Does the nut affect sustain?

[kwakatak]

I've noticed a difference in the tone (sustain and clarity) of the higher strings of my guitar when using a capo. They just seem to ring more clearly with the capo. Without the capo, only the lower strings seem to have a bell-like chime. I'm thinking that the nut may be the culprit (slots too wide) so I'm contemplating on having a new one installed.

 

Do you guys think a new nut would fix this issue? If so how much would it cost in general for just a plastic one? My guitar has a laminated top and plastic saddle so it doesn't make a lot of sense to try TUSQ or bone unless the price was still reasonable.

[guit30]

leave the capo on all of the time and tune up with the capo on, put new dot reminders on the side of the neck, I know a good saddle will effect tone, don't know abou t a nut, but I have seen several people play with their capo on the 1st fret always
Jim

[JasmineTea]

About $60 installed.

Mabey you could do it yourself?

[GN-Nick]

Only on the strings you aren't fretting.

[fantasticsound]

The nut definitely affects a guitar's tone in a profound way. Changing to a bone nut should definitely improve the timbre over plastic.

A side note; Although this isn't common, some manufacturers build instruments with a "zero fret" in front of the nut, to ensure that chimy, open string sound as well as to accurately set the neck end of the string scale. I'm don't know if a zero fret has any other advantages, but I have to think not given the miniscule amount of instruments made with a zero fret. (Many of them are cheap instruments, too.)