Tusq vs bone nut article

Bone Nut vs. Tusq: Does Nut Material Affect Guitar Tone? | Ultimate Guitar https://share.google/TpRa7jH5yqLLTrRTk

One of those things that applies to most materials, only a professional musician with a well developed ear would notice. It would be imperceptible to me.

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I thought this article might be of interest because I remember recently seeing someone say they were going to “upgrade” the nut on their new guitar by changing it from Tusq to bone. This article indicates that’s likely a waste of time and money.

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Actually it is doubtful they would. Apparently it’s only cool internet people. :wink:

I don’t think any mortal human could consistently pick a properly cut bone nut out from a properly cut Tusq nut in a blind test on an electric guitar. Some of you out there on the internet are more than mere men; you are all-knowing gods, and to you I say, “cool.”

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Isn’t that what AI is for? :laughing:

For me, a bone nut, a tusq nut, it’s all the same. As long as it does it’s job, it’s fine by me.
There’s no way, once i invoke the Rat, that anyone’s going to notice the difference. :grin:

I’d rather have a zero fret. My bass and acoustic both have one, my Strat doesn’t.

I guess for most of us, the most important thing about the nut is not the material used, and the tone it gives, but that it’s cut correctly. It can make a huge difference to a guitar feeling light to the touch and easy to play or more difficult and more work fretting near the nut. Also, if the nut is cut correctly and the strings don’t catch anywhere, it improves tuning stability.

It’s the only thing I didn’t do myself when I did a my strat build or my major tele restoration project and I got a professional luthier to install the nut and cut it correctly. It made both those guitars very easy to play near the nut.

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That is exactly my opinion!!!

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Tusque nuts can be amazing I have an artist AS1HSS with tusque nut rotopink 9s and a 0.25mm action at fret 1 hard decked tremolo bridge I get 12 secs sustain on GBE and 20 secs on the wire sounds I did the same on my Squier total fail the neck virared so much I had to put 9/44 slynkys on it that fixed it

I recently changed the tusqe saddle to bone on a new Seagull Artist Peppinno. Made a huge difference. Before that I watched many tusque vs bone videos. I could tell them apart on the blind tests. I did the same for Phosphor Bronze, 8O-20 bronze and Bell Bronze strings. I past those tests allso and use Bell Bronze strings. Alan