Very nice early '68 4001 at Willie's Guitars

[aceonbass]

The nut doesn't just affect the tone of open strings. On the advice of my luthier (who also has a degree in mechanical engineering) I've had him make aluminum nuts for a few basses for myself and customers. He once explained the reasoning behind this to me, but I've just taken his word for it.

[FabGearHead]

Back in the 80's players went bonkers for brass! Brass pickguards, bridges, thumbrests, nuts, saddles, and "Fatheads", a peghead shaped brass plate where the tuners were removed and the plate stuck on and the tuners reinstalled... Tone monster!

Jim

[teeder]

[quoteThe nut doesn't just affect the tone of open strings. On the advice of my luthier (who also has a degree in mechanical engineering) I've had him make aluminum nuts for a few basses for myself and customers. He once explained the reasoning behind this to me, but I've just taken his word for it.][/quote]

It is a major anchor point.

What is you're opinion of the tonal change with the aluminum nuts?

[Isaac]

Kevin, they're great if you play every song with open strings...

Good point, though I keep thinking about all those guitars back in the day with brass nuts that I hated the tone on no matter where I was fretting.
Probably my imagination.

Could be. My 4000 has a brass nut. I've never noticed that it makes any difference.

[FabGearHead]

Kevin, I was being a bit silly before about the open string comment. Of course, everything about the woods and materials plus the overall design of stringed instruments collectively affect the tone. An aluminium nut being harder yet lighter in weight than Bakelite, will transfer more string energy back into the neck. The more responsive the instrument is then the overall sound will be perceived as better. A guitar is the sum of all of all its parts...

Jim

[wim]

The nut doesn't just affect the tone of open strings. On the advice of my luthier (who also has a degree in mechanical engineering) I've had him make aluminum nuts for a few basses for myself and customers. He once explained the reasoning behind this to me, but I've just taken his word for it.

I'm convinced it doesn't.

Why is the nut important?

The nut only directly affects the tonal quality of open strings. The density of the material will affect sustain and resonance — harder, more even densities mean preferable sustain. The texture and the material’s ability to self–lubricate will affect the strings’ ease of movement when tuning, bending, or using a capo.

https://reverb.com/news/how-nut-materia ... tic-guitar

[aceonbass]

Well if it says it on Reverb, it must be true.... I'll stick with the advice of my luthier on this one.

[wim]

Well if it says it on Reverb, it must be true.... I'll stick with the advice of my luthier on this one.

Your free to believe whatever you want.
There's no need to denigrate other opinions though, without delivering any proof of them being false

[jdogric12]

Seems simple that metal is more dense and would transfer energy more quickly, thus, sustain. Tonally, though, who knows. It's probably part of the equation - it couldn't NOT be, but how much, who knows?

[wim]

I'd say the influence, if any, would be negative on the sustain of the fretted notes, as there is more weight and inertia at the headstock side to absorb the energy of the strings and vibrating neck.
I remember John Hall discussing this on this forum a few years ago, concluding a headless design is the best solution to counter this.
In any case, it'll only be of minimal influence, those few extra grammes.

[Isaac]

I agree that it has to be part of the equation, but it could easily be an insignificant part.

[aceonbass]

You're free to believe whatever you want.
There's no need to denigrate other opinions though, without delivering any proof of them being false

I like facts, so if someone with a degree in mechanical enginering says it's so, then it's probably so. Other than that, I've got a custom 5 string 4003 in my shop right now with an aluminum nut. The tone is noticeably more consistant between the fretted and unfretted notes. Now I don't have one of these with a bakelite nut to compare with, but again, I'll default to someone more knowledgeable that it sounds different/better on the fretted notes as well.

[wim]

You're free to believe whatever you want.
There's no need to denigrate other opinions though, without delivering any proof of them being false

I like facts, so if someone with a degree in mechanical enginering says it's so, then it's probably so. Other than that, I've got a custom 5 string 4003 in my shop right now with an aluminum nut. The tone is noticeably more consistant between the fretted and unfretted notes. Now I don't have one of these with a bakelite nut to compare with, but again, I'll default to someone more knowledgeable that it sounds different/better on the fretted notes as well.

You like facts, I give them to you

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/going-nuts-1

Here's another article that claims what I stated before.

[aceonbass]

You like facts, I give them to you

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/going-nuts-1

Here's another article that claims what I stated before.

Umm....That's an article in a guitar magazine by a person described as a "hardcore DIY-er ". I'll still side with a luthier/mechanical engineer....

[wim]

Yes, premier magazine will publish anything at all, don't they.
I'll refer to the famous Dirty Harry quote on opinions, and rest my case