For those of you have swapped out nuts on your Strats... What do you recommend? How much more tone will it really give a guitar after swapping one out? Graphtech says how much better their Tusq is than the stock plastic or even bone? I know that the Earvana now comes in a "drop in" version. Yes, I have read about Ceri's guitars being ruined by Nikininja.

Hi Rob08: well, you've taken the wind out of my sails with that bit!

More seriously. For replacement nuts I've mostly settled down with TUSQ pre-slotted ones. I find that very little adjustment of the slots is usually needed with those, and one time I fitted one and couldn't find anything to adjust at all. It was right straight out of the box.

I have also made from scratch three or four bone ones (non-compensated, in my case).

I think somewhere on his bone thread Nikininja said he couldn't hear a massive difference between bone and synthetic nuts, and I'd go along with that. I believe the differences in materials are muchly overstated by manufacturers trying to make a sale - though no doubt there is some small variation. Who knows, it may be a tiny but vital difference to you...

I have never tried a metal nut. But it is conspicuous that few people fit brass nuts to Strats. If there was going to be a significant difference in tone I think it would be with metal - but I guess a lot of people who try decide it isn't a difference they like (though a few think it is a must on a Gibson...).

Is any of that of use to you?

Good luck - C

How can nut material make a difference in tone to fretted notes? The vibration of the string doesnt get past the fret to any real degree. The majority of what you play is fretted so your not going to bring it into the equation 75% of the time (conservative estimate). Its not like saddles that are sounding with every note.

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No no and no

Well, exactly. That's the long and short of it.

Like fingerboards, choose the color you like best and go with that!

Cheers - C

I put an earvana "drop in" nut in my 67 RI:



Keep in mind that this nut is by no means "drop in" I had to shape the bottum and both edges to get this sucker to fit just right. After all of that effort I learned that the pre cut slots were too deep and caused my low e,a & g strings to buzz something fierce above the 7th fret.

Its not my intent to steer you away from this nut as it is a fine product backed by some of the best customer service I've come across (I ruined the 1st 2 nuts and rick with earvana replaced both for free) But, it is only fair that I warn you about any potential problems you may encounter.

Best of luck!

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Hi all_thumbs09: if it's OK with you I'm just going to copy your Earvana pic over to the thread about Nikininja's nut in order to ask him a question about it. Please...

Cheers - C

By all means... Help yourself to it!

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Ceri and Nikininja... That's kinda what I thought. I would only imagine a possible difference in tone on an open string or open chord.