i also use bone from the ones a neighbour gives to my dog to chew on, yes, i steal then from her, sorry girl.. still curious about cow horn , a friend of mine has tons of it as he trims his cattle's one. thanks for your vids, very teatching.

[@robertgodreau6516]

I buy beef bones from a pet supply. Once my big dog is done getting the marrow out of them and cleaning her teeth (best thing to save vet dental bills) I save the bone for nuts and saddles. Works GREAT!

[@sparrowhawk81]

2:57 Anyone else a fan of the "will it blend" guy? "Don't breathe this stuff!"

[@A.J.99]

Being a guitar player, I'm fond of Graphtech TUSQ XL nuts for my hard-tail guitars. They are rock-solid but easy to shape, they are self lubricated to prevent strings from stucking in the slots, and they don't affect the tone and sustain.

[@TheBoomtown4]

As a trumpet player, I prefer nuts made of plexiglass.

[@tictac1020]

Great vid as always Chris! Ive been putting off making a nut for one of my multiscale guitars because there's no videos or good info about doing multiscale nuts. Sinc you've done multiscale, a short vid going over any gotchas, tips, and recommendations on slanted nuts would be extremely helpful and interesting to me as both guitar player, hopeful one-day luthier, and avid DIYer. Thanks for making the bestnluthiery vids on the net! As much as i love watching the Erlewines, they pretty much only show and talk about classic instruments and setups, whereas you cover both old and new.

[@HighlineGuitars]

I don't do anything differently when making a fixed scale nut.

[@tictac1020]

@@HighlineGuitars do you hand measure and mark the slots with a square/ruler? I tried figuring out the string spacing and slot position with a standard issue string spacing ruler with the little holes but I couldn't make it work somehow. Will try again.

[@ksgjlg]

My personal guitsr I built has a copper nut. My resonator I put an aluminum nut. I've used bone and antler. My favorite is graphite in black for all the reasons you mentioned

[@jayartz8562]

Once you've fretted a note any so called nut tone is out of the equation. For me it's bone or graphite, both are easy to get and work with. As long as the slots are cut properly I don't really mind what they're made of. Of course if you're paying, you can have it made of whatever you want.

[@btlfilmmedia9514]

Bone, easy to work with and solid consistency Brass on tele

[@208414]

My local luthier prefers unbleached camel bone. I can't say that I hear a dramatic difference from my graphtech equipped guitars, but I think the most important thing is to get the shape and slots correct.

[@tassiogomes]

I was looking for a nut for my telecaster and after I watched to this video I made my decision. I'm going to get the graphite one because of the bendings.

[@bluespresso]

I think you totally got the point of a compensated nut confused. It is actually for the intonation of the few first frets, not the intonation of open strings. If done correctly, with a compensated nut you get a good intonation across all frets. With the standard nut you usually end up with sharp notes in the first few frets. It also varies across different strings.

[@HighlineGuitars]

I understand the point. My point is that they don't work all that well as soon as you press the string to the first fret. Why? Because the frets lack the compensation the nut and the bridge has. I should have mentioned that, but I assumed the viewer would understand. Unless you have True Temperament frets, which hardly anyone has, compensated nuts and bridges have very limited value, especially when you change string gauges or even just the brand.

[@Tomislav_B.]

@@HighlineGuitars Frets don't lack compensation, they are on a different position relative to the nut when the nut is compensated. The closer they are to the nut they are more compensated.

[@bluespresso]

@@HighlineGuitars The frets don`t lack compensation in relation to each other because it does not matter (so much) if you press down the first fret or the second fret. In both cases the string gets this additional tension due to the pressing down. The open string does not have this additional tension. That is the reason why the pitch of an open string (standard nut) relative to a fretted note is never correct. For the notes up the neck this is compensated with the bridge saddle positions. However, the compensation from the bridge has the least effect on the frets furthest away from the bridge. Therefore, a compensated nut is needed to achieve an effect for the first few frets. The working principle is the same as for the bridge. It is true that the amount of compensation is dependent on the string gauge and also the string action, but also for the bridge compensation. I make my own compensated nuts and the difference between a standard nut and a compensated nut is quite significant.

