New nut on F9

[Frank Russell]

I have an F9 I just got, and the nut needs a little slotting, but before I got into too much trouble, has anyone tried putting a new nut on one of these? What materials did you try? Also, are the stock nuts on these bone, or some kind of plastic? Hard to tell on mine, it's white as can be. Thanks, Frank

[slowpoke]

FJ,

I have an A9 and replaced the nut with one I made from mother of pearl. #The tone is a bit more bell like than the original, but it sounds really good. #I can't really compare the pearl to the original material (I think it's synthetic) because the original nut wasn't fitted very well. #There was a lot of glue under the original nut...actually looked like someone at the factory had 'shimmed' the nut with a glob of glue. #The original tone was pretty good, but the chop was a lot weaker than another A9 I had played. #I cleaned all the glue from the slot and made sure the new nut mated perfectly against wood. #This fixed the weak chop problem. #I left the new nut unglued because I want to try a bone nut too.

I found the pearl a little hard to work with because the edges tended to chip a bit when cutting the string slots. #Some people have tried and like fossil ivory, but it's pretty pricey. #It occurs to me that a nice piece of agate with no cracks would work and would be a lot like pearl.

Let me know if you try anything exotic.

Jim

[8ch(pl)]

I played a new A9 at an authorized Gibson dealer that had a replacement bone nut made by a reputable local luthier. it was a lovely sounding instrument. I always craved the vintage Gibsons (especially the A3 Whitefsce) but I think the A9 will be an upgrade in a few years.

[Stringbuster]

Glen
If you're the guy from Dartmouth ,I played that same A9 on Friday and was really impressed. Good thing my wife was with me or I might now be the owner of another mandolin. (Dang the luck ! ) I read your recent post regarding the Wednesday night song circle and I hope to join some Wednesday soon. I live in Mahone Bay.
Larry Hall

[Frank Russell]

slowpoke - I've got a mother of pearl nut blank and a bone one on the way. I was thinking of trying the MOP first. I used to have a Flatiron Artist A that had a pearl nut on it, and I really liked the sound. Thanks for the input. I have a repairman/luthier I pick with, and he should be able to slot it for me. I'd still like to know what the original nut on these is. Frank

[lownote]

On another post a few months past. Charlie stated A9's come with a bone nut.

Lee

[8ch(pl)]

Stringbuster,
That's me, I really liked that A9.

If you come to the next Wednesday night song circle I won't be there, work...will be the following 2 Wednesdays. My workplace voted to strike this afternoon, so I may have some time on my hands.

There is a Coffee House venue this coming Saturday at the Presbyterian church at 60 Beaverbank Road in Sackville at 7PM. It will be a good one. There is also another one in Cole Harbour on a Sunday night, I believe in 2 weeks. Email me at gsimpson@accesswave.ca if you are interested. I will give you the details on them as they come up. Both are monthly and are nice comfortable shows with good talent and some open spots for performers.

Lucky you living in Mahone Bay, possibly the nicest spot in the province.

Best wishes all.

[8ch(pl)]

lownote, you may be right about bone nut being standard.

The A9 in Dartmouth had the nut changed for some reason. Someone was going to buy it but after the new nut was insatalled he didn't like the string spacing and backed out of the sale. I thought it was fine.

The store happened to meantion that there was a new bone nut installed on the instrument, I just assumed it was different than the original.

cheers

[Frank Russell]

Well, Big Joe says he believes plastic nut, and I'll take his word for it. Thanks for your input, and thanks to Big Joe for his usual fast replies, even on Sunday. I won't waste any more space with this topic. Thanks, Frank

[lownote]

Well, if it is plastic, then that's a crying shame. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[Frank Russell]

Just read my Mandolin Magazine (winter 3003-2004)that has a review of the F9. The author states that it is a "Corian" nut. He also gave the mando a pretty rave review, while being fair about the finish issues and lack of frills. Sounded like he was impressed with the tone and playability, as I am also. Frank

[A9cp]

A material other than bone might be on a F9, but the A9 it appears to be plastic or a material that looks like plastic.

Maybe Charlie or Big Joe can respond

[Charlie Derrington]

Corian, it is.

Charlie

[elenbrandt]

I don't know...but somehow when I see s string titled "New Nut on Mandolin" I just have to wonder about whether we are discussing a part of the instrument or its player...

[Ted Eschliman]

<insert ###### punchline here; just for Elen...>

[Frank Russell]

I feel your pain elen, I also cringe a little at topics like "slotting a nut," or "new nut material?" I would like to thank BigJoe and Mr. Derrington for answering all my pesky questions in the last few weeks. I got an F9 and A9 within a week of each other, and I'm one of those folks who likes to know all about their mandolins. They have both been very generous and up front with their answers. If you folks haven't read the F9 review in the most recent Mandolin Magazine, it's a good read, and informative. Frank

[A9cp]

That was a good review of the F9 which has of course prompted me to pick up the F5G after I played the F9. That was a mistake, the one I picked up sounded great, looked great. So Charlie or Big Joe, the F5G has a bone nut correct ?

[Frank Russell]

An update: I had a friend of mine who is a good setup guy and a small time builder himself put a new MOP nut on the F9. Long story short, it was a real nightmare getting the old Corian nut out of there. It was really glued in hard. My buddy tried tapping, chiseling, and finally had to saw it in half and crack it out little by little, like a diseased wisdom tooth. Not much left of the original to get measurements off of it, kind of a bummer. End result - the new nut sounds great, but I don't believe my buddy wants to do the same struggle with my A9, which I already have a nice nut blank for. Does anybody know a good setup place in Southern California? I'm in the Palm Springs area, in the desert, not too far from L.A. I might end up having to do this myself.

[yoods]

Short post to add information about nuts on A-9s.
I have an A-9 that the nut was slotted wrong, the G was too close to the edge. The good folks I bought it from (got new in June 2003) agreed that the nut was not slotted right and replaced it with one made from bone and set it up real nice for me. I was surprised that such a basic but important thing was not caught and allowed to be shipped by Gibson, but I be a happy camper now.