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Old 04-27-2021, 07:25 AM
captain_jack captain_jack is offline
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Default does the nut material matter for an electric guitar?

apologies if this is a silly question (and also if it's been discussed, a quick search didn't find any similar threads).

Does a bone nut really make a difference in an electric guitar? I thought pretty much all of the tone comes from the pickups and your amp. Does it help improve sustain or anything else?
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Old 04-27-2021, 07:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_jack View Post
apologies if this is a silly question (and also if it's been discussed, a quick search didn't find any similar threads).

Does a bone nut really make a difference in an electric guitar? I thought pretty much all of the tone comes from the pickups and your amp. Does it help improve sustain or anything else?
According to Fender it does

https://www.fender.com/articles/tech...l-to-your-toneExcerpt :::
"Not only are the grooves important, the nut’s material can also affect your tone."
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Old 04-27-2021, 07:41 AM
perttime perttime is offline
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Even on a solid body guitar, the construction has an effect on what the pickups have to work with.

The nut has at least some effect on what open strings do. So, there must be some effect on how open strings respond and sound. Of course, you CAN drown everything with effects, if you really want to.
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Old 04-27-2021, 10:28 AM
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A well cut nut of the right material can greatly help your tuning stability, especially with guitars like Strats with onboard tremolo setups.
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Old 04-27-2021, 10:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_jack View Post
apologies if this is a silly question (and also if it's been discussed, a quick search didn't find any similar threads).

Does a bone nut really make a difference in an electric guitar? I thought pretty much all of the tone comes from the pickups and your amp. Does it help improve sustain or anything else?
A lot of the tone comes from the pickup and amp, but the string has to vibrate first and nut material makes a difference in how the string vibrates and sustains. The tonal subtleties of electrics are just as important as with acoustics and the nut plays a part there too... And bridge saddles - the difference between brass and steel barrel saddles on a tele make a definite difference...

-Ray
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Old 04-27-2021, 11:29 AM
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I think it's more important for well regulated nut slots that don't bind or hang the strings up when bending notes. Especially with trem systems and bigsby's.

I don't really know if it changes the tone all that much.
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Old 04-27-2021, 07:46 PM
DukeX DukeX is offline
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Regarding tone. Everything makes a difference.

The question is can you hear it it in a blind test? I doubt it.

But it's cheap and easy to swap them out, so no risk.
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Old 04-27-2021, 08:08 PM
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It does make a difference. However, don't assume it's always an improvement.
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Old 04-28-2021, 09:14 AM
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As mentioned above, the setup aspects of a nut may be even more important on an electric where players do more string bending and may use a whammy bar.

As to effect on the sound: minimal. I think a lot of the marketing around electrics having a bone nut is "specification marketing" -- bone is a traditional material used on vintage electrics, so it tells folk who know that this is a guitar model taking care to have the "right stuff."

On electric I play many fewer open strings than I do on acoustic, and so whatever minimal effect a bone nut would have is lost on me. Bridge type and saddle material is more important if you want to think about something the strings rest on that you may be able to hear, or that as a mod might perk up a guitar's sound.
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Old 04-28-2021, 12:29 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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I have gone back and forth with Tusc and bone saddles on my acoustics for years as certain UST pickups work better with Tusc, and when I play acoustically there is a slight difference but one doesn't really sound better or sustain more than the other. And I found the Tusc easier to work with in shaping and cutting slots.

Many people say the late 50's Gibsons sunbursts are the ultimate sounding electric guitar and they came with nylon nuts.

And just recently I bought a cheap Fender Squier Jaguar with the intent of modding it. One of the first things I did was swap the neck, and the neck I bought needed the bone nut finished although it has starter cuts for the nut slots. Unfortunately the starter cuts weren't spaced right, so I got the spacing wrong. I installed a new Tusc XL nut that I had to cut and finish. I don't know if sounded it differently but the Tusc sure worked differently as I felt the string would glide through the Tusc material easier. I really like the new nut, so much that I even installed a Tusc string retainer on the Jag...

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Old 04-28-2021, 01:18 PM
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Perhaps but just like on an acoustic guitar only on the open strings.
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Old 04-28-2021, 01:53 PM
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I'd say yes, it does, particularly if you use a lot of open-string voicings, slide, etc. It's also important if one uses the vibrato; I use Tusq Trem-nut material on my Strats for this reason...anything to make the strings less likely to bind and go out of tune. I also use locking tuners on my guitars with trem on them. I never have any issues with the guitar going out of tune with trem use, even with deep dives/aggressive use.
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Old 04-28-2021, 02:25 PM
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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
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Old 04-29-2021, 01:13 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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I've always thought that for rock/hard rock/metal the nut material would have much less impact on tone than it would for an acoustic. That's always been my impression although now that I think of it I have no idea where that thought came from or if it is even true.
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Old 05-01-2021, 02:03 PM
captain_jack captain_jack is offline
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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.
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