do you put graphite in your nut while changing strings?

[FiveStringsNme]

does this do anything convient or helpful....I keep hearing about this but dunno.

[RobbieK]

I've never found it necessary on basses. It's used as a lubricant and is often associated with guitars equiped with tremolo bridges.

...Although a lot of cheaper guitars have relatively soft plastic nuts, and the strings (wound g's on accoustics in particular!) often stick, and don't tune smoothly.

[FiveStringsNme]

yea I know about that stuff.......I heard that it helps a lot with open handed bends on bass..and maybe just bends in general too

[mgood]

With the teflon-impregnated graphite nuts that are common now, I don't think it's necessary. With brass, bone, plastic, whatever, then maybe.

[pkr2]

It's not absolutely mandatory but I do. It seems to make tuning smoother.

When your bass seeme to jump from below pitch to above pitch when you're tuning, try lubing the notches and you will usually see an immediate difference.

An ancient luthiers trick is to put a small tab of rice paper in the bridge notches to smooth tuning on double basses. Probably would work the same way in the nut slots on an EB.

Pkr2

[FiveStringsNme]

thanks a lot, I'm actually gonna do that right now!