What type of guitar nut material?

**JPMike** · 07-25-2013, 03:36 PM

I am going to upgrade the nut on my guitar, so I was thinking a wooly mammoth ivory nut blank piece for my semi hollow, that is being sold by All Parts company, it's like the most expensive one (call me crazy).

People recommend different type of nuts for each on their own. So what would you recommend for a semi hollow? Or jazz guitar in general.

What do you use??

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-25-2013, 04:21 PM

My guitar tech always recommends bone, so I go with that.

I've also seen fossilized walrus tusk put forward as being close to ivory. It sounds like it is rare, but they find the tusks lying around on the tundra.

**Spook410** · 07-25-2013, 04:26 PM

Go for what you find aesthetically pleasing. It makes no difference to the sound of the guitar. I use bone because I can craft them myself and when I screw one up, I'm not out much. Graphite is supposed to help avoid binding but a well cut nut doesn't bind. Not sure how durable graphite is but plastic is not. Overall, bone is good though one day I'll make an mother of pearl one (once popular on high end guitars) just for fun.

**fumblefingers** · 07-25-2013, 08:02 PM

I hear O-bone, or Ostrich Bone, is good.

**RonD** · 07-25-2013, 09:30 PM

Bone. It works. It's cheap. Every luthier I've ever spoken to or read about, uses it.
Tried most of the others... bone.

**kenbennett** · 07-25-2013, 11:23 PM

Bone good, bleached or unbleached. Tusq, which is a graphite based product, is OK with me. I have no problem with the mammoth ivory or mother-of-pearl. I have also worked on good guitars with ebony nuts. Never like the metal ones.

But bone, that's what I keep in stock for the guitars I make and or repairs on good instruments. Some people claim it can have inconsistent density which can screw up the tonal balance. That could be nothing more than a Tusq sales pitch.

For cheap guitars that need an upgrade from stock plastic I have a scrap of white Corian counter top material sliced up.

**docbop** · 07-26-2013, 12:13 AM

I put brass since I knew few would. My 70's 335 has amazing brass nut made for me by John Carruthers whose done most the work on my guitars since the 60's. Back then brass was the thing because they add density/sustain to the guitar. My more recent GB10 came with a half & half nut of I guess plastic and brass. My other guitars that needed nuts have bone.

I think my 335 case still has a ChapStick in it, back then didn't have all the fancy NutSauce and so on, so we used Chapstick when we'd change strings to lube the brass nut and sometimes on the bridge pieces if sticking.

**fumblefingers** · 07-26-2013, 08:03 AM

brass nuts and nut sauce, huh?

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-26-2013, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by fumblefingers

brass nuts and nut sauce, huh?

There's an elevator conversation-stopper:

"How's it going?"
"Trouble with my nuts, keep sticking"
"Have you tried Big Bends Nut Sauce?"
"Good lube?"
"Oh yeah"

**jazzbow** · 07-26-2013, 05:17 PM

check this out...

An ok clip, go to 5.28

Tusq works just like bone.

**FrankyNoTone** · 07-28-2013, 08:46 AM

Having the scientific/engineering mindset that I have, I shake my head at guitar design... the nut is supposed to be the zero fret so why wouldn't it be a fret? After it, there can be string guides/grooves for spacing and a capo-like lock.

As it stands, fretting a string is quite different than how the string is held by the nut: the nut anchors it very precisely both horizontally and vertically but a fretted string moves slightly horizontally across the fret. And bone vs metal tonewise should be quite different.

Given this, it makes me wonder just how much it matters beyond things like durability. IF I had a choice, I'd go for a steel locking nut, which are options on some guitars.

**kris** · 07-28-2013, 09:43 AM

I used ebony nut on my Henneken nylon strings guitar.
sound was great!
I think Moffa guitars have ebony nuts.

**DRS** · 07-28-2013, 11:29 AM

I like Delrin. Used to be marketed as "Slipstone"

**Spook410** · 07-28-2013, 04:23 PM

Don't see how the material a nut is made from could make any more difference to the tone of the guitar than fretwire.

**oldane** · 07-29-2013, 08:56 AM

IMHO, the difference in sound between different materials is very marginal - and only present with open strings. Durability is another matter and for that reason I much prefer hard materials like bone or Tusq. Our, for the time being dormant, forum member PTChris tried a horn nut on the guitar he built about a year ago but found it too soft and flaky and replaced it with a Tusq nut.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-29-2013, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by jazzbow

check this out...

An ok clip, go to 5.28

Tusq works just like bone.

To really test that, shouldn't you be dropping the whole guitar on a concrete floor?

**Elias Graves** · 07-29-2013, 05:10 PM

I'm using Tusq on everything now. Have never had a string bind up since the switch.

**DC Ron** · 07-29-2013, 07:11 PM

I mostly use unbleached bone because I like the organic look. Bleached bone sometimes looks better with white-white binding, so I'll use that from time to time. But Tusq is just as good functionally, and a lot more convenient if you get it pre-shaped/slotted. The brass nuts I've used on 80's guitars worked great, although I don't think I'd ever try one on an archtop.

**DRS** · 07-31-2013, 03:29 PM

I just ordered 5 - 11.5" long blanks of 1/8" thick white delrin from Folkcraft. That is enough for 30 1.75" nuts. I ordered as much as I did because the shipping was double what a blank was. So I'll never use 30 Fender nut blanks - I'll probably do another 2 or 3 Fender builds in the next decade. All told, $22 shipped to Canada. for 30 nuts.

**Badge** · 08-01-2013, 01:55 PM

Unless you are playing open strings, does it make any difference to the sound?

**Greentone** · 09-14-2015, 10:06 AM

I, too, find that Tusq works like bone. All my really old guitars have bone nuts. I like them best. I haven't bothered to swap out the nuts on my newer guitars. My Heritage has a Tusq nut, IIRC. Some of the guitars I own, or have owned, from the 70s and 80s appear to have had plastic nuts (or brass--the BIG 70s deal--though my 70s 335 has a bone-looking nut...whatever Gibson was using then).

I did have the half-plastic/brass on the GB-10. Worked fine.

It's all good, though I never did quite understand the mania for brass in the 1970s. People were putting aftermarket brass bridge saddles, nuts, brass weights behind the headstocks (Fat Head), etc. Also, everyone thought that the guitars had to be massive in order to sound right. Les Pauls weight 12-13 pounds. Telecasters were 10 pounds, I kid thee not. Some of them DID sound great, but some sounded no better than my light as a feather 6-pound-something late-60s Telecaster did.

**SamBooka** · 09-14-2015, 03:08 PM

Recent Rig Rundowns with Guthrie Govan have him prefering bone as well with a little Nut Sauce.. he does a lot of whammy and nuts like graphite tend to wear out too quickly...especially with a wound D.

**Bach5G** · 09-14-2015, 09:15 PM

Just had bone installed.

**Jim Soloway** · 09-24-2015, 02:27 PM

Originally Posted by Badge

Unless you are playing open strings, does it make any difference to the sound?

It's much more about the ease with which the string moves in the slot and how easily the material can be cut accurately. If the surface of the slot produces a lot of friction, then the string binds in the slot and has a negative impact on tuning stability.

TH · 09-25-2015, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by JPMike

People recommend different type of nuts for each on their own. So what would you recommend ...?

I like Smoked Almonds. I get mine from Trader Joe's and they have a nice mix of that smokey without being too salty, and they roast the almonds in a way that's always really crunchy.
I can't agree with those that say it doesn't make any difference. Boiled peanut, chocolate covered macadamia- worlds apart. I think. At least I read it on the internet.

David