Members ARThriller Posted March 6, 2010 Members Share Posted March 6, 2010 Im looking to ugrade the nut on my standard stratocaster and I tryed to do some research but found conflicting reports so whats the consensus on whats the best nut you can buy out there that will work on a standard stratocaster neck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted March 6, 2010 Members Share Posted March 6, 2010 My favorite material is the plain white tusq. It's an easy material to work with, good tuning stability, uniform density (unlike natural materials like bone) , and sounds great. You'll need to know if you need a curved bottom or flat bottom before buying a replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 6, 2010 Members Share Posted March 6, 2010 I prefer bone. Some people like graphite. Others like brass. The Tusq and regular Graphtec are probably the closest you'll find to your stock nut and will require less work to get right. If you plan of taking one off and dropping a new one on without any filing, fitting and swearing, fuhgeddaboutit. Almost never happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoldierStape01 Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 I am a bone guy myself. I find it nice to work with and with a little practice you can work some in very quick. My usual work-time on one is around 15 min. Depends on how good my eye is and how much caffeine is currently in my system... As tele said though, they do take practice and not something that is a 5-10 min. job when you are first starting out. Definitely one area of the setup process that you want to invest some time. All nut materials have their ups and downs with your playing style and genre choice. Best thing I could say is try one, if you don't like it, note what you don't like and do like and compare that with other types of nuts as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 All nut materials have their ups and downs with your playing style and genre choice. Best thing I could say is try one, if you don't like it, note what you don't like and do like and compare that with other types of nuts as well. :thu: Also consider graphite or brass if you play with your whammy alot. Both have natural lubrication properties with brass being harder to work but very durable. I'm also a big fan of not gluing my nuts down on a strat type guitar. I get my bone a bit thick and sand until it's a snug fit. I also keep a spare handy just in case I bust a nut on stage. Like when we play that strip joint!:lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoldierStape01 Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 ...I also keep a spare handy just in case I bust a nut on stage. Like when we play that strip joint! :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 There are also available the roller nut style that require a bit of modification to the nut area. However they are about as easy to install as a standard nut. In fact it may be easier and it will outlast any other nut you can install. Only drawback is the nut side-to-side dimensions of the neck/fretboard, must match the roller nut. I have installed these on a few factory Fenders. They always matched up---so far. TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 I haven't done a roller nut. Are they all their reported to be? I've seen different widths from different purveyors. I guess you need to physically grab the nut and see if it fits your neck? I'm not a whammy guy, but I have customers that are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 The customer seemed very happy with it. As memory serves, I think it was a factory Fender roller nut. I don't think he was a big whammy guy either but the concept of that type of nut, at least from a durability standpoint, seems rather interesting. TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 The customer seemed very happy with it. As memory serves, I think it was a factory Fender roller nut. I don't think he was a big whammy guy either but the concept of that type of nut, at least from a durability standpoint, seems rather interesting. TW The durability is what has me intrigued. I may even start using a whammy if I could get a non locking trem that stays in tune. I understand you have to be comitted to one because you have to do irreversable mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 There are also available the roller nut style that require a bit of modification to the nut area. However they are about as easy to install as a standard nut. In fact it may be easier and it will outlast any other nut you can install. Only drawback is the nut side-to-side dimensions of the neck/fretboard, must match the roller nut. I have installed these on a few factory Fenders. They always matched up---so far. TW Unless your guitar is set up for a roller nut already I advise against it. You have to remove some of the fretboard to install them and its a non reversable mod. If you dont like the stainless steel sound quality which is pretty sterile you're stuck with it. I wish I had never done my one strat. I had much better tone with a brass nut. Guys with floyd setups use them alot. If thet also use a locking nut the roller does nothing anyway. With all that steel in a floyd it doesnt make a big difference what the nuts used. Its all going to sound like steel anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 The roller nut that I am referring to did not require modification of the fretboard. To install it, you must mill away a portion of the wood forward of thr fretboard. I should contact the guy who I did this install for, he might remember who made this nut but I am 99% sure it was a factory fender nut. TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 The LSR is the fender factory nut which is the one I was talking about. The fretboard does have to be shortened which makes reversing the mod irreversable without replacing the fretboard or filling the cut fretboard in on the body side which would look bad. http://www.electric-guitar-info.com/roller-nut.