Sam I cant tell you what you've taught me until now!..... I have only been playing all my life (44) but the steps and your thoughtfulness of educating each method has been life changing I love Mexican Stratocasters bought one for 350$ took it home and proceeded to give it almost everything that I have learned and my man it plays like a dream sooo happy and proud to have put your gifts to work!!! Just dont ever want you to change thank you sir Dave from Seattle Wa
Not before time with this vid Sam. I just had a count up on seeing this, you’ve put this on 5 of my guitars so far, from early versions to the latest (I think). Only 2 of these are the 3-a-side config, the others being 6-in-line Fenders and a Reverend and maybe one more Fender if the FMT Tele gets the same treatment (?). 👍👍👍
Thanks, HPH - I mean I was late to the party since apparently GraphTec brought these out in 2015 or 16... but not being a Gibson owner there wasn't much reason I'd encounter one of these units. But as soon as I saw one, I thought "I'll be 'avin' some of those!" :-) Yes, I'd love a 3D printer to make the bases... or even to get a reasonable supply of the kind of bases that Gibson uses... but meanwhile it's easier to make my own. In the end, the performance results justify the effort and the slightly rough edges I sometimes get. All's well down here in the Devon Shire, thanks!
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars For what it's worth, I don't think you're charging much for doing the replacement. If you can get the price even cheaper by somehow getting the part made via 3D printer, then it's a steal in my book.
So nice to be able to see and hear what you're working on when you switch to your phone! I remember you discussing your philosophy on that, but it sure would be nice to be able to digest what you're doing with the improved audio/video quality. Food for thought...
Thanks Jah Rastafari! Yep. I'm currently stuck with short videos anyway - so 5-10 minutes off the phone quality video & sound is do-able. I just have to be much more focused and plan some 'topics' (damn, that's the hard part!) lol. Appreciate the way you made your point, a lot of RU-vid visitors could learn from your style mon.
i hope you dont mind, but this is a great idea, so i did one myself. i took an old bone nut uncut blank, marked it down the center. drilled out a line of holes 4mm wide along the length, the right length of the tusq adjustable top. then using milliput, i filled the hole up, most of the way. squeezed the top down after spraying with wd40. smoothed off the over spurge and let it dry. removed the top again and saw it nicely filled with the indent. i then cut it down to the right height and shaped it. hey presto, bone nut with adjustable top. works a treat
I've read this three times to make sure I get the picture of what you did... Do I take it you run the 4mm holes into each other to create a trench large enough to fit the adjustable nut 'foot' into - but too big? And then use the Milliput to 'fill in' around the Tusq 'foot'? If that's the case, nice move. The hardest part sounds like drilling overlapping 4mm holes.. (or have I misunderstood?)
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars thats right, but instead of a trench, i drilled right through so the bone nut was hollow in the center. this made it easier to fill up after with miliput. In retrospect a semi hollow trench would have been better . if i had used the plast aid you use, i could have masked off the bottom hole, pour in some plast aid and squeezed a adjustable nut in and be cured in 5 mins. i made a hollow using a 4mm brad point bit, so the sharp point stopped any movement of the bit, i also scored the line on to into the bone so i had a recess the bit would fit in. i started off drilling the outer holes, then the center. then gradually with more or more holes made a long trench all along.
What about 6 a side; normal bone or tusk with files and feelers? Always love the vids and format. Nice long watch. Thanks for the years and sharing of great techniques, Sam.
Multiple problems solved. Adjustable zero fret for great 1st fret action, no more tuning issues / string snag at the nut, and better sustain for open string playing. Back to closing ones eyes while playing :) A+
I believe if you found someone with a 3-D printer, the base mold could be created in mass quantities at a very reasonable cost and near perfect in size.
That would be great... except I don't know anyone with a 3D printer lol. Even then, they still have to be carefully shaped to fit each individual guitar as the nut slot depth / width etc changes each time.
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Hi Sam! Love your videos, I always learn something new, especially as a newcomer to guitar playing! I have a 3D printer, do you want to try something out? I'll be glad to help and collaborate with you. Plastic is cheap, I know how to work with 3D drawings... Maybe we can develop something interesting. Greetings from Germany
Glad to see this video. It lets me seque to another Gibson problem, on the head stock. That is, spacing of the tuner pegs. As you may well know, plagerism is the sincerest form of flattery. So, the Chinese guitar makers will even copy Gibson mistakes. If you refer to your video frame here 7:39, the tuner peg spacing on the head stock make an unnecessary problem. The D and G strings pass very close to the A and B tuning pegs. In fact, on my HB-LP, the D-G strings touch the A-B pegs.
