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Thread: Nut Replacement

  1. #1
    Registered User Roger Moss's Avatar
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    Question Nut Replacement

    I am thinking of replacing the nut on my Epiphone MM30 to improve the action. Is a bone nut worth the cost? Who's had it done and did it improve the instrument and how?

  2. #2
    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    Are you asking is a bone nut worth ~$5? Because the labor to cut and install will be about the same regardless of the material. The tone and playability increase of switching out cheap plastic nuts has always been worth it to me. I use bone.

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    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    But I think the question was... After switching from a plastic to a bone nut, can you actually hear it??? can you determine, in a blind test whether your own instrument has a plastic or bone nut? Or is your choice purely visual??? Like, a bone nut makes me feel better so it must sound better?

    I would guess that, in a blind test, you couldn't tell the differencebetween common nut materials.

    In a pinch I have made a hard wood nut and it worked fine... Just didn't look like I thought it ought to so I changed to a micarta (plastic) nut. That looked better than a cheap plastic nut but did it sound better??? Not to me. even the cheapest plastic nut has to be fine tuned (which they seldom are) when you buy an instrument.

    The nut material has nothing to do with improving the action. That adjustment is done by a luthier, or you (if you are interested in learning to do it).
    Bart McNeil

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    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    Functionally, good quality bone is the best nut material, IMO. Sound may be better on open strings, but not drastically, the cost may be very slightly more because, as mentioned, it is the time and skill involved in setting a nut up correctly that costs. In terms of functionality and durability, I think using bone for a replacement nut makes sense. By functionality I mean being a suitably hard material to maintain smooth slots for the strings to slide through, making tuning easy and precise (if the slots are well cut and shaped). By durability I mean that the slots do not tend to deform like they can in plastic, and the slots do not wear as fast as softer materials like most plastics. So, if the instrument is improved by a bone nut, the improvement would be in ease of tuning and the maintenance of that function over time.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    Bart is correct. If you are just wanting to improve your action, I would lower the nut that is on it. This will be MUCH easier than starting from scratch and making a bone nut (no small task to do well). A properly adjusted plastic nut will play just as well as bone. If you want the best nut, bone is superior.
    Robert Fear
    http://www.folkmusician.com

    "Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
    " - Pete Seeger

  6. #6
    Registered User Roger Moss's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    Yhe problem is that the nut is too low requiring the bridge to be set high to raise the strings on the first fret. This is fine on the first five or so frets but on the higher frets the action gets kind of high. A new nut seems to be the only fix for this. The neck is dead straight and at the right angle, but the action is just a little high around the twelfth fret.

  7. #7
    Registered User Jimdalf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    You can shim up the nut quite easily, I'm sure there are better materials but you can put a thin piece of paper under the nut to just raise it up a tad and correct the action that way. I guess a harder material, sheet acetate or something would be more ideal, but paper will work fine to get the thing working properly.

    The nut may or may not be glued, you can normally just tap it out with a piece of wood and hammer, just be careful the nut isn't continuous with any lacquer on the headstock if you do this.

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    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    To raise the nut I use paper.... the major ingredient in paper is wood. But once the paper is saturated with the glue it becomes hard like the wood of the neck. I would not hesitate to use paper to raise the nut. It normally would not show so why not??? Carving a new nut takes time but this takes just a minute or two. I used paper a couple days ago because the nut on my old mandolin banjo is ivory and I like its looks. It was allowing a string to buz on the first fret.

    If your action is too high as you fret up the neck it is likely that your bridge should be lowered. Or maybe your truss rod can be adjusted (if your instrument has one).
    Bart McNeil

  9. #9
    Registered User Roger Moss's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    Okay some good ideas there. Thanks guys. The bridge can indeed be lowered once I shim the nut a bit.

  10. #10

    Default Re: Nut Replacement

    Also, you might check the height of the first fret before moving forward with the nut. The first fret may be a bit higher than the rest. This comes up all of the time. I assume this is due to the frets being leveled with the nut on and the first fret doesn't get hit as much. At any rate, I would say that 70% or so of the mandolins I setup have a high first fret.

    Make sure the neck is straight, then get something that spans the first three frets and slide it into the first fret. If the first fret is high, you will feel it.

    Worth checking before changing the nut out.
    Robert Fear
    http://www.folkmusician.com

    "Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
    " - Pete Seeger

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