Tusq vs Bone Nut for Archtops

[gfinberg]

Does anyone have any experience with Tusq nuts on their archtops? About to replace a damaged nut on my guitar and have always used bone before, but was interested in the community's thoughts around pros and cons of Tusq vs bone.

Thanks
Gary

[Mecena]

I did have Graphtech in my HSH Strat in past.
Really really fine nut.
Can't complain about it.
I see most of people don't like this syntetic matherials.
But Graphtech was damn fine on my past HSH Strat.
Ofc most of people will say bone is better.
But Graphtech was solid on my HSH Strat.
Okey nut.

[Mecena]

I did saw a lot of people complain about strings cutting nut on syntetic nuts, after some time
My guitar was like super old. Didn't saw anything like it on my Graphtech.
But I did saw it on other types of syntetic nuts.
But mine Graphtech did okey job.
Ofc there are better solutions.
But it was okey nut.
Not best, not worst.
It did get the job done.

[M-ster]

I have a Tusq nut on an acoustic guitar. Works fine. No complaints.

[John A.]

I have a tusq nut on my Godin. It does what a nut is supposed to do. The guitar plays well and sounds good, but I haven't compared it to another nut.

My only data point on nut materials is the original plastic (worn slots) vs a replacement bone nut in my strat. I don't think the material made a difference in sound, but the bone has lasted much longer.

John

[Woody Sound]

I never understood the obsession about nut material.

[Mecena]

If you are happy with bone, continue using it.

I was "lucky" that all my guitars were from syntetic nuts so I never used bone on my own guitar ....

I was happy with syntetic, I don't feel need to change.

If you are happy with bone, continue using it.

[sgosnell]

Bone can be repaired easily enough using either cyanoacrylate or UV-cured resin. I don't know how well that would work with Tusq, because I've never tried it. Other than that, I don't believe there is much, if any, difference in practice.

[deacon Mark]

Really not a huge deal at all once you fret the string it is all over. I don't see alot of difference between the synthetics and bone and frankly I use ebony sometimes. Ebony makes a nice nut files beautifully and easy to work with, plus I have a huge box of scrape ebony the I can makes maybe 100's of them for nothing. I do avoid it on the traditional carve tops because it just "look's odd" to the untrained.

[lammie200]

Really not a huge deal at all once you fret the string it is all over...

Yeah, but it is the unfretted string that has the vibration characteristics and intonation that will still affect the string when it is fretted.

[Stefan Eff]

Tusq nuts are great, affordable and easy to work with. They sound similar to bone so my personal choice is Tusq.

[Little Jay]

My ES-125 sounds great with a bone nut. My ES-333 sounds great with a tusk nut. My Ibanez AF-55, Epiphone Sheraton II, Furch G-100 and Framus Caravelle sound great with plastic/nylon nuts..... hmm.....

So..... I tend to think that a well cut nut is much more important than the nut material.

[cosmic gumbo]

Nothing beats a bone nut cut from the skulls of your dead enemies, just like the Vikings used to do.

[Woody Sound]

Yeah, but it is the unfretted string that has the vibration characteristics and intonation that will still affect the string when it is fretted.

You gotta be kidding...

[BBGuitar]

In a blind A B test I don't think anyone could hear the difference.

I use Corian, I got a small chunk leftover from my brothers countertop job.

Easy to work and cost me nothing.

[Tal_175]

Yeah, but it is the unfretted string that has the vibration characteristics and intonation that will still affect the string when it is fretted.

Here is a simple test to see if non-vibrating part of the fretted string has an effect on the vibrating part. Put a capo on the 5th fret. Pluck a string. Now touch the part of that string behind the capo. Does it change the way it sounds? If even touching doesn't affect the sound, whether the nut is tusq or bone would be completely irrelevant.

[lammie200]

You gotta be kidding...

Let me put it this way. Your unfretted string is out of tune. You fret the string and whatever note you play is out of tune. Hence, the way you tuned the unfretted string has an affect on the fretted string. If your nut is causing you problems with the unfretted string the effects are going to cause problems with the fretted string because the string's tuning characteristics come from the unfretted string. Nothing snobbish about it. Your argument is the same one that people give for the invalidation of compensated nuts. It is that once you fret a string the compensated nut is out of the equation, so why would it matter to use one? The answer is in the above. If a string is tuned differently unfretted because of a compensated nut then it is tuned differently along its entire length.

[lammie200]

Here is a simple test to see if non-vibrating part of the fretted string has an effect on the vibrating part. Put a capo on the 5th fret. Pluck a string. Now touch the part of that string behind the capo. Does it change the way it sounds? If even touching doesn't affect the sound, whether the nut is tusq or bone would be completely irrelevant.

I don't think that is a test that addresses the issue. See my previous response. Unfortunately this topic hijacks the thread.

[Tal_175]

I don't think that is a test that addresses the issue. See my previous response.

Whether strings are in tune or intonated or not has nothing to do with the nut material. It's a set up issue.
I think the context of the thread is not whether a guitar with tusq or bone nut can be in tune, but how they affect the sound (vibration characteristics as you put it). So the test I suggested addresses that issue.

[lammie200]

Whether strings are in tune or intonated or not has nothing to do with the nut material. It's a set up issue.
I think the context of the thread is not whether a guitar with tusq or bone nut can be in tune, but how they affect the sound (vibration characteristics as you put it). So the test I suggested addresses that issue.

I hear you. We are into two separate topics. I just wanted to address the issue that seemed to discount nut material entirely.

Yours may address the nut material. Granted some nuts may be easier to set up based on the material. I have tusq and bone. They both work, but I think that tusq is more homogeneous, by the fact that when you drop it it makes a very consistent sound. I don't think that you will get the same results by dropping bone nuts.

[Woody Sound]

Let me put it this way. Your unfretted string is out of tune. You fret the string and whatever note you play is out of tune. Hence, the way you tuned the unfretted string has an affect on the fretted string. If your nut is causing you problems with the unfretted string the effects are going to cause problems with the fretted string because the string's tuning characteristics come from the unfretted string. Nothing snobbish about it. Your argument is the same one that people give for the invalidation of compensated nuts. It is that once you fret a string the compensated nut is out of the equation, so why would it matter to use one? The answer is in the above. If a string is tuned differently unfretted because of a compensated nut then it is tuned differently along its entire length.

That has NOTHING to do with the material, which is the topic here.

[lammie200]

That has NOTHING to do with the material, which is the topic here.

If the nut material has something to do with the way the guitar sets up it does. If someone says I can carve up an excellent bone nut, but I won't be able to guarantee what I can do with brass, the material has an effect. I am not going to argue about it. I was just responding to a couple of snarky comments. I already said that tusq is more homogeneous than bone can potentially be. I believe that is a proven fact.

[Doug B]

I never understood the obsession about nut material.

Only reason to get a tusc nut is for a Strat so that you don't go out of tune as much when using the vibrato.

[Woody Sound]

I remember when brass nuts were the rage back around 1980 or so. That fad quickly faded.

[Spook410]

Maybe I should try it. Seems I'm always over filing a slot and the tougher material would slow me down.