Bone Guitar Nuts

[Immortal Extinction]

I've heard of bone nuts for acoustic guitars before, I was curious if anyone on here has experience with bone nuts on electrics. What type of sound improvement do they offer? I"ve got some deer antler lying around and was thinking of making a couple to replace the plastic nuts my guitars currently have.

 

[JBroll]

If you can actually get them *made* they'll be interesting, but that's a big part of the problem. I've never played a deer-antler nut, and I don't even think I've heard of such a thing...

Jeff

 

[Metaltastic]

As far as I know the difference doesn't lie in tone so much as ease of tuning, though graphite (especially with teflon) is even better (and I prefer the dark color to light of bone)

 

[Executioner213]

I think the only real difference you will see is between either bone/plastic/teflon/etc and a brass nut. I could be wrong, though.

 

[Kazrog]

I had a bone nut on my 1978 Dean ML, but I replaced it with graphite because the bone nut was literally rotting, and the high E string was no longer staying seated. No tone difference whatsoever, it really has no effect on that.

I really don't get the point of bone nuts, I think it's basically a snob feature.

 

[egan.]

I had a bone nut on my 1978 Dean ML, but I replaced it with graphite ...No tone difference whatsoever, it really has no effect on that.
I really don't get the point of bone nuts, I think it's basically a snob feature.

Yeah, I have had folks tout the benefits but it seems to me that it's all out the window as soon as you fret a note. I'm cool with graphite although I'm interested to try brass to see if it sounds more like having a zero fret.

 

[MarkG]

I've had a bone nut on a guitar...I really couldn't tell any difference in tone, tuning ease or tuning stability.

I'd say its mostly for looks.

 

[slashvanyoung]

I've got a new TUSQ nut (made by Graph Tech) sitting here, waiting to replace the cheapo plastic nut on my Tele.

Graph Tech advertises these as "man-made ivory" (it's a very hard plastic)... well, gonna give it a shot. I like that it's pre-slotted and white just suits my Tele better than a black graphite nut.

 

[Immortal Extinction]

Hmm, well I dont think I'll go through the trouble of making one then. Thats a good point about oncee you fret the string, any benifit would be lost.

 

[JBroll]

That's not entirely true, since an improperly-cut nut can fuck with every other note ever played ever. However, the tone difference is really important in acoustics and pop (since open voicings are preferred by lazy wankers)... I know several people who use brass nuts because they sound closer to fretted notes, and I'd probably use them myself if I weren't so lazy.

Jeff