Would a maple nut make sense?

[roberthabraken]

I cannot find a bone nut of the right dimensions and thought maybe it would be nicer to make a wooden nut. I have a hard rock maple neck with a rosewood fb. The headstock veneer will be figured maple. Would a hard rock maple nut make sense? Would it last? Why do they always use bone or some other material instead of wood?

 

[meandi]

Benedetto, on at least one of his models, uses ebony for nut material although it is somewhat harder than maple.

 

[T2W]

I wouldnt be worried if you'd use it with a zero fret and putting CA in the grooves.

 

[roberthabraken]

Benedetto, on at least one of his models, uses ebony for nut material although it is somewhat harder than maple.

I googled for this and found at least one builder that uses maple nuts. He says they are stronger than bone. But I'm not sure of that, that's why I asked.. I think ebony would be okay, but this wouldn't make sense on my bass, since nothing is made of ebony.

I wouldnt be worried if you'd use it with a zero fret and putting CA in the grooves.

What if the zero fret isn't there? (I don't have space for it.) Could I go with just CA in the grooves?

 

[meandi]

What have you got to loose, other than a very small piece of maple & a bit-o-time?
Only thing, I'd make sure the grain ran across the strings vs with them.

 

[jordan_frerichs]

. I think ebony would be okay, but this wouldn't make sense on my bass, since nothing is made of ebony.

Yea, but your first choice was bone, and nothing on your bass is made of bone either. I saw your rosewood fingerboard, and ebony would blend nicely with that. I don't think it would look out of place at all.

 

[roberthabraken]

What have you got to loose, other than a very small piece of maple & a bit-o-time?
Only thing, I'd make sure the grain ran across the strings vs with them.

You've got a point there! And I will check for the grain. Let's just go for it .

Yea, but your first choice was bone, and nothing on your bass is made of bone either. I saw your rosewood fingerboard, and ebony would blend nicely with that. I don't think it would look out of place at all.

Yeah, good point too... but it's hard to get such a small piece around here, so I'll go and try the maple first.. if it's too soft, I can always switch to ebony.

 

[HogieWan]

all viol-type instruments use maple for the bridge, using it for a nut seems like a pretty good idea. Besides, a lot of manufacturers use soft plastic for nut material, maple seems like a huge upgrade to that stuff.

 

[roberthabraken]

all viol-type instruments use maple for the bridge, using it for a nut seems like a pretty good idea. Besides, a lot of manufacturers use soft plastic for nut material, maple seems like a huge upgrade to that stuff.

Thanks! I'm really confident I could go for a maple nut right now !