Man, I :heart: you, George. Thanks for taking the time.
Man, I :heart: you, George. Thanks for taking the time.
acket.
Dude, that's awesome. Keep it coming!
And for the record, I have never, ever used the whammy bar. Looks like my next guitar will not have one.
Thanks guys. We had a Go Broncos pre-playoff game potluck lunch today that has sort of turned into a rare day of goofing off for everyone, so I've had some time to write down a bunch of stuff that comes from 25+ years of playing guitar and bass and, more importantly, probably 15 years of hanging out at guitar forums and talking about guitars and amps and effects, telling drummer jokes, and so forth. Hopefully I'll be able to finish my Nut Manifesto before quitting time!
*quickly hides his drumkit*
How can you tell when a drummer is at your door?
The knocking speeds up.
Whoomah!
Nuts sometimes MUST be replaced, such as plastic ones that sometimes crack when they get old, or if you drop the guitar or whatever. But it’s not really a maintenance item – it’s a matter of having one with proper nut slots installed once and then forgetting about it for many years, and theoretically for the life of the guitar…or of the neck, if you’re like me and swap parts around and buy/sell parts instead of whole guitars.As far as the bone nut, how often does that need to be replaced? It's a shitty guitar, but it's also only about two years old.
All caps indicate yelling, right? Okay. Listen up:
THE NUT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A GUITAR SETUP!
Until I learned about nuts, I would meticulously set the action and intonation on guitars but sometimes they just wouldn’t sound right…or they’d sound great playing a barre chord at the 10th fret but some open chords in the first position would sound funky, even with every string properly tuned and intonated.
Another symptom of lousy nuts is when you have two guitars in a band and things just sound wrong at times. Let’s say both have every string tuned and intonated, but whenever they both hit the same chord, sumthin’ jest ain’t right. Add a bass player with the same problem and it can be really bad, even though all players insist that they are in tune – and they probably are, especially their open strings. But when you get that “why do we still sound out of tune when we play together?” thing, it often means one or more instruments in this band have nut slots that need some attention. If all instruments have the intonation set correctly and the action is reasonably sane and the players are fretting all the notes correctly, the problem is almost always somebody’s nut slots.
The nut has tiny little slots with tolerances of thousandths of an inch for optimum performance. But, like most things, these are cranked out as quickly as possible in factories. Hopefully a real human gives them the once-over and makes sure each slot is properly spaced, is the correct depth and width, and is perfectly smooth. Theoretically at least, the cheaper the guitar, the more likely the nut is not perfect. If it’s really bad, you have an unplayable guitar, but most are just good enough that people can play their guitars “out of the box” and they’re okay.
But if you want to go from okay to great, here’s what you need to know. There are three main ways that a nut can be less than ideal. The second two points below are VERY important.
1. Nut slots not evenly spaced.
Not a huge problem, usually, although sometimes a nut slot can be too close or too far from the edge of the fingerboard, and it’s possible to have some strings closer together than others. This is usually not a big deal, but something to be aware of. And then there are graduated or compensated nut slots, which are spaced with the thicker strings farther apart than the thinner ones. I have one like this, made by a pro guitar tech. Can I tell a difference? Not really, but I know it’s there. It’s one of those really tiny things that obsessive enthusiasts get into. Not all that important, but something to discuss with your tech if you ever have a nut made from scratch for your guitar. Better yet – if your tech brings it up before you do, you might have found a good guitar tech who really cares rather than one who “phones it in”.
2. Nut slots the wrong size and/or not smooth.
Ever tune up a set of new strings and hear a PING at the nut as a string suddenly gets yanked through the nut slot, like a rubber band snapping (but not breaking)? That’s the string getting pinched in the nut slot before the hand turning the tuning machine finally causes it to quit stalling and come through NOW.
Assuming the nut slot hasn’t been cut at some crazy angle, what’s happening is the string is either too fat for the slot, or there’s a tiny burr or rough edge in the slot and the string is getting caught in there – or some combination of these two.
