question from a begginer

[bassforthesoul]

my bass nut is awful and Im planning to replace it, can i use ebiny as a nut?

[devo_stevo]

Yes. Yes you can.

[pie_man_25]

I've heard that with you should "harden" ebony before using it as a nut. Of course, this was in a ukulele forum, and I'm not sure how to harden it. Also, I frequently use woods like oak for a nut on my ukuleles without "hardening" it and it works fine, so I can imagine you could use ebony for a bass nut.

[Dirk Diggler]

Yes you can.

I've never heard of hardening ebony, it's already hard to start with. Care to describe that process?
Dirk

[pie_man_25]

/\ my thoughts exactly, I've just "heard" about it.

[tjclem]

Watch the grain orientation on the ebony. If possible have the grain go 90 degrees opposite the fretboard

[bassforthesoul]

Originally Posted by pie_man_25

I've heard that with you should "harden" ebony before using it as a nut. Of course, this was in a ukulele forum, and I'm not sure how to harden it. Also, I frequently use woods like oak for a nut on my ukuleles without "hardening" it and it works fine, so I can imagine you could use ebony for a bass nut.

how is the process done? hardening the ebony for a nut

[pie_man_25]

Originally Posted by bassforthesoul

how is the process done? hardening the ebony for a nut

I wouldn't worry about it, ebony is used all the time on nuts on double basses, and I've NEVER read anything on the topic of hardening it for double bass use, I've only ever heard of it once on a ukulele forum, which makes no sense to me. Anyways, I'm really doubting that this "hardening" process even exists and all I did was propagate the myth, because the ebony I've worked with so far was pretty darn hard. You really wouldn't have any trouble making it from ebony without this process. As a matter of fact, I'm just going to say I think I was imagining the idea of "hardening" it instead of remembering it, the stuff is already hard enough.

[bassforthesoul]

im going to use it for a pbass and a jazz bass, is it suitable for this kind of bass?or the ebony is just for double bass?

[PazzoBasso]

I'd recommend using something synthetic - like a GraphTech product...

Unless you happen to have a suitable chunk of Ebony & really really want to try it out - I'm sure it will work (unless it has a knot or weak spot in the grain), but I don't think there's any advantage to an ebony nut...

[bassforthesoul]

would it be affecting the sustain?

[PazzoBasso]

It's difficult to tell if how much a nut can affect sustain - there was a trend (years ago) to use brass... I'm not sure how much density varies between synthetic materials & Ebony (or Bone, Mammoth Ivory, Buckhorn... etc) and if there would be a noticeable difference... it might only affect the open notes (a poorly fitted or very soft nut could cause some rattling & other undesired problems)....

[bassforthesoul]

thanks for the info