Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I am considering replacing the bakelite nut on my 1979 4001 with a brass one.

Can someone please give me some advise on where to obtain one and what issues I will face.

Should I have an experienced luthier do this or is this an easy mod?

Thanks!

You should be able to find a brass nut at a music store that sell a variety of replacement parts for guitars, such as Allparts, etc. You'll want to get one that is sized as close as possible to minimize your work. You'll want to make sure you round and smooth the edges of the brass nut very well so you don't accidentally injure your fingers when you handle or play your bass.

The problem you might have with a brass nut is, if the string grooves that you file are not smooth enough, you might have some problems with tuning. The bakelite nut on Ricks is fine with me but if I wanted a n alternate material I prefer a bone or graphite nut as a replacement. Filing a bone nut smells kind of nasty, like when a dentist drills a tooth.

I would say that working with brass would be the most difficult since it is hard. The level of difficulty would depend on how comfortable you are using files and a dremel and working on a guitar. Maybe you should let a guitar tech do it for you if you are not comfortable. It really shouldn't cost too much or take too long.

If you do it yourself, when you are filing, cutting or dremeling any of these materials, protect your eyes and lungs with a dust mask and goggles.

Hello Michael. I am curious as to why you want to change out the nut, and why you would choose brass. Your original post did not mention that you were having a problem, or what you hoped to gain by changing to brass. Just wondering.

Brass nuts can often (not always) sound nasty.
From a sonic point of view: bone, graphtech and tusk (graphtech's synthetic bone product) are probably the best bet.
Eden.

I put a brass nut on my '74 4001, must have been sometime around '81 or so I think. That was all the rage back then. I made it myself from a piece of brass stock, but I'm somewhat of a machinist and have access to things like milling machines, etc.

As for the sound? Well, I can't really say that I could tell any difference. I can't say that there was any improvement in sustain either. Of course, the only place it really could make a difference is on open strings anyway. All in all, it was a bunch of work (fun though it was) for no real gain...

I figured as much. I was not considering it myself, but wondered why anyone would want to change out the stock nut, unless it was worn out. As for using brass, anytime I ever hear of brass parts on a guitar again, I will always remember that green and brass monster that was recently on eBay. Brass nut=more sustain. Brass bridge=more sustain. Dip the whole thing in molten brass=ultimate sustain Strike a string, go out and mow the lawn, come back in and it is still ringing! (sorry)

BTW, ebay must have removed the 2nd listing for the same bass because the listing disappeared. Brass and all

I just helped my friend Derek replace the nut on his December '07 Grayglo 4003. It's a great bass but the A slot was filed low.

Anywho it was an arduous process and we actually had to take the nut out in pieces before we could get enough bite on it with a needle nose to rip it out and put the new one from RIC on.

What are the RIC nuts made of? (Don't make jokes based on this question. ) Is it a phenolic resin? Interestingly, the outside is not porous, but rip the nut open and the interior of material is quite porous and sucked up Goof-Off from a q-tip (we were trying to dissolve some of the glue) readily.

Anyways, I really like the stock RIC nut for its tone. The new one, after adjusting the action accordingly, had Derek's bass sounding superb. It was actually set about 1-2 mm higher and for whatever reason we were able to get his bass to increase greatly in harmonic richness after lowering the action (this probably had a lot to do with it). We had glued it in conservatively and it stuck just fine.

cassius987 wrote: What are the RIC nuts made of? (Don't make jokes based on this question. ) Is it a phenolic resin? Interestingly, the outside is not porous, but rip the nut open and the interior of material is quite porous and sucked up Goof-Off from a q-tip (we were trying to dissolve some of the glue) readily.

They're made of Bakelite, which I think is the first plastic ever made. All kinds of stuff was made from Bakelite in the 30's. Not sure what the actual chemical makeup of Bakelite is.

Yes bakelite is a thermoset plastic invented in 1907 Bakelite is a phenol resin, formedahyde and wood flour formed by pressure and heat. all this means is that it will not melt when heat is applied after curing, unlike the other more modern types of plastics such as nylon, styrene etc... Sometimes Delrin is used for guitar nuts. I like the bone or bakelite best. Good luck

Neat. Could I get a Bakelite nut for a Jazz Bass?

cassius987 wrote:Neat. Could I get a Bakelite nut for a Jazz Bass?

easily....should be something you can find online

Really? No luck so far.

Is there a specific problem you are trying to solve with the brass nut?

There was a craze of sorts in the late 70's early 80's to replace bass and guitar nuts with brass ones. Everyone was doing it but very few of those mods have survived to the present. The reason is, apart from making a fashion statement, there is little or no benefit gained from installing a brass nut. Many felt it would improve sustain or even-out the difference between fretted and non-fretted notes. I tried them on a few Ricks in the early 80's and frankly did not notice any improvement. The open notes were brighter but the brightness would be lost as soon as a note was fretted. The contrast between open and fretted actually became sharper. Some makers, like Alembic include brass nuts as standard hardware. In those cases the nut is part of the whole and not simply and add-on. Just my $.02

I thought I made the brass nut because Geddy Lee did it, but what do I know?

marc61 wrote:I thought I made the brass nut because Geddy Lee did it, but what do I know?

Me too, actually....

I suspect Geddy was trying to work out the thin low-end problem many 70's Ricks have due to the extra cap and/or an il-fittling tailpiece.