Is a wood nut with Bone inderts a crazy idea?

[Quickstep192]

I've got a guitar in the works that will have a Zircote headstock overlay and Zircote fingerboard. I'm sort o thinking it might be nice to not have that theme interrupted by a white nut.

Best I can tell, you can't really make bone black, so I was thinking about a piece of Zircote or Ebony with bone inserts to bear the strings.

Would this have detrimental impact to sound? It's done fairly routinely on banjo bridges (actually bone set into ebony set into maple) like the one seen here:

https://cdn3.volusion.com/4n9y2.qupg...jpg?1389286249

[charles Tauber]

Would that be less visually disruptive?

The only way you'll know for sure what, if any, effect it has on sound is to try it and compare it to one made of bone.

[LouieAtienza]

I can't remember if it was the late John Gilbert that used pins (I think they were a tually threaded to allow height adjustment) at the nut area for each string. But it would allow an unobstructed look from fretboard to headstock...

[Tony Done]

You could use a Graph Tech black nut, and maybe have some functional and or tonal advantages over bone, wood or plastic. This isn't a recommendation though, because I was disappointed in the tone of a couple of the GTB saddles I tried - they shifted the tone from the bright overtones to the high mids.

[cobalt60]

Pretty sure David here can link you up with a solid option:
http://www.guitarpartsandmore.com/pr...-Nut-Blanks-17

[emmsone]

I'd recommend considering Buffalo Horn, its naturally black.
I have a black buffalo horn nut sitting here that I almost put on the last build due the Barbera pickup/saddle being black I wasn't sure if I wanted a matching black nut or not, i'd say the one I have feels slightly bit lighter than bone, but sounds bright and dense and 'dings' similarly to the bone when you tap it on a table.

Also, i'm not sure exactly how he does it, but i've seen Jason Kostal use a white/black/white laminated nut. Not sure what the black material is that he is using, but that type of idea might break up your solid block of white a bit

David

[mb propsom]

I don't know how far along you are with your project, but if you haven't made the neck and fingerboard yet, there's the option of a zero nut. That way you could make you nut out of anything--including ziricote.

[printer2]

I like that buffalo horn. I have the feeling one will make it to my place some time soon.

[Frank Ford]

Black Micarta makes a dandy nut and looks just like ebony. . .

[Alan Carruth]

Lignum Vitae can look pretty much like Ziricote, and is hard enough to use as a nut. It also has a natural lubricant that makes the strings slide nicely. The main issue with it is that it's about impossible to glue. The best way I've found to use it is to make the nut just a little wider on one end (usually the bass), so that it can slide into a tapered slot and wedges home. We're talking on the order of .010" difference here between the treble and bass side: not enough so that most folks notice, but enough to hold it in. I've made nuts that way for a long time.