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 The roller nut that I am referring to did not require modification of the fretboard. To install it, you must mill away a portion of the wood forward of thr fretboard. I should contact the guy who I did this install for, he might remember who made this nut but I am 99% sure it was a factory fender nut. TW Milling away material is what I refered to. I think we're talking removing material on the tuner side? If you want to undo this you'd end up needing a Gibson style nut. Doable, but people will know something aint right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Milling away material is what I refered to. I think we're talking removing material on the tuner side? If you want to undo this you'd end up needing a Gibson style nut. Doable, but people will know something aint right. CT with a roller nut, the rollers are not on the edge of the nut. The string rests inside the nut about 1mm on a pair of ball bearings. To aligh the rollers to the same point where the edge of a normal nut butts against the fret side of a fretboard, you need to remove some fretboard on the fret side as depicted in the pictures I linked on my previous post. Theres also a pic of the nut there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoldierStape01 Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 I just don't see the benefit of one unless you are a big trem player. If you want durability go with brass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 For strats and teles you still have string trees that bind the string like a standard nut can when using a whammy so a roller bridge really isnt doing much anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ARThriller Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Ok, and you said in first post soldier that it was dependant upon your playing style and genre choice. I mainly play thrash-type lead material so would brass still be a good choice to stick with? I've seen that Malmsteen uses brass nuts on his guitar but im not aware of anyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 I use brass on half of my guitars. It sustains alot longer than any plastic or bone yet still remains fairly warm sounding. Brass is also a self lubing. brass will wear before steel strings do and the brass powder acts like graphite. They are a bit harder to find though and a bit more expensive. last time I bought three for $9 so about $3.50 with shipping is about normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=1358&step=4&showunits=inches&id=1296&top_cat=79What about using this stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 CT with a roller nut, the rollers are not on the edge of the nut. The string rests inside the nut about 1mm on a pair of ball bearings. To aligh the rollers to the same point where the edge of a normal nut butts against the fret side of a fretboard, you need to remove some fretboard on the fret side as depicted in the pictures I linked on my previous post. Theres also a pic of the nut there. You're info is right on the money. I recall this nut coming with install instuctions that mentioned nothing about that slight increase in the nut/string lay position. Wonder why that got overlooked? Next chance I get, I'll borrow that guitar and check the intonation. TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 9, 2010 Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 I got a call from the customer who needs another nut. Seems like I just did one for him. He gigs and is a whammy meister. Maybe I'll recommend one of these or brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ARThriller Posted March 9, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 I've looked everywhere and cant find the nut specs for a standard MIM neck, their not on Fenders site at all as best as I could see. Does anyone happen to know where I could find this information or know it already? If im going to go brass then I need to make sure I get it exactly right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 9, 2010 Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 You need measure it with a ruler. The neck width is the main item. The slot depth and depth isnt such a big deal. The hight is going to have to be taken down no matter what, even with slotted nuts. The depth is standard for fenders. This leaves the neck width. A littel overhang is normal and filing the edged down is normal. With pre slotted frets, it can be a bigger issue because the outer strings can be too close to the edge if the nut is too wide. I dont buy pre slotted and cut my own so all I need to know the width is wider enough or wider than what I'm working on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 9, 2010 Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 I've looked everywhere and cant find the nut specs for a standard MIM neck, their not on Fenders site at all as best as I could see. Does anyone happen to know where I could find this information or know it already? If im going to go brass then I need to make sure I get it exactly right. You may not find a brass nut. I recommend taking the guitar to your local music store and matching it up with what they have. I've been making them from scratch, so I have nut blanks to work with. No guarantee that a pre-cut nut will work right. I haven't seen a perfect one yet. Best to either have it done or learn to do it yourself. If you play enough, you'll be needing nut work in the near future. Why not learn to do your own nuts? The tools will pay for themselves in 2 nut jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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