Has anyone used any black nut material besides corian?
I see the graphtech material, but I don't know anything about it, and the blanks available from SM are a little small for what I need.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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| Author: | Brock Poling [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Black Nut Material |
Has anyone used any black nut material besides corian? I see the graphtech material, but I don't know anything about it, and the blanks available from SM are a little small for what I need. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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| Author: | Jeff Highland [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Black buffalo horn, readily available as knife handles (scales) Used some on my Weissenborn copy seems to be holding up well and the strings slide smoothly. Jeff |
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| Author: | Cecil [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Jeff, I have one I am about to complete and was considering buffalo horn but wondered if there is any difference in tone as opposed to bone. The horn is softer than bone and I was concerned that it might have an effect on the tone of the instrument. Your observations would be very much welcome and appreciated. Cecil |
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| Author: | Jeff Highland [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Hi Cecil, I have no real way of comparing it with bone tonaly since I have not tried bone on this instrument , but no one has listened to an open note strum and said this is muffled or weak. I would not call the horn soft, maybe not quite as hard as the hardest bone but well up on things like graphteck, and much harder than the average plastic I have black horn bridge pins too, wanted a dark look for all the fittings. Jeff |
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| Author: | Hesh [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
I used black horn from LMI before and can confirm that it is much softer than bone and I didn't like the results - even though I liked the looks very much. It also polishes beautifully with micro-mesh. But tone won out and I replaced the nut and saddle with unbleached bone and was glad that I did. Sorry to not be positive here but I didn't like the stuff and I still have a lot of it here but probably won't use it again. |
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| Author: | Jeff Highland [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Sounds like we have encountered different material Hesh. Wonder if it varies depending on source? |
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| Author: | Hesh [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Jeff it most likely does vary in hardness from sheep to sheep. Perhaps my black horn came from a sheep with osteoporosis I agree that it is harder than plastic by far.
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| Author: | Rod True [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Sheep.....shouldn't that be buffalo? Hey, does anyone know if you can ebonize bone like you can maple? I wonder what submerging the bone is black ink or leather die for a week would do to it. Maybe make the nut and saddle and than submerge it for some time. Pull it out, let it dry and buff. Who knows it may just work. |
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| Author: | Hesh [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Sheep, buffalo - what's the difference - I know ask that to a sheep or a buffalo.......  Rod my friend I tried soaking bone in tea and there was a slight amber color added but it was only at the surface and sanded right off. I soaked it for a couple days but the stain did not penetrate the bone. |
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| Author: | old man [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
I've used buffalo horn on my twin dreads and loved it. It is plenty hard. Don't know about sheep horn, though. Ron |
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| Author: | grumpy [ Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
I've used Ebony and African Blackwood with success at different times.... |
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| Author: | Dave White [ Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
grumpy wrote: I've used Ebony and African Blackwood with success at different times.... Old Rio Rosewood (the dark stuff) works nicely and looks good too. |
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| Author: | RichB [ Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Graph-Tech has nuts in black for acoustics. Although I like bone, Tusq nuts do sound good on electrics. I think they do wear quicker than bone though? They are listed under Blank Trem Nuts & Slotted Trem Nuts... http://estore.graphtech.com/gti/aquariu ... sp?CartId= |
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| Author: | RichB [ Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:03 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
~ Double Post... 
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| Author: | wbergman [ Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
If you want to use steel, you can get gun metal bluing, which looks almost black. |
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| Author: | Dennis Leahy [ Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
How about Jade? Jade comes in various shades of green, as well as white, black and a bunch of other colors. But let's stop with black. Dennis |
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| Author: | Erik Hauri [ Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:02 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Some granite comes in black, but with grain/color texture; like Corian, look for offcuts at the local countertop fabricator. Use diamond files for shaping/slotting. |
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| Author: | Sheldon Dingwall [ Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Go to Graphtech's site, they have a ton of sizes. I like the stuff, it can't be beat in terms of low friction. We use phenolic on our basses. It lasts forever, but I think for an angled headstock guitar, Graphtech would be a better choice. |
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| Author: | af_one [ Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
You can dye bone--I use analyne in black--soeak trhe bone overnight--shines to a high polish and sonic properties seem uneffected. |
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| Author: | Laurent Brondel [ Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:49 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
I'be used ebony on a couple of guitars and like it. Ties in nicely with the FB and seems to wear quite well. |
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| Author: | Dennis Leahy [ Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:55 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Brock, I mentioned jade because it has amazing "toughness" (not to be confused with "hardness", which will range from 6 to 7 on Mohs scale for jade), and with its interlocked crystalline grain, can successfully be fabricated into a nut or saddle. In fact, jade has been made into tools and jewelry for centuries. I got a chance to play a guitar made by Grant Goltz with a bone saddle and then the same guitar with a jade saddle - and it confirmed my suspicion that jade will make an excellent saddle. Honestly, I think a jade nut may be more difficult to make than a jade saddle, because of the various string slot widths and the somewhat limited availability/variety of diamond tools. But, whatever tooling we have available in our modern arsenal is far better than what jade carvers have used for centuries. Disclaimer: I must admit that I am somewhat on a fishing expedition, as I have contacted (through a local Chinese jade importer) a jade fabricator in China who can fabricate jade nut and saddle blanks. I am hoping to get some luthiers interested in using jade, because I cannot meet the $1000 minimum order by myself. Dennis |
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| Author: | Jimmy Caldwell [ Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:28 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Brock, What type of sound are you looking for? I've got a little bit of very old, very hard ebony that came off an 80 year old double bass fingerboard that works great for blues type small boxes. If you're interested, I'd be happy to send you some. |
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| Author: | Brock Poling [ Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
Jimmy Caldwell wrote: Brock, What type of sound are you looking for? I've got a little bit of very old, very hard ebony that came off an 80 year old double bass fingerboard that works great for blues type small boxes. If you're interested, I'd be happy to send you some. This is for an electric. Thanks for the offer. I actually have quite a bit of nice ebony. I just thought that people used that in the past because of the lack of availability of regular nut material. I may give that a shot though... thanks for the tip.
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| Author: | curtis [ Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Black Nut Material |
i was desperate for material once and tried a carbon fibre off-cut. worked a treat on a bass, gave a dodgy old 80's thing a nice woody tone with loads of sustain, wouldn't hesitate to use it again. very easy to cut too, seemed great. i asked a few people on olf and they said it was popular a few years ago, but not so much now, no one knew why. maybe it was a trend or whatever - worth a try tho. |
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