New nut

[SteveW]

Some time ago I replaced the bridge on my MK Firefly with an ebony Sullivan bridge from FQMS. The luthier who put it on said that I might want to get a new nut at some point, and I think I may go ahead and do that in the near future. What do y'all recommend: bone, mother of pearl, or some other type?

Steve

[JiminRussia]

Were you going to have someone else do the fitting or are you going to do it yourself? MOP is pretty hard to work with. It has a tendancy to chip and shatter if you don't know exactly how to cut and shape it and it is much more expensive than bone. I ot a fossil ivory nut blank from a fellow up in Alaska and I plan on fitting it to my Newson, so I can't really say how it changes the sound yet, but they aint cheap either. At least they are easier to work with than MOP. YOu might want to look into deer antler, Tusk which is an artificial ivory that I have heard really good things about or even legal elephant ivory which is scarce, but available. Like so many other things with changes to your mando it's what works best on YOUR mando, and only trial and experiment will find the right combination for you. You can probably spend the equivalent of a new mando on bridges, nuts, tail pieces, strings, picks and who knows what else in trying to find that "right" combination. You might also ask this over in the builders forum. They have lots of nice folks there that can give you a whole slew of conflicting advice to further complicate your choice. All of which is correct, by the way. Good luck.

[SteveW]

I won't be doing the cutting or fitting myself -- my luthier acquaintance will do all that. I should probably just ask him if he has a preference.

Actually, for the most part I love the way my MK sounds. With the Sullivan bridge, D'Addario Flatops and a Tortis pick, I think it sounds about as good as I could want on my limited budget and moderate abilities. But there's one problem I'm trying to solve. The top A string sounds harsh when played open (the lower A sounds great) -- it sounds fine when I'm fretting a note, but when I play the open A, there's a little edge to that one string I don't like. It's there no matter what kind of string I've used (and I've tried several different types before settling on the Flatops). So I'm thinking there's something off about the slot for that string at the nut.

Hence my question about nuts. But maybe that's not the solution to my problem. Any ideas?

[JiminRussia]

Ask your Luthier friend about it. Recutting the slots may be all that it needs. It's a coparitively simple operation and shouldn't cost you much. I think that I'd try that before fitting a new nut if that is the only reason hat you want to try a new nut.

[Frank Russell]

The fellow in Alaska's name is Kurt Gisclair, and he posts here as thunderplucker, I believe. I have an A9 and F9, both fitted with Kurt's fossilized walrus ivory nuts and saddle tops. They made all the difference in the world, as far as tone and volume. I tried bone and pearl first, but the ivory just has the best sound. Kurt sells the nut blanks himself, and also through Greg Boyd. His own site is called Husky Acoustics. I can't recommend them highly enough, and Kurt is a pleasure to deal with. Frank