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Anyone have a brass nut on a P bass?

ledyard

ledyard

Jan 31, 2010
1,655
46
Upstate NY
www.elephant-mountain.com
#1
I am pretty set on doing this when i have the extra cash. I have a 94' 62' reissue MIJ P bass that I love dearly. I put a 89' MIJ Jazz neck on it recently now I love it more than ever. It has a bone or corian nut on it(dunno which). But I really wanna put a brass nut on it (recalling my Pedulla MVP days).

Anyone have one? Any tonal differences or feel or sustain ect ect??

Oh and its not quite the same but I was toying around with maybe getting the 1.5" nut width brass Warwick adjust-a-nut (individual adjustment) and maybe having that put on. But thats just an after thought i had.
 
#2
I have a brass nut on my Electra Phoenix MIJ P-Bass.
Most people will say it dosent effect tone in a way that makes a drastic difference. But I once took it off and put a bone nut on it and it did make an audible difference. With the brass nut there was more tinge to the notes being played, more so on the higher notes. More presence as well. With the bone nut on it was more thumpier and mellow sounding at least to my ears. Ended up puting the brass back on it, just because it has a different tone than my other p bass with it.
 
#3
I would agree with Shawshank. I tried plastic (the cheap nut it came with), graphite, Tusq, bone and brass. Bone seems a bit inconsistent between pieces some might be great others not so good. Brass is very consistent and it does make a tonal difference on my basses to my ears. It to me sounded the best of the materials I tried. I did get more sustain as well. I should note the basses in question are Peavey Zodiac Scorpio DEs, which are pretty much metal basses but also similar to a P bass. Hope this helps you.
 
#9
audiomitch said:
Pardon me if I'm wrong, but isn't it only open strings that would be affected by the nut? If you're pressing on a fret, the nut is pretty much out of the loop. I never got the concept of how the whole bass tone could be affected by the material of the nut.
Click to expand...

Yes you are correct. Probably why Warwick did a brass nut and brass frets no?

When I had my pedulla I did notice an extra something with the open strings.
 
#11
shawshank72 said:
I have a brass nut on my Electra Phoenix MIJ P-Bass.
Most people will say it dosent effect tone in a way that makes a drastic difference. But I once took it off and put a bone nut on it and it did make an audible difference. With the brass nut there was more tinge to the notes being played, more so on the higher notes. More presence as well. With the bone nut on it was more thumpier and mellow sounding at least to my ears. Ended up puting the brass back on it, just because it has a different tone than my other p bass with it.
Click to expand...

Sorry but that rubbish! The brass nut will maybe change the tone of open strings but it has NOTHING to do with high notes!
The only thing you could argue is that the extra mass at the headstock could influence tone one way or another (think fat finger) but there is no way the weight of a brass nut Vs bone nut can make a noticeable difference to the human ear!

So in the end i would say unless there is something very wrong with your current nut, or your an open string freak, dont bother.
 
#15
I used to have brass nuts. Now all my basses have the replacement Fender plastic nuts. The tone on the open strings matches the tone of the fretted notes better than brass or bone. Why, I don't know. Plus the radius of the nut grooves matches the radius of my Warmoth necks perfectly, so I just have to shave the bottom off of the nut to fit. They are a very hard plastic and with flatwound strings seem to last forever. Working all day with the nut files and a brass blank can be fun. And it really gives you a feeling of pride to turn out a perfectly formed and polished brass nut. But I will never do it again. :)
 
#16
audiomitch said:
Pardon me if I'm wrong, but isn't it only open strings that would be affected by the nut? If you're pressing on a fret, the nut is pretty much out of the loop. I never got the concept of how the whole bass tone could be affected by the material of the nut.
Click to expand...
it can't. only the open note.

i tried it once and immediately took it off. made the open notes sound like a different bass.
 
#17
.
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but this one came up in a Google search!

Pardon me if I'm wrong, but isn't it only open strings that would be affected by the nut? If you're pressing on a fret, the nut is pretty much out of the loop. I never got the concept of how the whole bass tone could be affected by the material of the nut.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
But some luthiers argue otherwise!

The argument for brass nuts affecting ALL notes

I'll be convinced when someone fits a rubber nut to a bass, records the tone, then fits a brass one and records that. Just to cover the extremes of possibility.
If there's any audible difference then yes, the hardness of the nut material does affect the tone of a bass, fretting anywhere on the neck.

(BTW, I'm not really all that sorry about digging up an old thread. I do it often! Makes me laugh how some get really annoyed by it! Who cares if a thread's three years old or ten years old? Sheesh!)
 
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#19
OzzyGreg said:
.
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but this one came up in a Google search!



Agreed.
But some luthiers argue otherwise!

The argument for brass nuts affecting ALL notes

I'll be convinced when someone fits a rubber nut to a bass, records the tone, then fits a brass one and records that. Just to cover the extremes of possibility.

If there's any audible difference then yes, the hardness of the nut material does affect the tone of a bass, fretting anywhere on the neck.
Click to expand...


In spite of the guitard puff piece pushing brass nuts, I don't think there is much of an effect though in my opinion there is an effect. And I presume the reason is that strings vibrate BEHIND where you are playing as well as in front of the fret unless some effort is made to damp those "wolf tones" behind. And in my experience I have noticed SLIGHT (and emphsize slight!) differences from nuts. In particular when I changed to lubed TUSQ nuts.

However no matter what musicians like to say about "night and day" differences, in my view the REAL reason to change a nut (especially to the lubed Black TUSQ ones) is so that tuning isn't so "sticky". That is more important to me than any imagined tone differences.

My Alembic has a brass nut and I'm not all that impressed with it. I wouldn't bother to put one on any other bass based on what I've seen on that one.
 
#20
I've always had a preference for bone nuts, and Chip Todd turned me on to uncured bone nuts. I like the look of brass nuts and could see using brass even if only for the looks, but the old Warwick brass adjust-a-nuts were practical as well (allowing for the adjustment of individual string height).

If someone can hear the difference when fretting strings with different nut materials then more power to them. I can't hear the difference between maple and rosewood fingerboards in a blind test so many of these options are cosmetic to me.
 

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