The best design is of course straight through like a PRS or Brian May's Red Special. I made the guitar in this video as a loose copy of a Gibson double cut. I don't have an issue with the strings being close to each other so long as they aren't actually touching. Have you seen some of Gretsch's headstocks? The angle that the strings go out to the tuners is insane because they made the headstock pointlessly wide.
Hi Nuno... for the 3-aside guitars using the GraphTech part intended for Gibson guitars I don't have access to the brass base part which is why I originally made my own out of resins / plastics and more recently use 3D-printed bases. Gibson might sell this parts (for all I know) but they would almost certainly charge a fortune for them!
Interesting stuff. I am just getting into guitar setup now and I realize how important the nut is: material in primes, and slot depths. I find most of guitars have excessively high slots, and very poor materials (too soft, the string will cut through). I have started to replace one nut with a Graph tech nut, and I am thinking I'd better do for all my guitars. This Gibson design however seems to me a bit flawed. The idea of an easy to adjust nut height is good, but the implementation need care. Again interesting video. take care and do not underestimate how vicious this virus is. Even if you live in the country, it kills people. The number of civilians killed is now higher than that of WWII. people do not seem to mind this down to earth statistics. Your Boris got the lesson....
Thanks for the video - very informative. I don't know why all guitars don't come with this style of nut. Can you buy them for Fenders (I have a player mustang) - or would you have to do the modification yourself?
Well... AliExpress has one or two brass adjustable nuts that appear to be for strat / Tele... But they require you deepen the slot on your guitar (that's if you want a less than 2mm 1st fret action!). Really the only way is to do it yourself. Even if I made produced ready made nuts every guitar's nut slot is a slightly different depth and front to back depth so some fine tuning is necessary. I've custom made them for people who give me very accurate measurements... After that they've only needed the tiniest fine - tuning to work so that's possible.
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Thank you for the reply :) I've just watched your video on making one with the grub screws and the bone nut. Looks great. I think the only things I'd need would be the tapping tool and appropriate drill bit (do you use a wood bit or something else?). I might give that a go on my bullet mustang as I think I've lowered the saddle a bit too far. I'd bring my guitar to you for a set up if you weren't 2 and half hours drive away. Thanks again for such informative videos.
I have done this on a few guitars not, pretty happy. One thing I'm unsure about. Is the tone affected by there being a plastic base to the tusq material? I thought about getting a tusq slab and using that as some kinf of base.
Hi, do you make these? I just bout a replacement brass nut for my hofner electric guitar and it does not fit, I want low action and to be able to adjust it if need be. Be happy to pay for one.
It's a Reloved 'Double cut' prototype - so it's full of mistakes (all fixed now). As a result it's a beauty to play; I love it. But when I first finished it I couldn't stand it. Just goes to show that you can take a single guitar and turn it from hateable to loveable :-)
Hi Sam, Great video in pursuit of the ultimate tuning stability, action and intonation. Looks like a great solution. I am curious to know if you have ever tried the 'Earvana Compensated Nut' (for Tele/Strat style guitars) and what your thoughts were?
HI Jonnie - I haven't tried the Earvana for the simple reason that when I fit an adjustable Tusq nut (and set the perfect 1st fret action) I have no noticeable tuning problems after that - providing I thoroughly stretch ALL the slack out of my new strings before playing. I don't have any noticeable intonation problems for which the Earvana claims to be a solution. I'm not a trained musician but I'm pretty musical and I can tell when something is out due to intonation... So far, the Earvana seems to me (just a personal view) like a solution to a problem I don't have. Even their blurb doesn't communicate to me why I need it...
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Thanks Sam for taking the time to reply. Good to know - as I also wasn't sure about the Earvana nut. Just a quick quest.. Can a pre-cut GraphTech Tusq nut be used fro 8-38 gauge strings or are the slots too big and better to be cut from a blank? I understand graph tech nuts are machines for 9-42 and upwards. Thank you. Brilliant channel - can see the love and devotion you put into getting the best from guitars and your teaching method is a pleasure to watch.
@@forestsoundsguitars Thanks for the kind feedback Jonnie! The whole 'gauge' thing seems to be a conspiracy by the expensive nut file manufacturers who really want us to buy a different set of files for each gauge of strings. I naiively fell for it... until I noticed that replacement high quality nuts only ever came with one 'general' gauge of slots capable of guess what, accommodating ALL string gauges successfully! I've tried all combinations and I've never found a problem with any gauge string with any 'factory made' nut. Ironically the problem really only arises when you cut slots in a blank with 0.010" gauge files... then come to change to 11 strings. Then things get sticky. But the factory made nuts are wide enough to run 11s easily... and probably up to 13s and down to 8s. In my experience the slot has to be ultra-wide and flat or ragged to cause any kind of problem with a small gauge string.
