Surprisingly effective upgrade - Tusq

jdbwales

I’ve just swapped out the terribly-cut Gibson nut out on my LP Studio for a Graphtech Tusq XL...what an improvement. Never swapped a nut over before, but this otherwise brilliant guitar really struggled to stay in tune and had barely any nut slots cut in at all, so action was high at the first fret as well as being a bugger to keep tuned.

 Half hour job, some careful sanding down of the Tusq nut to just the right levels and it’s like a new guitar - it always played well (high slots notwithstanding) but it’s effortless now and stays in tune perfectly. 

For the cost of £11 for the nut and half an hour of work it’s made a world of difference - highly recommend these Tusq nuts.

meltedbuzzbox

They are good but they are also the only nut I have ever seen that has worn through

stonevibe

meltedbuzzbox said:

They are good but they are also the only nut I have ever seen that has worn through

Not great with trem systems, but fine on fixed bridge guitars is my experience. They wear down with trem guitars it would seem, but you have to okay it a lot to get to that point I suspect. I prefer bone on guitars with a trem, though I do have one Tusq nut on a PRS SE Singlecut Trem model and it has survived about a year currently.

drofluf

But how much of the improvement came from having a well cut nut and how much from the material it was made of?

thegummy

drofluf said:

But how much of the improvement came from having a well cut nut and how much from the material it was made of?

It's 100% from the nut now being cut better but it sounds from the post that he just sanded the bottom to make it fit rather than having to cut each slot with nut files so that is a positive review of how the pre-cut slots of the TUSQ nut worked.

Personally I always use Tusq if possible. Last time I had a guitar in I had the option of waiting a bit longer for him to order in Tusq or just using whatever he had, can't remember if it was bone or another type of plastic, but I was happy to take whatever to avoid waiting. So I don't really care that much obviously but when this order of nut files arrives from America it'll be along with a TUSQ nut

ICBM

I don’t like it at all.

It’s too soft - easy to work, but to me it doesn’t sound as good as either bone or harder plastic like Corian, it can snag the wound strings, and it wears quickly as meltedbuzzbox said.

It also discolours and goes orange with light exposure, although admittedly it does take a fair amount of time.

jdbwales

thegummy said:

drofluf said:

But how much of the improvement came from having a well cut nut and how much from the material it was made of?

It's 100% from the nut now being cut better but it sounds from the post that he just sanded the bottom to make it fit rather than having to cut each slot with nut files so that is a positive review of how the pre-cut slots of the TUSQ nut worked.

Personally I always use Tusq if possible. Last time I had a guitar in I had the option of waiting a bit longer for him to order in Tusq or just using whatever he had, can't remember if it was bone or another type of plastic, but I was happy to take whatever to avoid waiting. So I don't really care that much obviously but when this order of nut files arrives from America it'll be along with a TUSQ nut

Yeah, was just a simple bit of sanding the sides and bottom that I had to do. I didn’t have to do a thing to the nut slots themselves and I use 9-46 strings. 

 I was torn between Tusq and bone when looking at replacements, but I’m glad I went with Tusq - huge improvement. Zero tonal difference of course, but the guitar was always really resonant and loud anyway. If this does wear out then I’ll try bone in the future...

thegummy

I'm the same in that I don't think I've ever noticed a sound difference between nut materials.

The thing that puts me off bone is that it's natural so not perfectly consistent. There could be some hollow bubbles or less dense parts within the bit used for the nut with no way of knowing afaik.

I've never done any kind of scientific tests regarding the lubrication of tusq, I just believe the claim so go with it for that reason. If the price was a lot higher I'd be more interested in checking that claim.

@icbm - when you say tusq wears quicker. What kind of time frame we talking? I've had one installed for about 5 years max with no issues so maybe you're meaning on a longer term than that.

Keefy

I have a Gibson CS336. Despite being a Custom Shop guitar, it was originally fitted with a plastic nut. The guitar sounded great but no matter how I filed or lubed the nut, it always went out of tune after bending. I fitted a bone nut and it made a huge improvement.

 I have no experience of Tusq but I’d be surprised if it was as bad as plastic.

thegummy

Keefy said:

I have a Gibson CS336. Despite being a Custom Shop guitar, it was originally fitted with a plastic nut. The guitar sounded great but no matter how I filed or lubed the nut, it always went out of tune after bending. I fitted a bone nut and it made a huge improvement.

 I have no experience of Tusq but I’d be surprised if it was as bad as plastic.

Tusq is plastic.

The material has no effect on it bending out of tune, your improvement was from the nut being cut better.

Keefy

thegummy said:

Keefy said:

I have a Gibson CS336. Despite being a Custom Shop guitar, it was originally fitted with a plastic nut. The guitar sounded great but no matter how I filed or lubed the nut, it always went out of tune after bending. I fitted a bone nut and it made a huge improvement.

 I have no experience of Tusq but I’d be surprised if it was as bad as plastic.

Tusq is plastic.

The material has no effect on it bending out of tune, your improvement was from the nut being cut better.

I didn’t know that about Tusq!

