smaz Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Ok, I'm a little confused - there's plastic, resin, graphite, bone, brass, plastic... The options seem endless. I need to replace the nut on a fretless jazz neck (38mm). I've found a bone replacement, and a compound one - resin + graphite. Is there much difference between the types? Is it worth worrying about? Anything to avoid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morgano Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) In my opinion I would go for bone. It will be easier to fit (bone is a pleasure to work with), and will sound great. I think graphite treated nuts are good for guitars with trems where the strings need to slide in the nut, but can't really see the point of them on a bass. Make sure you clean out the slot when you remove the old one so that the new one sits flush. A couple of drops of Titebond Original glue will hold it in place. You'll most likely need to lower the string slots in the new nut. A set of nut slotting files will help. I got mine from Stewmac in the States. Edited January 5, 2015 by morgano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 The resin/graphite looks good, hopefully designed to stop strings snagging so I`d probably start there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 [quote name='smaz' timestamp='1420465358' post='2649580'] Ok, I'm a little confused - there's plastic, resin, graphite, bone, brass, plastic... The options seem endless. I need to replace the nut on a fretless jazz neck (38mm). I've found a bone replacement, and a compound one - resin + graphite. Is there much difference between the types? Is it worth worrying about? Anything to avoid? [/quote] Avoid super absorbent materials like foam rubber or soft cheese - that'll dampen the open notes too much... But on the serious side - I don't think it's that big a deal, like fret material it will affect the sound slightly (but obviously only the open notes in the case of the nut). In truth any fairly rigid and hard wearing material should work - when companies like Yamaha use the same material as their fret wire in a nut* ( it makes me wonder - why not use a zero fret? when you play an open note it will always sound different to a fretted note - no nut material will perfectly replicate the finger, fret and string combination of a fretted note. I've recently ordered a tusq nut (synthetic ivory) and am keen to see how it performs. I've used the fender "synthetic bone" nuts which are grand, and I've also used the cheap plastic ones with no issues - other than they wear out faster - especially on a guitar with a trem. *BB2024X has a nickle-silver nut - the others have plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieBass Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I've read more than a few times that bone is supposed to be the best material to use... but I don't have any basses with a bone nut so it's hard for me to say what, if any, difference they make to the tone of open strings and tuning stability. TUSQ is supposed to be a good bone substitute for those who don't want an animal product. Of the nuts fitted to my basses I prefer the graphite one on my Westone which never seems to go out of tune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 FWIW I recently changed the nut on 2 Warwicks from the plastic nut to the Just-a-nut 3 brass nut. It has really improved the sound of open notes. So, yes the material does make a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyvee Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I don't play fretless but I've read that ebony is a good choice of material for nuts on fretless basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 [quote name='jazzyvee' timestamp='1420471158' post='2649674'] I don't play fretless but I've read that ebony is a good choice of material for nuts on fretless basses. [/quote] It is, but it would work on any bass. It's a very hard wood, which is good all round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smaz Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Cheers for all the info guys I've ended up going for a bone nut as I found one at the right size. I'll be getting my luthier to fit it, I don't trust myself with sandpaper / glue / anything other than playing bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Good choice - bone may not be ideal for all applications or players e.g. a vegan or someone who uses a bass tremolo constantly - But it's gonna work great in almost every situation it's put in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 I've got metric AND imperial. But to be fair, I've got both kinds of bolt as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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