Opinions on Earvana compensated nuts please.

lysander

I’m no pro and certainly not Feline skill level but I’m very confident the nut is installed correctly and my measurements agree very closely with those posted here by David Collins https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/what-do-you-think-of-the-earvana-nut-for-a-fender-tele.895755/

I think the nut is certainly an improvement for most but it does come with downsides which is not entirely unexpected IMO.

Evan

pluckbuddy said:

Evan said:

FelineGuitars said:

Evan said:

FelineGuitars said:

@Evan ;;;;

we have the 9.5" radius - use the dropdown list on the nut width for the other option

https://felineguitars.com/collections/earvana-compensated-tuning-nut/products/earvana-compensated-nut-fender-shelf-type-9-5-radius

But please feel very welcome to come and see us if you have time ....we're a friendly bunch  and we'd be happy to take a look at what is going on.

I'll be a bit obvious and ask if you've tried again with a fresh set of strings as old strings will intonate sharp and if the strings have been on and off they may not be at their best.

I’m just working myself up to buying one, but could you tell me what the string spacing is (e to e) please? The Allparts neck is a bit on the narrow side and the e strings are a bit close to the edge of the fretboard.

Also, you’ve got white at the moment, but does it come in an off white/ ivory colour?

Yes the white ones are a slight off-white like Graphtech Tusq, so Ivory is a better description of their colour an it does age nicely too.

Thanks for the info - I’ve just gone and bought one from your website.

Now change your username to Earvan  

I think that might be overcompensating.

fastonebaz

Mine is totally in tune everywhere.   It is on a feline though so that might explain it.

Evan

lysander said:

I recently installed one on a les paul like guitar, I'm not sold on it to be honest.
Yes it does make the open chords sound better but the trade off is that some of the first frets are actually now a bit flat ( which is better than being sharp to be fair ), and some of the high notes from the 15th fret onward are VERY sharp, like 12 cents, unless you intonate the 12th fret to be a bit flat ( like 5-6 cent ) for those string so that these higher frets are only about 6 cents sharp.
So really it's a trade off.

I installed mine today, although I do intend to take the guitar in for a setup soon and I’ll get the tech to re-install it. 

Even with an amateur job like mine, the intonation at the fretboard end is much improved and although it did knock the intonation out at the higher frets, I just had to re-intonate the d&g strings and that was it. 

I haven’t experienced any of the issues you mentioned, so what’s going on there is a bit of a mystery. 

Anyway, this nut’s done exactly what I needed it to - everything’s the same except for no wince - making d, e and a cowboy chords.

lysander

Not to belabour the point but I think also something worth keeping in mind is that in tune with itself is not the same thing as in tune in absolute terms. Mine sounds fairly in tune everywhere ( but not really more so than my other guitars ) by itself but the sharpness of the high frets ( or flatness of 12th or both - see above ) as revealed by the tuner is in absolute terms and means it could sound not great with other instruments.
Worth mentioning that on normal guitars, I generally adjust the tuning by ear by flattening the g and b strings so that cowboy chords sound ok, rather than just tuning the open strings / the "normal way" and leaving it as that.
The resulting compromise is neither obviously better nor obviously worse than the Earvana from a pure relative accuracy point of view, from the tests I've done so far.
The Earvana makes it less fiddly, I will definitely give it that.

A final point is that a bit flat is always better than a bit sharp, because 1) it sounds less offensive to listeners and 2) you can often correct it by pressing the fret harder.
So, the "normal" nut method of making the b and g strings a bit flat in order for cowboy chords to sound good, could be argued to be overall better than earvana from that point of view, since it makes none of the notes sharp.

jeztone2

Feline did my both Les Paul & my Tele with Earvana’s. No problems on either. 

grungebob

I had feline install one and I installed another. Both are in tune across the board with near on perfect intonation. 

Although the sample size is small it seems to be working as advertised. 

Seziertisch

Got my LP back today - refretted with super jumbo frets and Earvana installed. I like it, it definitely brings a euphony to cowboy chords and chords with open strings. Bar chords further up the neck also sounding sweeter. I have played in bands in the past with a piano/keyboard player and and felt that there something was slightly off so I can see it making a difference in that scenario. I checked with a tuner and haven’t found any of the extreme flatness/sharpness discrepancies on the higher frets that some had mentioned above.

That said, I think we are so used to the slightly wonky tuning/intonation on most all the records we listen to that I can see how people might have an issue with it as it sounds wrong even though it is more right.

Regarding the super jumbo frets, where have you been all my life?! Very easy to play as minimal pressure is required to get clean contact with the frets, I find myself having to relax my grip as I am applying more pressure than is necessary. Though I can see how someone who defaults to a vice-like grip might find them less appealing.

Seziertisch

Just jamming along to a live version of All the Young Dudes. 

The bridge (“I drunk a lot of wine …”) goes Em, D/G, C#m, F, Bm, G, D, A, G/A, F#/A, Emaj, while the chorus also has a modulation in it going from A to Am on the word “news”. The Earvana nut is noticeably more tuneful than any of my guitars with regular nuts on this song, which I guess is not surprising as few songs modulate in quite the same way as this song does.