If anything about the nut slot prevents a string from sliding smoothly through, you will have tuning problems. And it’s not just that ping when you tune up. Consider that, like at the saddles, the strings don’t just sit there in the nut slots and never move. Any time you fret a note, you cause the string to get pulled through the slot a little at the string stretches down to the fingerboard and nestles up against a fret. And if you’re bending strings or using the whammy bar, the strings are certainly moving back and forth through the nut slots. Sure, it’s a tiny movement, but it’s there. This is why your Strat (maybe not YOUR Strat, but a lot of ‘em) go out of tune when the whammy bar is used.
When the nut slots are the correct size and smoothness inside, your guitar will stay in tune longer. Ever hear those guys who boast about their guitars never going out of tune? You know that guy. “Hey man, I got home from the jam and put the guitar in its stand. I just picked it up after two weeks of not playing it, and it was still in tune!” Chances are, his nut slots are smoove as buttah! (and there weren’t a lot of temperature and humidity variation in those two weeks)
3. Nut slots too high (or too low).
If they’re too low, you probably know about it already. Maybe a string is touching the first fret and you’re getting a weird buzz or a “dead note” that doesn’t ring. That’s pretty easy for anyone to diagnose and see with your bare eyes.
But nut slots too high? Ah, now were getting into the real zen of guitar setups. Guys, I played guitar for 20 years – and was a gigging bass player in wekeend cover bands for most of that time - before I figured this out and it makes ALL the difference in making a good guitar into a great one.
If the nut slots are too high (or if you’ve installed strings that are too fat for the slots), here’s what you’ll experience. This can be a problem that only a strobe tuner can detect or it can be a problem that makes chords sound sour when you play them.
To check for too-high nut slots, first make sure your saddles are adjusted correctly, so that the fretted note at the 12th fret is exactly in tune with the open string. Some guys like to intonate to the 12th fret harmonic, but I like the 12th fret note. Ask ten guitarists and get ten different answers on this. Whichever you choose (and ideally both should be almost dead-on perfect to the open string), make sure all six strings are intonated properly and the saddle height and truss rod are set pretty much how you like them.
With you tuner plugged in and when you’re sure the 12th fret intonation is right, start fretting notes on each string. Play it like this on every string: Open string (check tuning). First fret (check tuning). Second fret (check tuning), and so on.
If the nut slots are too high, the open string can be in tune and the 12th fret intonation can be dead on, but the notes at the lowest frets will be sharp. That’s because the string has to stretch farther down until it touches the fret than it should, so it’s almost as if you’re bending the note sharp. Again, we’re talking tiny measurements here, but the can make a difference.
This sharpness at the low frets usually fixes itself at around the fifth fret, and certainly by the seventh, so your barre chords up the neck can sound great but your open chords can be way off – certainly enough to notice just with your ear – no fancy electronic tuner needed.
I find this problem usually occurs on the thicker strings, so when you play an open G chord like this…
E----------------3----------------------------------------------------
B----------------3 (or leave open; your choice)------------
G---------------------------------------------------------------------
D---------------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------2----------------------------------------------------
E-----------------3----------------------------------------------------
…the low G note at the third fret can be sharp and it will make this chord sound like crap. Another good chord to check is a F barre chord at the first fret. A sharp low F note will make it sound like mud. But any notes that are sharp will cause the chord to be out of tune. Maybe the low notes are just more noticeable? Maybe.
It’s a really common problem, too. Have a Snark or other clip-on tuner (or a good ear)? Try this sometime: go to your local Guitar Center or whoever stocks a lot of guitars. Try ten different guitars at random while you’re there - cheapies, mid-range, expensive, acoustic or electric, guitar or bass; any brands you wish. Clip on your tuner, give guitar a quick tune and intonation check, and then check the tuning of the notes at the low frets, especially on the thicker strings. You will be surprised at how many have high nut slots.
