Brass Nuts

[Acousticraft]

Anyone used a brass nut on a strat? I thought it would be the ideal setup for a tremolo as they are a slippery material but hope it would be too bright sounding?

The other thing I have been looking at is compensated nuts. Are they as good as they are made out to be or plain unnecessary?

[~davie]

if you want something ideal for a tremolo, try GraphTech's Trem-Nuts, they're suppose to be VERY SLIPPERY. I don't really use tremolos but I do have their string retainers on one of my guitars to lessen my string breakage from tuning.

And as for compensated nuts, i'm not sure what effect would they have, besides having an effect on intonation (good or bad, depending on your overall setup).

edit: just realized, the compensated nut would only have an effect on your string intonation played open, but in most cases, just the regular intonation treatment (via saddles) should be good enough.

Edited November 29, 2007 by ~davie

[mastertone007]

Acousticraft, the brass nut thing adds alittle brightness but it also depends what type of pickups you are using. I have heard good things about brass nut adding sustain and i know a builder in New Plymouth who uses them and says they are good.

Just try one out and see what happens.

Cheers

[WAK Guitars]

I think EVH used a brass nut for a while. My guitar teacher has an Ibanez George Benson model and he has a half brass half ivory nut and he says he likes it, so theres something to consider if you don't like the tone of an all brass nut.

Good Luck.

[Mr Alex]

the compensated nut would only have an effect on your string intonation played open

This is a common misconception. What you are doing is shortening the length to all frets under the string that is compensated. Even if you capo the first fret, its still flattened the compensated amount for each string. The whole point is to better intonate the frets towards the nut. Open, you can tune the string anyway you like. Compensation doesn't effect that.

Edited November 29, 2007 by Mr Alex

[~davie]

the compensated nut would only have an effect on your string intonation played open

This is a common misconception. What you are doing is shortening the length to all frets under the string that is compensated. Even if you capo the first fret, its still flattened the compensated amount for each string. The whole point is to better intonate the frets towards the nut. Open, you can tune the string anyway you like. Compensation doesn't effect that.

are you sure? if you actually capo the 1st fret or any other fret you're actually taking the distance of the fret in reference to the saddles, and basically anything before the capo is negated. It's common sense that the compensated nut only affects the open notes. And as for intonation, the nut is made to compensate the tuning of the opened string relative to all the other frets where necessary to balance the intonations of all your frets as close as possible. IMO, the compensated nut is more trouble than its worth.

[Mr Alex]

are you sure? if you actually capo the 1st fret or any other fret you're actually taking the distance of the fret in reference to the saddles, and basically anything before the capo is negated. It's common sense that the compensated nut only affects the open notes. And as for intonation, the nut is made to compensate the tuning of the opened string relative to all the other frets where necessary to balance the intonations of all your frets as close as possible. IMO, the compensated nut is more trouble than its worth.

The compensated nut does nothing to open notes, they are what you tuned the string to. If you compensate at the bridge, it doesn't effect the open notes either. You are only changing the string length relative to the frets. The nut compensates the fretted strings, relative to the open notes. If you use high nut action, you need to shift the nut closer to the first fret, or it will play sharp, especially at the frets closest to the nut. The point of compensating each string individually at the nut, is to get is as perfect as possible. There is no way it will be totally perfect though, and yes they can be more trouble than they are worth, but for some people they are a necessity.

[black_labb]

the nut material only changes the sound of the open string, and usually open strings arent too bright as they are the lowest notes you can play on the string in question. the use of a graphtech nut might work a bit better, but brass will be fine and wont make anything brighter other than open chords.

[erikbojerik]

Part of what you're trying to correct with compensation is the stretch that you put on the string when you fret it ANYWHERE on the neck. That's why compensated nuts work even when you fret.

[Acousticraft]

I got some brass bar so I will make a nut. If it doesnt suit I can easily change it.

The jury seems to be out on compensated nuts.