Ebony nut on electric?

[ricca]

Hi guys, I'm building a tele style 5 strings bass (photos as soon as possible). What about installing an ebony nut? Every upright bass has it but I never seen a bass guitar with it.
Will it have effect on overall sound? Positive or negative?
Thanks

 

[powerbass]

i have an ebony nut on one of my fretless basses. Works fine. As for sound, a nut doesn't contribute to the sound of the bass unless you play open strings all the time.

 

[Gigarob]

I reckon why not. I've used wood for nuts before and they go great. You have to take care because the ebony can be brittle, but assuming the wood is hard (and ebony is) I think it'll make a fine nut.
I don't think it affects the tone. Regardless of what nut manufacturers tell you, I don't think anyone has ever said 'that bass sounds great- it must have a bone/wood/synthetic nut'.

 

[ricca]

well....brass,for example, were a tipical upgrade for a nut in the '80 so I believed nut materials will affect the sound of the bass somehow, at least on open strings. I will give ebony a try.
Many thanks

 

[mongo2]

I have one on a fretted bass, no issues.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I have a stabilized ebony nut on my Cliff Bordwell 5. Looks great, no tonal issues, and its much safer than those "unstable" ebony nuts.

Riis

 

[ricca]

I have a stabilized ebony nut on my Cliff Bordwell 5. Looks great, no tonal issues, and its much safer than those "unstable" ebony nuts.

Riis

Sorry....what does "stabilized ebony" means?

 

[mikeyswood]

Ebony is an extremely stable wood. Someone sold you snake oil.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Ebony is an extremely stable wood. Someone sold you snake oil.

Let me verify that. I was of the impression that "stabilzed" indicated that the wood was impregnated with resin not unlike some of the fingerboards. I'll check with Cliff on that and get back to you.

Riis

 

[mikeyswood]

You mean acrylized?

 

[Zooberwerx]

You mean acrylized?

I believe we're on the same page. Cliff's website describes it as "stabilized" and I'm in no position to discern the finer points. FWIW, the spalted maple fingerboard has undergone a similar treatment.

Follow-up: Here's the response from Cliff

"It is the process that Gallery hardwoods does, I think he calls it acrylized now.
It stabilizes the wood and makes it so that it does not compress."

Hope this helps with wood selection!


Riis

 

[Zooberwerx]

For those interested, here's the website:

Link Removed

Riis

 

[Son of Magni]

I use Ebony for all my nuts, just one small way to use those scraps.

Stabilizing Ebony, seems like a waste of time and money. Also I like to use a graphite pencil to lubricate the slots and I'm not sure that would be as effective if the wood wasn't at least a little bit porous to hold the graphite.