[@Tomislav_B.]

@@bluespresso Ervana has a chart that displays pitches on entire fretboard and they are 99% flawless with Ervana compensated nut. Of course the few first frets are compensated the most because when you tune an open string with compensated nut, when pressing on the fret you end up pressing it on a different place compared to the regular nut. I don't know how Chris doesn't see that.

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@Tomislav_B. That's the whole idea behind these ask-the-viewer videos. They are an opportunity for all (including me!) to learn. Maybe I should do a video titled "Why Don't All Guitars Have Compensated Nuts?"

[@rauschguitars]

I'm quite happy using Corian. It polishes up well and I can't hear or feel a difference between Corian and bone.

[@christianboddum8783]

Graph Tech black Tusq nuts is pretty much all I use the days. I have occasional problems getting the high strings right with my Stewmac nut slotting files, they bind and all of a sudden they go too deep, which can be fixed with graphite powder and superglue, but it is still annoying. FWIW

[@pentachronic]

Just a thought. Is it possible to make your own reference “zero” nut by just grinding a piece of fret wire in half (longitudinally) ? I’m thinking you press in a new fret (not glued) remove it and then grind it in half. This could then be placed against your bone nut and you now have the perfect height for slotting the nut. No pencil malarkey and you have a reference for that particular fret wire and radius. Rinse and repeat. You might need an accurate surface grinder but once done you’re golden.

[@HighlineGuitars]

Go for it.

[@kkrekula]

Great informational video as usual! As a player, I can even enjoy plastic nuts, if they are on Fender style guitars where the strings go straight to the tuners. If I use some lubricant, tuning stability will be perfect! I have also tried to install a zero fret on a Tele of mine (which I was annoyed that it got out of tune when I was changing between 2 chords). The zero fret solved this problem, but the action actually got too low! Have problems getting grip on the strings... Anyway, I could have solved this by filing down the nut slots a bit, but then again - this is how you learn...

[@PaDaRi-Games]

I have access to a significant amount of lignum vitae and quebracho wood, and I'm wondering if they might be suitable materials for an electric guitar nut. While it seems uncommon to use extremely hard woods for nuts (in electric guitars), their inherent durability suggests they could be excellent choices. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.

[@HighlineGuitars]

I know nothing about these woods. Try them.

[@rvaguitars]

I usually use bone. I build some Jerry Garcia guitars and use brass on those. I really like graphtek too but gave up after finding a void in the center of three different blanks that rendered them unusable and they are expensive for that.

[@LeviBulger]

I love the look of buffalo horn, but not sure if I like the tone more than bone. Maybe there's no difference, but I swear bone is a bit clearer. Maybe I've only had soft pieces in the past, but they definitely seemed hard as bone to cut.

[@txtele]

I've been making my own zero nuts finding a good string guide is something that's been kind of a issue for me

[@lewisbeeman]

Ok, so I have this Jackson guitar that has/had a Floyd Rose top mount bridge. Since it had a Floyd Rose, it also had that huge metal locking nut that comes with a Floyd. I have swapped the Floyd for a Schaller Trem bridge that fits, and now I would like to replace the big metal nut that is screwed onto the neck. I would like something that I would also screw onto the neck like the stock one. What would your suggestion be? I am up for the challenge.

[@HighlineGuitars]

I am not aware of any options that would work. You may have no choice but to use the stock nut.

[@lewisbeeman]

@@HighlineGuitars I was considering making one. That is where I was going with that question.

[@douglaspierce7031]

I have some bronze that I was thinking of using for a nut and saddle pieces for the tune-o-matic bridge. Bronze is what they use for bells so, not sure what it will sound like or what to expect. I'm a machinist and have a full shop in my basement so, making the parts will not be an issue.

[@HighlineGuitars]

Bear in mind that not all brass is the the same. Different types of brass can produce different timbres. For example, yellow brass, which is 70% copper and 30% zinc, produces a bright timbre, while gold brass, which is 85% copper and 15% zinc, produces a rich timbre.

