RAISING THE TONE
This month, Jamie asks high-end Brit luthier Seth Baccus how much a guitar’s nut contributes to its tone
This month’s column was prompted by a debate I saw unfolding on a Facebook thread this month. Someone had posted about upgrading the nut on their guitar, but, as people will, someone else soon commented that it was nonsense that nut material was a big influence on tone because most notes played on the guitar are fretted – in which case, the nut plays no role in forming the sound of the note.
Now, obviously, not all notes played on the guitar are fretted. I, for one, love to include as many shimmering open strings in my chord voicings as I can – and who could deny the power of Hendrix slamming the open low E string at the end of a huge lick? On the other hand, when soloing or playing barre chords, the nut is mostly left out of the tone equation.
“Bone nuts aren’t all created equal. There’s going to be so much variation in terms of the quality of the material”
It seems there’s justice to both sides of the argument.To get to the kernel of the matter (sorry), I contacted Seth Baccus, a Cornwallbased luthier whose elegant electrics are among the finest being made in this country. Like most luthiers who are serious about their craft, Seth has experimented widely with toneforming components. I asked him how much he felt the nut really contributes to guitar tone? And what nut materials work best?
“If you’re playing a barre chord and you’re fretting every string, the nut is redundant. I don’t see how you could argue otherwise, really,”Seth says.“But in terms of the sound of chords with open strings, or open strings played during solos, it’s very important what the nut is made out of.”
Seth continues: “Over the years, I’ve tried various things. I’ve tried Graph Tech’s Tusq; I’ve tried Earvana compensated nuts; I’ve tried man-made synthetic materials like Corian and various different kinds of bone. At the end of all that, I’ve settled on bone as standard, nowadays, because the bone that I buy is really, really high quality. So that’s an important thing to take into consideration: bone nuts aren’t all created equal. There’s going to be so much variation in terms of the quality of the material.
“When I was actively investigating various nut materials for suitability, I used to take a small piece and just drop it onto the workbench from a height of six inches or something.You could hear the resonance of the material when it hit the bench. That’ll give you an inkling.You’re always looking for a ‘ping’ rather than a ‘thud’.”
Seth explains that after testing all the alternatives and choosing bone as his preferred nut material, he further discovered that there are two specific qualities he looks for in bone nuts.
“If I was selecting a bone nut and I had several to choose from, what I’d be looking for is high-density bone with a [tight-grained] porousness, so that you’ve got a very even and consistent density throughout the material. By comparison, cheaper guitars will often feature a nut made of the kind of Chinese bone that you can bulk-buy and which is very porous and soft and doesn’t really sound that good.”
But what about the synthetic option? “Synthetic materials do offer a viable alternative ,”Seth says,“But some do lack a bit, tone-wise, compared with a really highquality piece of bone. I think the Corian is probably the closest synthetic material to bone. It’s a really nice material and, again, I think that’s because it’s so consistent and it’s very hard. It’s very high-density and in comparison to a piece of bone it’s almost indistinguishable. Whereas I think some of the other stuff can be a bit soft.”
So is the bone that luthiers use just any old animal bone? And how is it produced?
“Yeah,it’s interesting, ”Seth says.“I was having a conversation with a friend and customer the other day who is in the process of turning vegan. He was asking me if I could veganise his Nautilus and obviously I said, Yes, absolutely, no problem at all.’Then we started talking a little bit about it and he was asking the same sort of question, really. My understanding is that it is mostly a by-product from the leather industry and it is just regular bone. So at the most basic level it is that simple.Juha Ruokangas of Ruokangas Guitars uses Finnish moose shin-bone for his guitars, for example. Again, that’s because he thinks it is particularly dense.
“The bone that I buy is also treated with some kind of lubricating solution that permeates through the bone entirely. So it kind of yellows up and gives it a nice vintage colour for one, but it also makes it incredibly slippery. And obviously, one of the things that we really want from a nut is [low friction] through the slots there.”
Next month, Seth promises to explain how the process of crafting nuts influences playability of an instrument to an even greater degree than the material itself – but for now it’s back to the workshop, with a bone to pick for a new guitar…