does the nut material matter for an electric guitar?

[BoneDigger]

I think I would not worry too much over it unless the Squire is using cheap plastic. As long as it's somewhat hard material, it probably won't make a ton of difference.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by captain_jack

Thanks all for the great input! The reason I asked is that I'm thinking about finding a used Squire Tele as a bit of a project and upgrading all of the electronics. No trem so I'm not too worried about strings being pulled out of tune that way.

More than material, I'd pay attention to the nut slots being right for easiest chording nearer the nut and clearest vibration, and perhaps rounding off the square shoulder-edges on some nuts that can be annoying down in the cowboy chord area. Stiction in the nut slots can sometimes be annoying without a trem bridge too, when doing string bends or even just tuning up.

If it's just a matter of "I put the best, most traditional material into my modifications" there's nothing wrong with bone if you want it, and of course it's not usually an expensive mod--just don't expect it necessarily transform the sound.

[gmel555]

Originally Posted by dnf777

As long as its a reasonably hard materiel, I think proper fit and adjustment is far more important than bone v tusq v plastic... JMO

I'm thinking the same. Once you're into bone/micarta/tusq, etc. I think proper cut is much more important. You can add graphite, etc. to get any of these to "slide" thru properly.

[Ray175]

When playing fretted notes the nut material is in indirect contact with the vibrating string but nonetheless makes a small contribution to overall sound and dynamics. With open strings the difference is more significant. If I play celtic reels or jigs on my 1978 Ibanez MC400 NT Musician with a DADGAD tuning , there is a lot of sustain because of the nut which is half brass and half bone. Up the neck the difference is less perceptible.