Mutley Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 As title guys, just modding my Jazz and as the nut is white, if that really matters, just exploring the merits of either, went for plastic/synthetic on my P. Any advantages to Bone over the other. Cheers Quote
hooky_lowdown Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 There is also brass, which will add better sustain. Bone is more solid than plastic, so will last better. If you change strings regularly this is beneficial. If you don't than plastic works just fine. 2 Quote
Mutley Posted February 23, 2021 Author Posted February 23, 2021 Sorry, I use tusq too, just interested in the value in each over the other, fancy trying a bone but won't if its not as good. Quote
Bigguy2017 Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 Bone is very good, camel bone is super hard. Synthetic bone / Micarta is very good. Plastic can be truly awful, through adequate to excellent (melamine and Tusq). Synthetic bone is the safe option... 1 Quote
PlungerModerno Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 11 hours ago, Mutley said: As title guys, just modding my Jazz and as the nut is white, if that really matters, just exploring the merits of either, went for plastic/synthetic on my P. Any advantages to Bone over the other. Cheers Bone is biodegradable, if that is important to ya! I think the cut of the nut matters more than the material, as long as it's not an extremely soft plastic (or wood) that wears out very quickly, and the open notes don't sound too weird vs. the fretted (or fingerboarded) notes it's fine. If it sounds good, and strings aren't popping out or binding leading to tuning issues, it's good! If you have the choice a sufficiently dense material that is self lubricating is probably best. I know Tusq work grand, but there are a bunch of options that will work. Just beware of the hazards - some woods and plastics will act funny if filed or sanded and may easily melt or burn with powertools. The dust may also be dodgy to be around. 1 Quote
rmorris Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 Question - I see "Stainless Steel" (grade is not usually stated ?) often as an option for fret metal. But I can't recall seeing a Stainless Steel Nut offered / suggested ? 1 Quote
hooky_lowdown Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 14 minutes ago, rmorris said: Question - I see "Stainless Steel" (grade is not usually stated ?) often as an option for fret metal. But I can't recall seeing a Stainless Steel Nut offered / suggested ? Good luck trying to file down stainless steel. 🤣 1 1 Quote
PlungerModerno Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 1 minute ago, hooky_lowdown said: Good luck trying to file down stainless steel. 🤣 Ceramic abrasives work on an SS penknife... but it's fairly slow. Diamonds would be the way, given how cheap little sharpeners can be. I think some tile cutting blades for hacksaws etc. might even be an appropriate size and allow fairly good progress. Just expect to sweat with SS. It's generally super hard. Go with brass or fret alloy or something else a lot more workable if you can! 1 Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted February 24, 2021 Posted February 24, 2021 just to throw another option into the mix - my danelectro longhorn has an aluminium nut and instead of being glued it is held in with a screw. 2 Quote
itu Posted February 25, 2021 Posted February 25, 2021 On 24/02/2021 at 00:56, rmorris said: Question - I can't recall seeing a Stainless Steel Nut offered / suggested ? SS is a bit like dough to work. Some steels are OK but may rust because of the sweat. Brass is nice, aluminium pretty easy, too. Quote
yorks5stringer Posted February 28, 2021 Posted February 28, 2021 I've made nuts before with one of those bones you can buy for the dog for £1. Took about an hour and very satisfying. (assumes you have files and stuff) 1 Quote
Mutley Posted March 1, 2021 Author Posted March 1, 2021 20 hours ago, yorks5stringer said: I've made nuts before with one of those bones you can buy for the dog for £1. Took about an hour and very satisfying. (assumes you have files and stuff) Was always fabricating stuff for my Motorbikes over the years of riding them, happy to lighten that a bit nowadays, went with a bone nut, in the perfect world I would go with Carbon Fibre one but that wouldn't last five minutes, perfect for a scratchplate though, albeit an expensive one. Cheers for all the input. 1 Quote
Guest Posted July 12, 2021 Posted July 12, 2021 On 23/02/2021 at 10:09, jrixn1 said: "Plastic/synthetic" is a bit broad as there is crappy plastic vs TUSQ. I've occasionally had crappy plastic nuts break, but never had a problem with TUSQ. I've just taken a bass to the tech. We agreed that the nut could do with being replaced. He offered a choice of bone or Tusq. He pointed out that the Tusq will give a brighter tone than the bone. For this bass, that sounded like a good thing. Quote
John Cribbin Posted July 12, 2021 Posted July 12, 2021 I do have a preference for nut material but ...... Whatever you use, it only comes into play when playing open strings, once you fret a note the nut material isn't part of the equation. 2 Quote
TheGreek Posted July 12, 2021 Posted July 12, 2021 Not part of the discussion I know...I prefer brass. Quote
PlungerModerno Posted July 13, 2021 Posted July 13, 2021 3 hours ago, John Cribbin said: I do have a preference for nut material but ...... Whatever you use, it only comes into play when playing open strings, once you fret a note the nut material isn't part of the equation. I think, like everything on the neck, it can help or worsen dead spots, but since the nut is generally fairly light, even if brass, it will be a very subtle effect. I think the cut of the nut matters a lot more than material. Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted July 13, 2021 Posted July 13, 2021 When I built my Fretless bitza I didn't like the cheapo moulded plastic nut that came free with the neck and I was too stingy to buy a tusq blank. I had recently bought a box of 'imitation ivory' chopsticks from Wing Yip and had a go a cutting one down and fashioning a nut from it. surprisingly it came out very well and is still on the bass over 15 years later. 2 Quote
bertbass Posted July 13, 2021 Posted July 13, 2021 Does the nut material actually make any difference on anything but open strings? Quote
MacDaddy Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 On 23/02/2021 at 08:22, Mutley said: As title guys, just modding my Jazz and as the nut is white, if that really matters, just exploring the merits of either, went for plastic/synthetic on my P. Any advantages to Bone over the other. Cheers depends if you want your bass to be vegan 1 Quote
LeftyJ Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 On 01/03/2021 at 17:42, Mutley said: in the perfect world I would go with Carbon Fibre one but that wouldn't last five minutes I had a laminated woven carbon fibre nut on a custom ESP guitar, and it was great and looked neat. Pretty much like this: https://www.browndogbanjos.co.uk/carbon-fibre-nut-blanks-guitar-5016-p.asp 1 Quote
PlungerModerno Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 9 hours ago, LeftyJ said: I had a laminated woven carbon fibre nut on a custom ESP guitar, and it was great and looked neat. Pretty much like this: https://www.browndogbanjos.co.uk/carbon-fibre-nut-blanks-guitar-5016-p.asp Aren't the Status basses carbon fibre too? http://www.status-graphite.com/status/frames/index_home.html Looks like they use Machined brass... with the zero fret on a lot of their basses I think they have very little to gain by offering different nut materials to be fair. Quote
rmorris Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 On 25/02/2021 at 14:29, itu said: SS is a bit like dough to work. Some steels are OK but may rust because of the sweat. Brass is nice, aluminium pretty easy, too. Yes SS not easy to cut although that varies with grade/quality. I have worked SS with hand tools and Dremel type multitools. Though not for guitar stuff. SS frets get worked. I guess thinking pre cut SS nuts for end users. Hassle of fine adjustments might be outweighed by benefits of longevity. 1 Quote
BigRedX Posted July 20, 2021 Posted July 20, 2021 On 13/07/2021 at 12:14, bertbass said: Does the nut material actually make any difference on anything but open strings? If the material is difficult to cut or sticky like some or the lower-cost plastics it will affect the ease and possibly the stability of tuning. Quote
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