Some higher-end guitar companies (specifically Martin) even have a policy about this. To paraphrase: “We ship guitars with the nut slots slightly high to allow for fine-tuning by our dealers for your specific needs”, or words to that effect.
Is it worth paying a guy to install a new nut on a Squier Bullet? That’s your call, but I’d think not for a NEW nut. Often, a good tech can fix this problem on the stock plastic nut with a couple swipes with a nut files in each slot to get them down to the right height and also polish them while he’s at it, without charging much more (if anything at all) over the cost of a basic guitar setup.
I paid US$60 about five years ago for a made-from-scratch bone nut on my favorite Telecaster neck and the results were (and still are) heavenly. The neck plays beautifully, the action is nice and low at the lower frets, bent notes come right back in tune every time (and I have a B-Bender on this guitar, too). It was worth every penny and then some. I just brought him the guitar and two packs of my favorite strings and he did the rest. About 15-20 years ago, I had the plastic nuts on two Fender basses replaced with graphite nuts after one of them cracked in the middle. I took it to a pro tech back in Charlotte and I think I maybe paid $100 for the pair. So it's not the cheapest thing you can do but, wow, it can really make a difference on a guitar you love and intend to keep.
I’d suggest just living with the problem (if you even have a problem, Tom – you didn’t mention it) if it’s not too bad with a Squier Bullet, but it’s good to know why things sound odd at certain frets, if they do.
So how do you find a good guitar tech to make a nut for your guitar? Word of mouth, guitar forums, the craigslist Musicians section, etc. I used craigslist when we moved to the Denver area and posted an ad without my phone number or personal email but just the anonymous CL email link. Ask something like, “who’s the best guitar tech to make a nut for my Strat” or whatever and sit back and watch for replies. Hopefully you’ll get enough of them to see a consensus about who to go to (and who to avoid).
The guy you’re probably looking for is one with a long grey pony tail, perhaps a slightly surly disposition, and – most importantly – a calendar that’s full of repairs so he can’t get to yours for a week or a month or more. I think I waited two months for mine on the Tele. The guy would schedule a bunch of nut jobs all in one week and bang ‘em out, one after the other. The next week he’d do neck resets and belly jobs on old Martins. And so forth. I waited until the day he told me to bring in the guitar and it was ready the next day.
Tom, if you live in/around LA, you probably have some of the finest guitar techs in the world in your neighborhood, second only to Nashville and maybe NYC. Finding a good one shouldn’t be hard, if you ever need one.
And with that, gents, I’m going home. It’s after 5:00 on a Friday afternoon!
Next chapter (a short one): Checking and adjusting neck alignment on bolt-on guitars. It’s so easy, even Random can do it.
Off topic a bit: George, you'd have a good time talking with one of the geologists in my office. He was a finish/assembly guy in SLO for Ernie Ball before he went back to school and got his geology degree.
Whoomah!
Xbox 360 and PS3. I paid 68$ for it on Monday, and this weekend it's on sale through Gamestop for 39$ with the cable. D'oh!!Originally Posted by Tom Servo
I did buy a microphone yesterday after work for 9.99. I'm not a singer at all, but I had fun trying to sing some songs, like Breakin' the Law. Then there are background tracks you can make your own songs to, and I tried making one up. The tv show It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia had a musical episode called Day Man. I used that, and changed the lyrics to Day Girl, because I heard a friend who bar tends tell a customer she is the day girl, so I instantly started sing Day Girl to her. I recorded my Bandfuse version with my Kindle, and showed it to some friends at the bar. Very awful, but funny. I started laughing when my dog was barking at my singing.
You can have 50 song saves that you performed on. I'm not sure if the is a way to sing on a track, save it, and use it to play guitar on. That sounds like a ton of fun, not sure if it can be done though. Can you do that on fake guitar games like Rock Band? If so, I might pick that up, I still have my GH "guitar" in my basement somewhere.
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