[@vansavage4027]

I agree with the idea of a zero fret. Seems like a great idea but I’ve never done one and no one has asked for one even if I suggest it. I tend to like roller nuts (and saddles). Takes more work like you said to get the height right but no more than a locker. Fender LSRs are easy but tend to lose a ball bearing at the worst time. I’m using Wilkinson for now. Can you recommend any others? Thanks and love the vids

[@elluisito000]

I have used aluminum and ebony with great success in my basses 😀

[@y007p3]

I quite like carbon fibre as a nut material. I have a load of offcuts from various panels lying around. Corian isn’t too bad either...again, lots of ofcuts.

[@yaki_font]

I make my own nut blanks from zero with cow femurs... Great results and great tone

[@yaki_font]

@highlineguitars is this you.?

[@chippsterstephens6800]

I use wooly mammoth. Easy to work with, looks killer, is a conversation started and is something I learned from a famous Texas guitar tech. It’s light, it cuts slots nice. And is legal. The worst material I ever worked with. Is nylon 6-6 , that was used on les Pual’s in 1959, I hope to never cut a nylon nut again! Gibson molded them. Regardless of materials, I think far more important are the tools used, I have found that nut files need to be very good ones. And actually like music nomad files better than the Japan ones. The reason is the nomad files cut the sides and a round bottom, The Japan ones only cut on the bottom and tend to bind, and make slots tight, something I do not want. Close but not binding. 99 % of tuning issues get corrected here. Then abrasive cord to polish the slots. Also use a stew Mac digital gage to set depth, and use feeler gages as a backup, while cutting slots. working with mammoth , a mistake is something I don’t want. Bone is fine , I like working with it. But for me it’s mammoth ivory. I don’t use anything synthetic. A fender plastic whatever they use , had cracked, the tonality of the guitar changed drastically, it took me about a year to find the cause, after replacing saddles, the whole bridge ,and even guitar body’s at one point , it was a very close inspection of the nut, I saw the hairline crack. A casual glance you won’t see it. And new nut fixed the issue, I have replaced a few with the same issue and complaints for clients. So I stick with ivory or bone.

[@veggiegodzilla237]

Technical detail: Vibrato and tremolo are NOT the same thing. Vibrato is a changing pitch (frequency). Tremolo is a changing volume (amplitude). Fender and others have gotten this wrong for decades. A tremolo bar is technically a vibrato bar. The output jack of my Fender Rhodes piano reads INPUT but they ignored the gaff. Real tremolo were on amplifiers at one time, I even had one. Used that effect to play Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells. Keep up the great videos!

[@HighlineGuitars]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWeqhY2omNSKe68si=fhTTWvYHYAyGrETg

[@veggiegodzilla237]

Basic science and music theory are not "opinions". I should not have commented on your channel if your only recourse is a childish insult. I won't be watching any more of your videos and am now unsubscribing. @@HighlineGuitars

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@veggiegodzilla237 buh bye 🥱

[@ej1_drew]

i honestly don't understand compensated nuts - like i get that a guitar's main downfall is the notes aren't truly accurate bc the frequency ratios aren't repeating as the fret intervals are but the nut could only compensate the first fret if that's the case. there are "true-temperment" frets for this purpose but even those, to me at least, seem over the top. thanks for this video i am planning to upgrade a few nuts which btw probably going with bone bc the classic styling and definitely better than plastic!

[@XCernobylZ]

Im try use material stainless stel in nut + fret + saddle that's very nice for me

[@cd1934]

Ｈｙｂｒｉｄ　nuts are actually the best of best worlds!, that’s wood sandwiched with a bone or brass or graphite!.

[@bigbasil1908]

I think horn is not going to have as good a tone or resonance as bone, and antler being made of basically bone might be slightly better than bone as it may be a little bit harder and more dense. I think flint or chert might be a really good nut material as it is so hard and dense, but will be very difficult to shape and even more difficult to cut the nut slots in.

[@GlarryGuitars]

All work and no play makes Chris a dull full boy......😂 Nice shirt

[@tyremanguitars]

I am experimenting with ebony nuts, quite like it but don't know how well it'll hold up over time.

