need some input! what is the "best" material for the nut??

lifer · Post by **lifer** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:23 pm

i have a stock gibson LP....

is a different material better than the usual nylon one?

my interest is keeping it in tune better- thanks

SandovalPDV · Post by **SandovalPDV** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:25 pm

I never found anything wrong with the way the factory nylon nuts sounds on an LP. I did have a bit of a tuning issue with mine also. What I did was make the grooves just a bit wider, put graphite in the grooves and tightened up the Grover tuners on my 85 Custom. I don't have any problems with the stability of the tune anymore. I did the same thing on my R7 except tighten up the tuners. They don't have screws on the ends of the tuners to tighten up. This made a big difference but not a good as my custom. I have looked into Tone Pros Kluson Tuners they are supposed to be more stable/tighter than the ones Gibson is using now.

lifer · Post by **lifer** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:50 pm

yeah....that's what i kinda had in mind doing...before anything more 'drastic'.

guess i'll lightly file them a bit------ thanks dude

jbzoso2002 · Post by **jbzoso2002** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:24 pm

Bone!

Jimmy

Mars Hall · Post by **Mars Hall** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:42 pm

jbzoso2002 wrote:Bone!

Jimmy

A-huh huh huh, he said bone. A-huh huh huh.

jbzoso2002 · Post by **jbzoso2002** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:27 pm

Mars Hall wrote:
jbzoso2002 wrote:Bone!

Jimmy
A-huh huh huh, he said bone. A-huh huh huh.

Dam were smooth!

Yes a BONE NUT provides very good tone.

Jimmy

thousandshirts · Post by **thousandshirts** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:09 pm

jbzoso2002 wrote: Yes a BONE NUT provides very good tone.

There's a guy upcountry who does Moose bone. It's better than cow bone for nuts.

Yeap. Moose nuts.

Gaetano · Post by **Gaetano** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:54 am

I haven't tried one but ppl say that graphtech Tusq nut are really good. Just do some googleing.

Omn · Post by **Omn** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:45 am

On Les Pauls; bone nuts. Have not tried different types. Just some blank vintage ones from Stewart-MacDonald. Sweet feeling to it. For the money; nice upgrade. But it takes some work and accuracy to make them to specs.

And I like the Earvana on one of my Squier ProTones. But I can not put my finger on whether it is caused by what it does for intonation or material. Just like it.

shakti · Post by **shakti** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:02 am

FWIW, original 50s Les Pauls had nylon nuts (more precisely, nylon 4/6, although Gibson currently claimsd they were nylon 6/6). I had a very nice bone nut on my R8, but swapped to a NOS nylon 4/6 one, and thought it added a slight crispness which the guitar really benefitted from.

lifer · Post by **lifer** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:19 pm

thanks for the opinions guys...i do appreciate it!

novosibir · Post by **novosibir** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:26 pm

shakti wrote:I had a very nice bone nut on my R8, but swapped to a NOS nylon 4/6 one, and thought it added a slight crispness which the guitar really benefitted from.

Interesting!

Udo Pipper claims the opposite and said, that a bone nut on a Historic Les Paul makes the tone too slender and crisp. But maybe it also depends on the bone, because with bones it's the same as with wood - no two pieces are identical.

Haven't tried it myself yet, but I'm in the situation to find a decision, cos I've fucked up the nut of my Historic - have filed two slots too deep.

Larry

jcmjmp · Post by **jcmjmp** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:37 pm

unbleached bone is the best for a LP IMO. Bleached bone doesn't ring the same way.

Omn · Post by **Omn** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:44 am

Udo Pipper claims the opposite and said, that a bone nut on a Historic Les Paul makes the tone too slender and crisp.

Both him and Shakti may be correct. If the R8 of Shakti had a bone nut with low density, replacing it may very well bring more crispyness to tone. If Ripper had experienced bone nuts with high density it may produce too much crisp.
As jcmjmp mentions, this was what I was told too; unbleached are preferable to bleached ones on a LP. The unbleached vintage ones I got were nice. Bone nuts are all over the place as far as density goes. Nylon and other types are much more uniform...
It will be a quest for the ones that suits you. Like resistors...

Dan Erlewine is describing in one of his book how to "reshape" slots cut too deep in bone nuts. It may also work with nylon but I can not confirm this. He shaves the top of the nut by filing to produce some dust. This dust he gently put in the low slots. Packing it with a X-acto knife. Adding watered-thinned superglue, applied with plastic toothpick. After hours of drying the dust becomes part of the bone and are ready for a re-file.

philmanatee · Post by **philmanatee** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:17 pm

jcmjmp wrote:unbleached bone is the best for a LP IMO. Bleached bone doesn't ring the same way.

+1 on the unbleached bone, that's what I get on my guitars. Phil

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need some input! what is the "best" material for the nut??

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