Top Nut Question ---->

[SurferJoe46]

Is the top nut considered a consumable item in that it wears out?

If so, how/why does it wear? I can't see how tuning the bass can cause all that much wear.

Cracking, maybe - but nut wear kinda leaves me flummoxed just a little.

Can someone un-flummox me?

 

[SDB Guitars]

Nuts can wear, but sone materials wear faster than others.

E.G. Plastic nuts wear faster than graphite which wears faster than bone... I've had to replace a nut because it was broken, sometimes you'll see thinks like a crack or a chip, or maybe you want to drastically change string size. To go larger, you need to recut the slots, and to go significantly smaller gauge, I'd probably just replace the nut.
Using strings gauged too wide for the slot can cause a nut to crack or break.

 

[SurferJoe46]

OK, but the wear factor is still up for grabs - right?

Oh - I can see the small amount of sliding through the grooves by the strings when you tune up, but really that has to be so small as to not count much or at all.

Is it the string vibrating on the material that wears it out?

 

[Rickett Customs]

OK, but the wear factor is still up for grabs - right?

Oh - I can see the small amount of sliding through the grooves by the strings when you tune up, but really that has to be so small as to not count much or at all.

Is it the string vibrating on the material that wears it out?

If you add it up with multiple years of changing strings (not necessarily in 6 months), it will. More so with round wounds, due to the friction. It also depends on just how frequently you tune. It's friction regardless. Different materials will wear faster than others.

If you look at a string in a microscope, they're sharper than they appear to the eye.

 

[SurferJoe46]

Thank-you, that makes sense now.

I just couldn't see the strings running up-n-down the nut and wearing it out from normal playing.

Maybe flats (ROTO 77s?) are a little easier on the nuts?

 

[Rickett Customs]

Thank-you, that makes sense now.

I just couldn't see the strings running up-n-down the nut and wearing it out from normal playing.

Maybe flats (ROTO 77s?) are a little easier on the nuts?

I would think so, but that last sentence is just wrong on so many levels

 

[SeaBassSteve]

I would think so, but that last sentence is just wrong on so many levels

I lolled


Even worse if you happen to put a heavy string without remembering to expand the slot . . .


edit :
That damage was caused by heavies so have gone back to the DR Red devils, and don't mention the different colours, ongoing saga, as the bright red B strings don't seem to be available in the UK