[@mlb3164]

Lignum Vitae?? Super hard and self lubricating.

[@kyerdna]

I prefer plastic nuts as it produces quite the same result as the bone, but cheaper. As for the brass I don't like the difference how open string sounds along after it is fretted.

[@HighlineGuitars]

Plastic nuts get a bad rap, but would that be the case if we called them synthetic polymer nuts instead?

[@ralphdamatojr]

@@HighlineGuitars ... Great reply bud... This brings me to a question I have had... I have an acoustic with plastic nut and saddle.. it sounds and feels BEAUTIFUL... Would changing the nut and saddle give more improvement to sound? I am just worried about ruining what I have now with sound and feel?

[@russoloco1662]

I like the Tusq or bone.

[@Tomislav_B.]

Does nut material affect just the sound of open strings or also of the fretted notes?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Only the open strings, which is why the material is important when playing chords that use the open strings.

[@Tomislav_B.]

@@HighlineGuitars Lots of folks (on TGP mostly, where else??) swear that guitar with bone nut sounds superior on open strings AND fretted notes which is an opinion I always consider a pure BS. Nut material doesn't mater when you fret the strings.

[@stevemusky5438]

What do you think of the brass adjustable nuts?

[@HighlineGuitars]

I've never tried them. however, I have seen a couple of different designs. One has a fixed radius that can be height adjusted like a tune-o-matic bridge, and the other has individual screws for adjusting the height of each string. The latter seems like it would offer more precise adjustment, however, I would be concerned about the long term durability of those tiny brass screws, especially under string tension. Also, both designs look like they would need to have the slots filed to accommodate larger string gauges. And let's not forget about how brass nuts tend to sound very bright.

[@torejohansen908]

I have been thinking of using a hardwood for making a nut, such as lignum vitae, or possibly ebony. What are your thougths upon that?

[@HighlineGuitars]

I have no thoughts since I would never do that.

[@cheapskate8656]

I have made nuts from hardwood and they work fine. If anybody tries to tell you that a wood nut is bad for tone. Tell them Stradivarius disagrees.

[@lunareclipse1482]

@@cheapskate8656 its not the bad tone, but they were out prematurely. Ebony bridge pegs and saddles for acoustic guitars are fine and sound very warm.

[@krasimirparvanov8139]

I really think that the zero fret is the best.

[@Addahasan]

What adhesive do you prefer in materials of nuts??

[@HighlineGuitars]

Are you referring to the glue I use to install them? I use Titebond wood glue.

[@Addahasan]

@@HighlineGuitars for all type of nut material?

[@asafpelleh7594]

How good of an idea would be to buy a carbon fiber rod to use a blank for nuts?

[@HighlineGuitars]

I would think that the process of shaping and slotting a carbon fiber blank would expose the fibers and that can't be good for the nut's lifespan.

[@asafpelleh7594]

@@HighlineGuitars I forget to reply. You have a good point. Cutting and filling it would expose the fibers and ruin the whole rod.

[@asafpelleh7594]

What about all the synthetics?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Yeah, them too.

[@asafpelleh7594]

@@HighlineGuitars This came in right on time. I just finished ordering everything and only the nuts are left.

[@Skman22]

Can you suggest a good set of nut files ?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Hosco or Stewmac.

[@tball5677]

If it were possible, what do you all think a diamond nut would sound like????

[@HighlineGuitars]

Fantastically disappointing.

[@tball5677]

@@HighlineGuitars really? How so? I would think the hardness of the material would really resonate.

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@tball5677 Cost versus the result.😆

[@gijsbertuslaurensvandevooren]

It was awful to hear difference between fretted and open notes to me so for me Brass is it.

[@JohnAdams-xc5yk]

Ivory

[@robertnorstrom1803]

I thought i was the guitar nut…

[@HighlineGuitars]

I'm a guitar nut, but you're THE guitar nut.

[@clemguitar63]

You're 'NOT' alone!

[@lunareclipse1482]

All this talk about nuts is making me nuts. OMG.

[@nevillecragg9066]

I don’t eat meat but I sure like a 🦴 😄

[@lunareclipse1482]

That's what she said.