What lube, if any, do you use for the bridge and string nut slots?
I used a light coat of powdered graphite.
I noticed was that initial tuning was much smoother with lube than without lube.
Before lube the strings 'creaked' when they became close to taut.
If they are made of good materials and the slots are cut right, no lubrication is needed. The string itself burnishes the bearing surface smooth, you're finished. If you have strings squeaking, the slots are cut wrong.
I used to want to 'object' to what paul says (but held my tounge because I'd never really tested it myself). Anyway I tested it myself tonight, and if the slots are properly cut and burnished, graphite won't even stick in the slots, and the slots look like glass (bone polishes quite well). No need for it on a properly finished nut.
It will help creaky strings on a 'not quite perfect' nut though.
Paul knows. So does Rick, Big Joe, and sunburst. Don't doubt them!
I won't argue with the experts, but there's something about taking a well-sharpened pencil and twirling it in the string slots...just something about it
..Alan...huh..nothing
"If they are made of good materials and the slots are cut right, no lubrication is needed. The string itself burnishes the bearing surface smooth, you're finished. If you have strings squeaking, the slots are cut wrong."
Absolutely no disrespect intended, and no slight meant, but which part of the above is not understandable - "well-sharpened pencil and twirling it in the string slots" not with-standing? "If the nut is made of good materials, the slots are cut right - no lubrication is needed. The string itself burnishes the bearing surface smooth, you're finished. If you have strings squeaking - the slots are cut wrong." It's kind of a no brainer!
No disrespect taken.
Whenever I change strings, I do the pencil thing, always have. I have a mandolin built by one of the top builders. The nut is made of good materials, the slots are cut right - no lubrication is needed. I imagine my ritual is indeed superfluous, but it 'just feels right'. Old habits die hard, I guess.
AlanN - If it feels right, man - DO IT!
I do exactly the same thing! - every time.
Glad you feel that strongly about it.
I have been tempted to post on thios about Graphite. It is at the top of the Galvanic Scale for Corrosion. That means, in a contact with a metal that is lower on the scale and with an electrolyte, it will cause a Galvanic Corrosive reaction.
Basically, there is a chance that Graphite on a string in contact with perspiration can cause accelerated tarnish.
You're assuming that pencils are still made with graphite.
Eastman 615 #83
Weber Absaroka
'67 J45
'07 Larrivee OM-3R
"Trying is the first step on the road to failure."
- Homer
Actually there is still a little graphite in old fashioned wood pencils, but there's no lead. What makes pencils leave a smooth streak is oil in the clay/graphite mixture. The graphite merely provides the black color. Graphite is a form of carbon, and there are others. Lots of “leads” for mechanical pencils and so on are synthetic and contain no graphite at all.
Straight graphite powder can be used as a dry lubricant under certain circumstances. On a microscopic level it is like little flat sheets of mica with adsorbed air and water between the layers. Under high pressure, as in a nut slot, it doesn't do much because most of the stuff squeezes out and what remains doesn't contain air or water. Other mineral-based layered dry lubricants such as molybdenum disulfide work way better. What makes pencil graphite work at all is a lubricant in that compound, not the graphite itself.
But if it makes you feel good to see those little smudges up there, there’s no harm done.
I don't know about the pencil trick.
Pure graphite dust is an excellent lubricant:
> it does not cause duct attraction
> it is not oily.
> it does not break down.
> a very thin film is all that is necessary.
> it is a favorite lube for locks.
Since it is under the string wire
> it should not be visible on a white nut.
> it will be invisible on a rosewood bridge.
A new nut or bridge may have little break-in with natural polish.
> graphite will prevent the wire from grabbing in the groove when the tension becomes strong.
I leave it to the pro's for their esteemed opinions, but this stuff has some positive effects.
(Just don't rub the stuff on your skin before going to sleep because you might slip off the bed.)
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