African Hardwood nut... Anyone ever tried this?

KeepEmThumpin · #1 08-08-2009, 12:51 PM

Yeah, my bass has a P-Bass style nut that's long overdue for a replacement. I happen to have some REALLY tough African Hardwood lying around (I think it's Teak, but I could be wrong), and I've decided that I want to give that stuff a shot.

Has anyone given this a shot before? Anything I should watch out for, not do, etc? It'll take forever to get this thing done, but I feel like it'll be well worth it.

Jordan M · #2 08-09-2009, 06:25 PM

Well, almost all upright basses have a wooden nut (made of ebony), so I say GO FOR IT!

That would be really cool!

JohnnyNacho · #3 08-09-2009, 06:28 PM

Some people (like Phil Lesh) have nuts made of 10 000 year old mammoth ivory... Just thought I'd throw that out there. African Hardwood sounds really cool too, I wonder how it will affect your sound.

KeepEmThumpin · #4 08-09-2009, 11:30 PM

Yeah, this was my first bass, it's had the same worn-out plastic nut since my father first rescued it from someone's trash can several years back. I may have to level some frets before I really cut into this thing for string grooves, but I'll definitely keep a photo log of this funky little experiment. It's a pity I don't have any pre-surgery sound samples.

lethargytartare · #5 08-10-2009, 07:01 PM

I know there are a few other threads around here with detailed discussions about suitable materials for nuts -- including stone, corian, hardwoods, and some other stuff. Check those out, but at the end of the day, go for it! should be easy to whip up, and you get the fun/experience of trying the process, and worst thing that can happen is that it doesn't work and you're back to the original nut.

I got a chunk of corian counter, a piece of lingnum vitae, and some scraps of ebony, and I keep promising myself I'm going to make nuts out of all of them just to see how they work...TV keeps thwarting me hahaha...

Post your results :-)

ltt

Pilgrim · #6 08-10-2009, 10:40 PM

Sounds like a great idea to me!

walterw · #7 08-10-2009, 11:57 PM

meh, it won't be nearly as hard as bone, so why bother?

wood is ok for uprights with their flatwound strings and reasonably stable tuning (as long as you graphite the crap out of the slots), but rounds would be "grabby" tuning-wise and would grind that stuff down quick i suspect.

KeepEmThumpin · #8 08-11-2009, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walterw

meh, it won't be nearly as hard as bone, so why bother?

wood is ok for uprights with their flatwound strings and reasonably stable tuning (as long as you graphite the crap out of the slots), but rounds would be "grabby" tuning-wise and would grind that stuff down quick i suspect.

Ordinarily, I'd say the same, but this stuff is just plain beastly. My father works for the NYC subway system and they use this stuff to make the track ties. The piece that I'm cutting from, when rapped with a knuckle, produces a sound that resembles porcelain.

I think I'll still throw a little graphite into the grooves periodically anyway.

walterw · #9 08-11-2009, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeepEmThumpin

The piece that I'm cutting from, when rapped with a knuckle, produces a sound that resembles porcelain.

ooh, i'm imagining a fretless fingerboard made of the stuff!

KeepEmThumpin · #10 08-15-2009, 02:21 PM

A-hah! Figured out what kind of wood it is. It's called 'Ipê wood,' native to South America. It possesses twice the density of Oak and was used just about exclusively to make the boardwalks in New York City. The New York City Transit Authority also used it to make track ties at some point.