Nut: Lubricate under string to improve tuning?

[perucci]

What are some good commonly available materials to use to lubricate the slots in the nut so the string does not a) get bound affecting tuning or b) wear the nut as fast? I'm especially concerned with wear, since apparently roundwound strings can be used to cut/file the nut-slots, albeit slowly, rather than using a file.

I realize that a nut slot that is too tight can also cause binding, but here, I'm concerned with lubrication.

I saw a paste in the stew-mac catalog for such lubrication, but I seem to recall someone posting once that graphite from a pencil worked fine.

In case the nut material affects the lubricant used, I have cheap plastic nuts...

 

[dreadheadbass]

graphite is very slippy more than you would think in fact, it works fantastic on nuts (i've been using it donkeys years)
get a nice soft pencil (B1 or below) and next time you change your strings colour in the slots till they turn silver its as easy as that and should easy last timm your next string change

as for wear and tear i dont know anyone who's worn a nutt out even my old peavey still has a stock nut and out of 7 years of hard gigging, tuning, practicing and string changing the nut has probably worn about 0.001mm seriously you'll go through frets faster than nuts
if you think about it to file a nut down with a roundwound string you'd have to spend a good 20 min to wear it down and if you think that tuning a bass only moves the string forwards or backwards a few mm then it will take about 20 years to wear it down

cant say i've tried any of the lubes you can buy off the market the pencil trick works too well to bother with expensive tins of jazz

 

[jasper383]

+1 to the thread above.

I just use a mechanical pencil that's nearby when I restring. I spent a lot more time worrying about this sort of thing when I had a tremolo equipped guitar.

I'm glad those days are over.

 

[62bass]

graphite is very slippy more than you would think in fact, it works fantastic on nuts (i've been using it donkeys years)
get a nice soft pencil (B1 or below) and next time you change your strings colour in the slots till they turn silver its as easy as that and should easy last timm your next string change

as for wear and tear i dont know anyone who's worn a nutt out even my old peavey still has a stock nut and out of 7 years of hard gigging, tuning, practicing and string changing the nut has probably worn about 0.001mm seriously you'll go through frets faster than nuts
if you think about it to file a nut down with a roundwound string you'd have to spend a good 20 min to wear it down and if you think that tuning a bass only moves the string forwards or backwards a few mm then it will take about 20 years to wear it down

cant say i've tried any of the lubes you can buy off the market the pencil trick works too well to bother with expensive tins of jazz

I agree. I've never had a nut wear out from tuning, even with roundwound strings. I've had a couple break but that had nothing to do with tuning.

For lubrication the soft pencil trick works as well as anything. I once used some powdered graphite in a little tube made for locks but it was messier to use. Of course, you could just use a graphite nut and not have to worry about it.

Some basses you never have any problems with strings getting hung up in the nut slots. A lot has to do with the angle of the strings from the tuning pegs to the nut. And I always tune up to the note, not down. That makes a difference too.

 

[FunkyJazzMan]

I have used big bends nut sauce on my guitars and basses and it works really well.

 

[mikopita]

I always carry a tube of powdered graphite in my gig bag of goodies. I've found the nut sauce to work brilliantly too... it's just a more expensive alternative.