Thanks Sam, I also fell for the expensive nut files:) However I'm glad to hear from someone as experienced as you that my fear of a GT tusq pre-cut nut being too large for for gauge 8-38 is un-necessary.
Yes; it stands on two grub screws. It's good enough for Gibson... but seriously, I've been using these for a couple of years now and I can't fault them, nor can many customers who swear by them too.
@@ourclarioncall There's no ready-made adjustable equivalent so I make my own; using a Tusq strat / tele nut. I drill holes and tap a thread and fit grub screws :-) Fiddly but effective
Seems that the less amount of contract (just the screws) would have to affect the sound. Would love to hear an A/B test of the Tusq system vs. a standard bone nut on the same guitar...
John - you're starting from an assumption about how 'sound' is made in an electric guitar... I don't know the exact formula in your head but, like a lot of people, I'll bet it involves something to do with 'tone' or 'vibrations' passing through the wood of the neck, through the neck / body joint, into the wood and that tone / vibration colouring the sound coming out of your amp. I'm not saying that to be rude... most people conceptualise it that way. They think - and are endlessly told - that the wood colours the tone (and by implication so does the bridge, the nut, the frets, the lacquer etc). For many reasons but primarily the knowledge of how an electric guitar produces sound via magnetic pickups I remain unconvinced by that point of view. Until such times as I see convincing evidence that explains how the nut being held solid by two grub screws changes the sound compared to a nut held solid by er... its base then I simply don't believe it does. I've noticed zero tangible difference and none of the customers whose guitars I've fitted with such nuts. Electric guitars make sound by waving ferrous strings in a magnetic field... period. Just how much or how little those strings wave about is affected by how they're anchored, sure. But to claim that an adjustable nut on grub screws changes the tone you'd have to demonstrate two things in succession: 1) that a nut on grub screws rather than sat on its bottom alters the way the strings move (therein lies an initial assumption requiring proof) and assuming you'd proven claim #1, then 2) that those changes in string movement ARE translated - via the magnetic pickup - into a tangible and measurable difference in tone. It's evident that strings waving in a magnetic field create a signal that our amps turn into sound. I just need proof basically that the nature of the 'waving' is in any way changed by an adjustable nut (and a bonus would be a credible argument for how any such changes change the tone). Being able to put forward this kind of clear argument (same as applies to the tonewood argument btw) isn't me being arsey; it's the scientific method. The reason I ask people to put forward the argument (the claim for what it does along with the case for HOW it does it) is because this alone creates the conditions for us to test that theory. You say 'X will happen because Y'; we now set up 'Y' and test for, and record, 'X'. If 'X' remains your personal subjective experience i.e. you heard it, but it's not measurable, then it's not a repeatable experiment and nothing - I'm afraid - is proven. All this goes to say I've yet to hear a coherent argument that sets out what 'X' will be because 'Y' in any way that can be measured - other than guitar players saying 'I can hear the difference...'
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Thanks for the response. I don't disagree with anything you've written. I'm just super skeptical of perceived sound differences, b/c in blind A/B tests, either the expected differences are not there, or the "wrong" product actually wins (eg, Gibson vs. cheap Chinese pickups, bone vs. Tusq, etc.). For some reason, lol, I have this vision of the adjustable Tusq nut as tottering on two grub screws instead of the top and bottom parts making solid contact.
@@johnbrasher1495 I agree John, I had the same... thoughts & feelings so I put it to the test. What appears to matter is that the nut is solidly 'planted' beneath the strings. With the downward force of the strings (and the base units I make plus the fact that I sand the end of the grub screws flat to slightly increase their surface area - and reduce their 'drill effect') it works for me. There are many ideas that challenge my 'intuition' - one of the biggest was the ridiculous idea that you can level the frets while the neck is loaded and, as it happens, curved. Then I tried out the Katana tool, 'got' how it works and (for various reasons) improvised my own to apply the same method. But to begin with I dismissed it as impossible... until I tried it.
One thing i can see there is the angled slots, especially the middle 2 strings. Eliminates the nasty string angle which may well have something to do with tuning issues on 3 a sides. Isn't it nice to see a product properly thought out. Wouldn't an adjustable nut work on a Fender as well?
Ian - just a note: when you think about it, it doesn't really matter whether the slots are angled or not. Whichever way you have them, the string is going to go around a 'corner' putting friction on the string. If you have slots like on this Tusq nut insert then the 'corner' is at the front edge of the nut. If you have straight line slots, then the 'corner' is at the back edge. All you're doing is changing where that corner occurs but the stresses and friction are the same. The only way around that would be a roller (sideways on) or a post. As it happens, the slots on the Tusq are good because the material is so good and the slots are well-machined.
