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NUTS
Precision made nuts are crucial to proper feel and intonation. Traditionally they are
made of Bone they can also be made with plastic or graphite composites. Their function is
to locate the string in 3 dimensions at the top of the fretboard. They control spacing
between strings and from the fingerboard edge. They also control the clearance over the
first fret as well as locating the beginning of the string’s scale length similar to the bridge
at the other end of the string’s speaking distance.
The making of the nut is a sculptural process. Carve away anything that is not
needed to locate the string in those 3 dimensions. What is left is the supporting structure
and the “takeoff point for each open string. Anything that remains must be groomed back
so as to not interfere with the string vibration. A takeoff point that is set back from the
fretboard edge of the nut can choke off in a sitar like sound on the front of the nut. The
space behind the takeoff point heading toward the tuning keys can bind up the string
causing “chinking” sounds or pinching the string sharp or flat as it is bent or moved
through with a tremolo.
Buzz Feiten’s tuning system brought into focus the subtle but substantial relationship
of the nut placement to the overall intonation of each string across the scale length.
Occasionally in the course of custom setups a new nut may be groomed to accommodate
scale length intonation issues. Precut nuts can be convenient but are not as able to be
molded into as precise a structure as one made from a blank. In addition roller nuts or
other locking style nuts can ignore subtle differences in fingerboard radius and lock the
user into preset string separation patterns that don’t allow for subtle differences in
construction and player technique. As such they are used sparingly in our shop only when
advanced tremolo usage takes precedence over precise location of the string at the nut in 3
dimensional space.
SADDLES
The saddle’s function is to locate the other end of the scale length of the string in 3
dimensional space. Like the nut it locates the string spacing, height above the fingerboard
and scale length compensation for precise intonation. Saddles on flattop acoustic guitars
are made of bone or plastic composites. They are carved in the same sculpting manner as
nuts. Their fit into the saddle slot in the bridge is especially precise when using under the
saddle electronic pickups. Unlike electric saddles they are not as responsible for string
spacing as much as the ball end slots through the bridge. Electric saddles can be made of
nickel, steel, brass, plastic and even titanium. Saddles are even more crucial to the tone of
the guitar as the string will always use the saddle as one terminus of it’s length whereas
the nut becomes sonically irrelevant once a note has been fretted beyond the open string.
The choice of material and cut is significant and is always discussed with the clients style
and tonal requirements in mind.
Precision made nuts and saddles and clean fretwork are at the center of good tone
and accurate playing.
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