Bass neck nut?

**fuzzy beard** · #1 06-10-2011, 04:04 PM

I was playing today and noticed that my open notes sound alittle different than my fretted notes. It got my wondering why?

So i looked around and found that people think it is the difference between the material that the string is touching.
Open notes are on plastic nut and fretted notes are on metal fretts.

So why dont they make the nut out of the same material as the frett? I think it would also have to be the same thickness and other specs also.

Also i understand the differance is very small in tone. Most people will never hear it!

walterw · #2 06-10-2011, 04:10 PM

brass nuts were in back in the '70s; brass is pretty much what the fret is made of.

it makes the open strings a little crisper, but the difference is slight.

LilloEsquilo · #3 06-10-2011, 06:20 PM

The reason why not is typically cost. They can put an el cheapo plastic nut on there at a lower cost than the better materials.

bassteban · #4 06-10-2011, 06:24 PM

Just to add to your confusion, look into *zero frets*

JB696 · #5 06-10-2011, 06:34 PM

Plus, in the case of Fenders, the cheap plastic nut will sound just as good or better than any other material. I'm running all P-Bass necks now and I use part number 099-4921-000 on all my basses. I've replaced my brass, bone, and tusq nuts with this one. The sound is truly beautiful. If you're lucky, your Fender Bass came with one of these.

**fuzzy beard** · #6 06-10-2011, 06:35 PM

Now see i like the ideal of a zero fret from what i read. So why is this not more common? There would be very little time involved with the nut. After all with a zero fret the nut only does string placement.

I guess there will be many things about basses that wont make sense to me but this just seems like a simple thing that would help.

Rick Auricchio · #7 06-10-2011, 06:47 PM

The zero fret still costs money. You need a slightly longer neck to make room for it (which means retooling), and you have to install it (one more fret adds time/cost). And you still have to cut a proper nut anyway, so there's no saving there.

And...the big thing...nobody is going to hear the difference when you're playing with a band. You're lucky if the audience can hear the difference between brands of basses!

**fuzzy beard** · #8 06-10-2011, 07:05 PM

I understand that most dont hear it. I just noticed it today! But my wife who has a very musical ear has always complained about me hitting open notes when playing together. I just never knew why she didnt like it and her answer was she didnt like the way it sounded.

I just thought it was my attack on a none fretted string(maybe hitting it to hard?). But this is just us screwing around at home with the acoustic. I my self have never heard anyone else even bring up the differance.

I guess i just thought if i could hear it. That maybe others who do alot of recording and precision work may be bothered by it. With as much talk and fighting about tone there is on hear. I figured the unbalanced tone of a bass would bother some people on here and they may have found a way to handle it.

Me i dont really care to much just wondered. My tone is so muddy i can play the wrong note and get away with it LOL.