Totally right Sam,no argument there. I was thinking about the string angle as I have heard the idea that the open book 3 a-side headstock causes,or can cause,tuning issues. You may have seen the gadget you attach to this type headstock,can't recall the name of it, but it brings the strings straight through the slots and then angles them to the machine heads. The idea being it negates tuning issues,or supposed issues,with these headstocks. You still end up with the string angle but not at the nut. So a bit more like a Fender at the nut. This is one of those round in circles things,does it really make a difference? I did consider string bends, usually you'd bend string 3 up and string 4 more likely down. Both take the angle of the string when you bend it away from the point of stress at the nut, mostly for the 3rd string. But, that does nothing for strings 1and 2...Unless 2 has a slight angle? So,as you say, all it does is transfer the stress point from the back to the front of the nut. But there was some thinking behind the idea, maybe it's more to do with the nut material being "self lubricating".? Perhaps they found angling the slots this way helps the string slide more easily..? And maybe less tuning issues if that is the case. Or, they did it because it looks like it does something..? But i can't help thinking there's a reason for it. It would be an interesting question to ask.
I do custom-make them for people but they're not cheap; on the other hand they are 'drop-in' providing my customer gives me a series of precise measurements... you're welcome to email samdeeks@gmail.com if you want one making.
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars I shall dig it out of storage tomorrow and jot down all the measurements for you and email them over for a price, much appreciated.
Yikes! Two wrongs don’t make a right. The 2015 nuts were a disaster AND the 3+3 configuration guarantees that the Tusq straight slots will give tuning issues. I find that angling the slots is the only solution
Not sure if it's clear from the video but the Tusq adjustable insert has angled slots... BUT... I've looked at this thing from so many angles but I can't find evidence to support the argument that straight slots are worse / better than angled slots. What's true is that 3 aside imposes a corner on the strings and is a poor design. However, whether you use angled slots or straight you have the same number of stress points, just in different positions. On a straight slot nut the stress is where the strings turn a corner exiting the rear of the nut. On an angled slot nut the stress is at the front edge of the nut where the string is forced to change direction. Luckily I find the Tusq nut (with its supposed permanent lubrication) actually handles this stress just fine. With this nut + the correct amount of string stretching I simply have ZERO tuning issues with any 3 aside guitar.
Just bought one of those to use in my Cort KX1. I designed a "base" with tinkercad, printed in PLA, sticked two little metal pieces inside for extra support so it doesn't dig into the wood of the neck. Works perfectly! Like seriously, it's 2022 and we still doesn't have adjustable nuts on every guitar on the market. Instead, a bunch of nonsense about tonewood keep spreading over years and years. I gotta say, musicians are complete dumbasses sometimes.
Hi Hans - no; I'm not a fan of zero frets. I used to be until I realised just how quickly they wore out and notched. I like that they 'set' an ideal 1st fret action by default but having the strings clicking in the notches within a coupe of months of buying a guitar with a Zero fret was disappointing. I get great performance from this method - especially now that a friend made me a set of 3D printed bases to go with them.
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars I think the ZeroGlide uses nickel silver fret wire, so I'm not sure if it's an issue or not. I guess it will still wear out, just takes a while. I'm really excited to try your idea though, just got myself a cheap 3d printer.
Hi Sam, how are you doing in this crazy world? My wife and I are recovered from this thing. Excuse my removed British patriotism, but old Boris came through like a champ. Too bad trump doesn’t understand the threat. Getting ready to launch my new, well modified pick.
Staying clear of it Steve... we're pretty much hid away down here anyway, so we have a long delay on the infection taking hold down here. We'll continue to be low risk even if the numbers go back up shortly with our somewhat 'confused' un-locking of the lock down. Well, it never was a lock down, more of an "I say old chap, would you mind awfully....?" down :-)
It’s ridiculous that these sort of things are not more widely used. A conspiracy by luthiers and guitar shops, perhaps, so we keep on paying for new nuts
Yeah, like all good things someone will catch on and make a complete unit, insert and base. But that's not my game; I'm not a parts manufacturer / pioneer. I just like spot a good opportunity and make the most of it. The only conspiracy is that manufacturers could get away with shoving a crude plastic nut on a guitar because... well, the customer kept on coming back because the manufacturers were all as bad as each other and there wasn't really any choice. Once you've got a guitar that plays and stays in tune sweetly - like the one in this video - you don't want to put it down.
