Bone nut AND Saddle?

[Andromeda]

I recently purchased a used Nagoya N12-18 12 String Guitar.

I’m sure I’ll want to give it some upgrades so will it need both a bone nut and saddle or just one or the other?

[Russ C]

Most will recommend a bone saddle - easy.
The nut has much less to offer, only affecting the open strings. The extra work and possible risk to your lacquer (?) put doubt on the worth of that part imo.

[Andromeda]

Originally Posted by Russ C

Most will recommend a bone saddle - easy.
The nut has much less to offer, only affecting the open strings. The extra work and possible risk to your lacquer (?) put doubt on the worth of that part imo.

That makes sense. I’ll just replace the saddle if it’s not worth the risk. Thanks!

[oliverkollar]

Originally Posted by Russ C

Most will recommend a bone saddle - easy.
The nut has much less to offer, only affecting the open strings. The extra work and possible risk to your lacquer (?) put doubt on the worth of that part imo.

+1 Start with the saddle.

To the OP....one of the advantages of a bone nut is it tends to be harder than plastic.

[Martin_F]

For any guitar, unless you really need a new nut or you want to change string spacing, leave the nut alone. A lesson for life -- don't play too much with your nuts! You won't notice any real difference in sound. The saddle is much more important.

If you need a new nut anyways, then you might as well do bone or some other hard material. Otherwise, there is no big advantage.

In a blind test, there is no way that someone could tell the difference from any well-made nut in most materials to bone or any other synthetic materials. I'm 100% positive that unless your nut is made of punky wood or cardboard that inhibits vibrations, it won't have any noticeable effects. The most you usually have to worry about in a nut is action height and the grooves being too tight. As long as the nut seems to be working ok for you, then chances are it is ok. Another lesson for life -- keeping your original nuts is good.

A nut is much harder to make and get right for a guitar than a saddle. The chances that you aren't going to be happy with a new nut are much greater than the chances of it improving anything. Given that you are talking about a 12 string, this is even more likely!

Do the saddle and be happy.

My opinion...
Martin

[YamahaGuy]

I've found having good nuts to be the secret to having stable tuning. The lubricity of Corian, Tusq and bone is far better than urea or plastic. Also, over time, Tusq and plastic wear out and the grooves get deeper. My LLX6A has had the same nut on it for 10 years now and the slot on the D string has become too low. I know I could glue it, but I feel confident enough in my ability to put in a new bone one. I've changed over 25 nuts on guitars. While a 12 string nut would be a lot of work, it's not that much worse than a nut on a six string guitar. I've found that getting some saddles right can be as much work -- just different -- than fitting a nut.

[Dru Edwards]

Hi Andromeda, I'd do the saddle for sure. Do you know where you'll get it from? AGF's Bob Colosi makes bone saddles.