I cut the slots in my new bone nut, and I worked on the slots in the original bone nut, using the same nut files and limited skills. I couldn’t get the plastic Gibson nut to work as it should, but the bone nut works fine. That’s what makes me think the material is a factor.

thegummy

Keefy said:

thegummy said:

Keefy said:

I have a Gibson CS336. Despite being a Custom Shop guitar, it was originally fitted with a plastic nut. The guitar sounded great but no matter how I filed or lubed the nut, it always went out of tune after bending. I fitted a bone nut and it made a huge improvement.

 I have no experience of Tusq but I’d be surprised if it was as bad as plastic.

Tusq is plastic.

The material has no effect on it bending out of tune, your improvement was from the nut being cut better.

I didn’t know that about Tusq!

I cut the slots in my new bone nut, and I worked on the slots in the original bone nut, using the same nut files and limited skills. I couldn’t get the plastic Gibson nut to work as it should, but the bone nut works fine. That’s what makes me think the material is a factor.

It does mean you're no longer eligible to join Morrissey's backing band.

NelsonP

This thread is nuts. 
I've got a hagstrom with a Tusq nut. It's good. 

ICBM

Keefy said:

 I have no experience of Tusq but I’d be surprised if it was as bad as plastic.

What do you mean by “plastic”?

Tusq is a type of plastic.

Corian is a type of plastic. Used by Martin among others.

Nylon is a type of plastic. Used by Gibson, including in the ‘golden era’.

There are literally hundreds of different types of plastic, of widely varying hardness and suitability for making a nut from.

Keefy said:

That’s what makes me think the material is a factor.

The hardness is a factor - a harder material gives lower friction. Some types of plastic are also more inherently ‘slippery’ and reduce friction.

Keefy

ICBM said:

Keefy said:

 I have no experience of Tusq but I’d be surprised if it was as bad as plastic.

What do you mean by “plastic”?

Tusq is a type of plastic.

Corian is a type of plastic. Used by Martin among others.

Nylon is a type of plastic. Used by Gibson, including in the ‘golden era’.

There are literally hundreds of different types of plastic, of widely varying hardness and suitability for making a nut from.

Keefy said:

That’s what makes me think the material is a factor.

The hardness is a factor - a harder material gives lower friction. Some types of plastic are also more inherently ‘slippery’ and reduce friction.

Good point about different types of plastic, I hadn’t thought that through!

thegummy

Just to add for anyone who doesn't knot, Tusq is made with graphite in the mix so it keeps itself lubricated. That's its selling point.

WezV

In terms of tone.... I always favour ones that make a nice plink sound when dropped on the worktop.  PRS talks about this too

Some plastics make a dull thud, throw them away.  Thankfully the really soft ones seen rare these days,

Tusq isn't one of them.  It sounds fine.  It is noticeably soft to work, which makes it easy to shape.  Just need to be careful not to cut too deep if you are used to working on bone.

I much prefer bone once fully set up

thegummy said:

The thing that puts me off bone is that it's natural so not perfectly consistent. There could be some hollow bubbles or less dense parts within the bit used for the nut with no way of knowing afaik.

Thigh bone from cattle is normally used.  Its designed to support 1500lb animals.  Inconsistencies do happen the closer you get to the marrow, but its pretty rare in the stocks sold.

axisus

I've had tusq nuts on several guitars over the years, they seemed OK but I still prefer a bone nut to be honest.

ThePrettyDamned

WezV said:

In terms of tone.... I always favour ones that make a nice plink sound when dropped on the worktop.  PRS talks about this too

Some plastics make a dull thud, throw them away.  Thankfully the really soft ones seen rare these days,

Tusq isn't one of them.  It sounds fine.  It is noticeably soft to work, which makes it easy to shape.  Just need to be careful not to cut too deep if you are used to working on bone.

I much prefer bone once fully set up

thegummy said:

The thing that puts me off bone is that it's natural so not perfectly consistent. There could be some hollow bubbles or less dense parts within the bit used for the nut with no way of knowing afaik.

Thigh bone from cattle is normally used.  Its designed to support 1500lb animals.  Inconsistencies do happen the closer you get to the marrow, but its pretty rare in the stocks sold.

Do you believe the nut affects the tone of fretted notes, or that a zero fret effectively takes the nut out of the equation? 

Genuine question, couldn't word it in a way that doesn't sound like I'm accusing you of something! I tend not to think it'll have any real impact on an electric guitar but acoustic perhaps it could? 

WezV

I do not believe the nut significantly affects the tone of fretted notes, but it can certainly dampen open strings. 

Zero frets are comparatively rare. But note how quickly a NS zero fret will wear just from the friction when tuning.  The same thing is happening to nuts, just over a wider area.   I often use a SS zero fret to prevent the wear issue, but it does create a slight difference to the sound of open strings which isn't an issue  on normal zero fret guitars.

ThePrettyDamned

WezV said:

I do not believe the nut significantly affects the tone of fretted notes, but it can certainly dampen open strings. 

Zero frets are comparatively rare. But note how quickly a NS zero fret will wear just from the friction when tuning.  The same thing is happening to nuts, just over a wider area.   I often use a SS zero fret to prevent the wear issue, but it does create a slight difference to the sound of open strings which isn't an issue  on normal zero fret guitars.

Really interesting. I've never played a zero fret instrument for more than a few minutes, they're pretty rare... Interesting that a zero fret is so prone to wear though, physics gotta physic I guess.