guitarchump Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Ok so i was thinking about making my own nut for the guitar I'm building. Has anyone made a nut out of steel aluminium or copper. Is the copper or aluminium to soft? Is the steel to hard to work with without a grinder? I cant find any brass so I'm out of luck on that one. If you have used one of those materials what did you think of it? Did it effect the sound very much? Hopefully that's not to many questions in one topic haha. Thanks for listening Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeiscosRock Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I don't see why you couldn't use some type of metal for a nut. I was drawn in by the topic title, sorry :| Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox2551 Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Jerry Garcia's Doug Irwin "Tiger" used a brass nut. All Floyd nuts are made from metal so I don't see why not. I might have it done by someone else because thats somewhat intricate metal work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Without any type of machining equipment, I think you are pretty much outa luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 If you've got some leftover ebony you can use that too. It's an age old nut material. Aluminum and brass are both used for nuts too. -Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Danelectro used aluminum. You could probably use fretwire too, since that's what a zero fret is made out of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Brown Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 yngwie malmsteen uses brass nuts but i think they have a bad rep in a guitar mag of mine they were talking about new guitar gadgets, they recalled how brass nuts used to sell in bucket loads because they increased sustain, however it was very much the opposite. having said that all metals have different sonorus properties, it would be intersting to see how this works out good luck with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I thought the big hype about brass nuts was consistancy of tone, i.e. brass nut + brass frets, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Brass frets? That's a new one to me, though I'm sure it's been done somewhere at some time... The main hype behind brass in the 80's (and persisting even now) is that it supposedly added more mass = more sustain. Obviously mass and sustain have a relationship (more to do with the stability of string contact, which is a side-effect of parts with more mass in many circumstances), but not strictly in the way it was marketed. The way it was presented has more in common with what we call "tone voodoo" than physics. If anyone knows how to make a nut like the one in this thread: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/009254.html I'll be well pleased if you could share the secret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Sorry, I've gone all night without sleep. The brass fret thing was a mistake (unless you are talking about Warwick basses), but the concept is still the same, having all of the contact points with the strings being metal rather than metal frets and plastic nut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Plastic bridge or plastic nut? Surely the latter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Plastic bridge or plastic nut? Surely the latter! Touche, my friend. Still no sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 If anyone knows how to make a nut like the one in this thread: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/009254.html I'll be well pleased if you could share the secret. wink.gif Looks like a roller nut to me... You can buy them, wilkinson make them, if thats what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarchump Posted June 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Hey thanks for the reply's. I think i may try aluminium, steel may be just to hard to work with. Maybe even copper??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Copper would corrode too easily, especially with all the sweat and grease from your hands after a long night of playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarchump Posted June 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 I can electro-plate it with chrome haha... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 That works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 If anyone knows how to make a nut like the one in this thread: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/009254.html I'll be well pleased if you could share the secret. wink.gif Looks like a roller nut to me... You can buy them, wilkinson make them, if thats what it is. Roller nut or otherwise, it's non-radiused and has 8 string slots. I don't think Wilkinson makes or stocks such a thing. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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