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I’m so glad you asked. It’s BONE!
There sure are lots of nut materials out there: including regular plastic, Micarta, and Tusq. It gets confusing, so my tech support phone starts ringing: “Hey Stewmac! What nut material do you guys prefer?!?”
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For guitar, bass, mandolin or banjo, I recommend bone because a well made bone nut gives bright, resonant tone that really sounds alive.
Don’t take my word for it, you can prove it yourself. Try your own comparison: play a guitar with a plastic nut long enough to get to know its tone and sustain. (If you’re feeling scientific, record the guitar’s sound to compare later.) Now install a bone nut and listen again. The bone brings your guitar to life with a better attack and sustain.
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Shooz Matthews says it’s so.
Lots of top luthiers won’t use anything but bone for nuts and saddles. Shooz Matthews, whose clients include Steve Howe and the tone-finicky Dwight Yoakam, has tried every material out there, and now uses bone on all the high end instruments that come across his bench. |
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Stealing from the dog!?
Years ago, Dan Erlewine would search his back yard for old steak bones he’d thrown out for his pal Kurt. After bleaching in the sun for a season or two, these pieces were ready to be shaped and installed. The nut on this guitar was made from one of Kurt’s old dog bones!
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“What about nuts for use with tremolos?”
The answer’s still bone. Even on tremolo-equipped guitars, a properly slotted bone nut outperforms the specialty materials. After final polishing with abrasive cord, the slots have a nice hard surface for the strings to ride on. The result is a great sounding, hang-up free nut with no glitches to cause tuning issues.
Here I’m playing surf style with a whammy bar and a bone nut. It works great, even though my Ohio surf came from a magic marker.
By now it’s clear that I can’t say enough about good ‘ol bone. Here’s an online guide to making a bone nut: stewmac.com/nuts. And a great source of in-depth information is Dan Erlewine’s DVD, Nut Making, Step By Step.
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Problem-solving products mentioned above:
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Vintage Bone Nuts
SHAPED and blank sizes. Unbleached super-hard cow bone with mottled cream color resembling fossilized ivory. |
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Nut Seating Files
Clean out old glue and properly prepare a nut slot for a new nut. Available in three sizes and a special angled file for Martin-style nut slots. |
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