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Guitar Nut

A common mistake of guitar players and luthiers alike is underestimating the importance and the role of the the guitar nut.

In my experience as a guitar building and guitar repairman I have seen nut setups ranging from the perfect nut all the way to a totally screwed up nut setup. The difference can be amazing.

Another element that affects the tone of the guitar as it is related to the nut is the material from which the nut is constructed. In an example, compare the difference between the tone of a guitar equipped with a cheap plastic nut vs. a quality bone nut.

There are many articles that you can read on the analysis of the nut from actual construction of the nut to material decisions and the perfect string slot setup.

Therefore the nut does play a most notable role indeed! This is a partial list of items that the guitar nut addresses:

String Action or Guitar Playability

The Guitar’s Intonation

Guitar Tone Quality

Guitar Tunability

String Age

Now we will examine each of these elements in more detail and find out why this little strip of plastic, bone or ivory is of such importance to the guitar’s playing ease and tone production.

Action of the Guitar Strings:

Although this point may seem rather obvious, there is in reality more to it than it seems on the surface. Making minor adjustments to the depth of the string channels in the nut can make an amazing difference in the guitar’s ease of playing.

Go too low? Of course you can and what that means is the nut will be ruined and you have to start with a new nut. So what is the optimum string groove depth then? That will be covered in another article on how to best construct a nut.

Intonation:

Intonation is a term that refers to the proper string length to scale relationship. This is important for the nut in that the typical beginning point of the string length is the backside of the nut, where it joins the fretboard. If the guitar string channels are filed improperly the guitar intonation will be off and the guitar will be hard to tune and sound ‘out of tune’ all the time. This is since the string length can fall somewhere ‘within’ the guitar nut rather than at the outside edge.

Guitar Tone Quality:

The tone quality of the guitar is additionally affected through the nut. This can be proven if you replace a fine classical guitar ivory nut with a plastic nut. The difference is amazing! The strings will be very dead sounding on the plastic nut as compared to alive on the ivory. The open string will be much more lively on the ivory as well.

So materials make a difference in tone quality – we know that. Another important point is to be sure that the nut is properly fit into the guitar neck. If it has full contact and is a nice tight fit, the vibrations of the strings will be more fully transmitted into the guitar neck and the strings will resonate better, thus reaction with the bridge will be improved.

Ease of Guitar Tuning:

If the strings slots are filed or cut improperly, you will cause this situation. The simplest way to assure this is with the used of gauged nut files, which allow you to vary the string channel widths. String slots should have the following qualities:

First, the string slot should have a rounded bottom which matches the contour of each string.

If the string slots are not cut wide enough the strings will bind within the guitar nut. Each slot ought to be slightly wider that the strings.

Finally, in order to minimize string binding, each string slot should be angled toward it’s respective strings tuning machine post.

Preservation of the Strings:

Obviously, if all of the above conditions are met and the string slots are created properly the strings will not be stresses nearly as much at the guitar nut and will age better.

Find more information on this article by visiting: Guitar Nut. Another article of significance may be The Importance of the Guitar Nut.