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Why A "Zero-Fret"?

#2
A zero fret can make your open strings sound more like fretted notes. Not a lot of advantage after that. They won't break like a nut can, but they are obviously more difficult to replace if they get worn out.
 
#3
The idea is to make the open strings sound like they are being fretted, so you don't get that nuance difference between fretted and open notes. I like the zero fret, I wish more people would use it, but it's not that big of a deal to me to where it determines what bass I buy or use.
 
#4
FWIW, I very seldom hear these "subtle tone enhancements/detractors" people talk about all the time like maple vs rosewood board, hi mass bridges, stringing through body blah blah blah. My ear just isn't that refined I guess. But I have had several basses with ta zero fret and it is easily noticable. The first thing I did when I got my Elrick was play A at the 5th on E and open A, over and over again. There was almost no difference in tone. Remember this is coming from someone like me who can barely tell an alder P bass from an ash P bass. ;)
 
#7
With a conventional cut nut, your bass string is supported up off the fretboard by the depth of the cut slot, and side-to- side by the width of the slot.

A zero fret takes care of the depth issue perfectly, the nut then just has to keep the strings in place side to side.

I'm surprised this has not become a standard feature of less-expensive basses, as it makes the nut a 50% less critical component in the setup.

I'm a big fan of the Zero Fret.
 
#9
I have an older Steinberger fretless that does not have a zero fret (the newer models do) It also didn't have a nut, being a headless bass. The strings came out of the head and rested on the top edge of the fret board. Eventually the strings worked grooves into the board, sinking into it and changing the scale length (by a fraction) and screwing up the tone.
Because the neck wasn't long enough to install a zero fret, I had to have a custom nut installed.
In the case of this guitar, I wish it was one of the models with the zero fret.
 
#10
The problem with a zero-fret is one of perception. During the guitar boom of the '60s, except for Gretsch, no major manufacturer used a zero fret. That means the proffesional instrumens (Martin, Gibson, and Fender) didn't have them. So the most common place you saw a zero fret was on cheap crappy imports. So, like Fender's Micro-Tilt, they became associated with poor quality.

Of course if you LIKE your open strings sounding a bit different (I do on guitar especially) then a standard bone or simulated bone nut works better.

John
 
#12
pjmuck said:
Couldn't a zero fret be added to most basses if needed? Most I've seen reside just after the nut (within 1/4"?), and while you might lose a little real estate in the first fret I'm assuming there'd still be more than enough, given the correct fretting position would be just behind the 1st fret anyway.
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No. This would change the scale length and put all of your other frets out of tune
 
#13
Jools4001 said:
No. This would change the scale length and put all of your other frets out of tune
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Not if you also moved the bridge back the same distance as the top of the new zero fret is from the nut? I think its kind of silly, but hypothetically thatwould work. Plus if its really close to the nut, you might have enough intonation adjustment in the saddles. JUst thinking out loud, a luthier experty type can probably shoot me down on this one.
 
#14
pjmuck said:
Couldn't a zero fret be added to most basses if needed? ...
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I wouldn't say most but some, yes. There were times that I replaced a nut with a piece of Corian that served two purposes... it had slots to align the strings and sandwiched the zero fret between it and the edge of the fingerboard.

I like zero frets because after a fret level is done, extra work isn't needed to cut the slots deeper to suit.The zero fret is leveled along with all of the others.
 
#15
lousybassplayer said:
Not if you also moved the bridge back the same distance as the top of the new zero fret is from the nut? I think its kind of silly, but hypothetically thatwould work. Plus if its really close to the nut, you might have enough intonation adjustment in the saddles. JUst thinking out loud, a luthier experty type can probably shoot me down on this one.
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Nope. You would have moved the "nut" and the "bridge" but you have not moved any of the frets - and hence all the frets will sound out of tune.

The only way is to have the zero-fret physically at the position of the old nut, which is quite a fair bit of work.
 
#16
I did that one time, with a gee-tar... removed the old nut, sandwiched a fret wire's tang between the new deeper-cut nut and a very thin slice of rosewood glued to the end of the rosewood fretboard.

Worked fine, tuned up just fine.
 
#17
nomadh said:
I have a 6 string with a brass nut. I think its similar to a zero fret. The open strings hit like a grand piano on that thing.
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My Status Energy has a brass nut AND a zero fret. I've always felt that its open strings didn't really sound that much like the fretted notes but I may be imagining things. I don't use open strings very much in my playing anyway.
 
#18
boomtisk said:
My Status Energy has a brass nut AND a zero fret. I've always felt that its open strings didn't really sound that much like the fretted notes but I may be imagining things. I don't use open strings very much in my playing anyway.
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Are you sure it's not a brass string retainer? The zero fret would likely be useless if the bass had a nut.
 

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