Quote:
Originally Posted by bassmahn  Question for anyone who is in the know. 
Is there a difference in tone between the nut options? Or is it simply for looks?
Also, what would be the differences in tone between a spalted purpleheart finger board and an ebony with sapwood fb?
Thanks in advance for any input that ya'll have...  |
There is a slight difference in the tone that a nut will impart to the OPEN string. Once you stop the string elsewhere, IME, that difference disappears. We now offer the graphite for 6 string, until recently we had difficulty sourcing blanks big enough that didn't have "issues" (usually lots of tiny air bubbles in the casting that looked bad, but didn't have any structural issues), so we didn't offer it.
If you're getting a fretless, I tend to recommend the diamondwood if you're getting a diamondwood fingerboard, so the open strings sound nice and even with the stopped notes. Otherwise, the material doesn't really matter.
Purpleheart is a very hard, dry wood, and tends to have more snap than ebony, which is a hard, oily wood. They will definitely sound somewhat different - purpleheart will be snappy and open, ebony will be somewhat bright but slightly compressed sounding.
