Nut hype, true after all?

[timbo_93631]

    I was playing my Tele the other day and *plink* the outside edge of the nut by the low E had popped off.  There had been hairline crack there since I bought the guitar and it has had plenty of dings so I imagine it suffered a knock directly to the edge of the nut at some point.  It is a Squire Std. so the stock nut was hard plastic with very deep nut slots and there was always pinging on the B string when I'd make a big bend. 
   It was clearly time to shop for a replacement nut and at the same time overcome my fear of final shaping and fitting of a nut.  I don't have a set of nut files and they are so expensive I didn't want to start with a blank so I knew I'd be looking for a slotted nut.  I looked at all the common stuff on ebay, stew mac and guitarfetish.  There was alot of hype.  Bone hype, Earvana hype, Tusq hype.  I basically looked for what was going to have the closest string spacing as the stock nut and the right dimensions overall and settled a Tusq-XL nut that had a marginally wider string spacing (about 0.02" e to E).  I spent the better part of this morning sanding down the overall height trying to keep it flat by going slow and steady then trimming the sides to fit and then doing the fianal nut slotting with a set of feeler gauges and some welder tip cleaning files that were just the trick to make small depth adjustments.  I don't think you could do more than one or two nuts with them.  I think the PTFE ipregnated in the Tusq-XL nuts also made sanding and filing really slow going because it is so slippery.
   Now I cant believe the difference.  I am not gonna say it is all because of a Tusq nut, I could imagine 99% of the improvement is just from having a properly cut and shaped nut that is nice and tight in it's slot, but this guitar has a whole new level of resonance in the neck and body now.  Any of you guys go through this and have a surprising outcome?

[midwayfair]

Yeah, I'd say Graphtech stuff is well deserving of the hype. I put them on all my guitars (nuts and bridges) after getting my first one years ago.

I also almost never break a string. They pay for themselves.

[JakeFuzz]

Yep, Ive cut many nuts from all kinds of materials. The nut to me is one of the most critical parts of a guitars setup. The tusq ones are some of my favorites because they make tuning and tremolos much more stable. I would always get sticking in the slots which would make tuning a pain. Proper height and slot width is critical to the sound and feel but I always feel like it is a little easier to cut with the graphtech stuff.

[pryde]

Yep, agree the nut is critical to the overall tone and response of the guitar.

I run a small repair shop and have cut too many nuts to count using all types of materials. No matter what, anything is a big upgrade from stock plastic ones. Many of my customers like the cost/benefit of micarta as it sounds good and is easy to work.

Nut files are damn expensive but a good set can be had for ~$70 that will last you a lifetime and cut fantastic, accurate slots. I have used a set of UO-Chikyu Japanese files for several years. 

[atreidesheir]

I agree about TusqXL.  I also use the saddles and the voice of the guitar just gets beautiful with the nut and saddles both.  I never realized how much zing comes from the saddles.  All my guitars sound so much fuller without them (2 G&L legacies, 1 G&L ASAT special {all USA}, hwy 1 strat, epiphone elite les paul, and guild bluesbird).