Nuts!

[Larry F]

Bends are a big part of my playing. Here's my info:

I play blues.
I bend up in whole steps and lower, pushing the top three strings up.
I use GHS cryogenic 9s that I like a lot.
I just replaced my string trees with graphic and noticed a good difference.
I have brass compensated saddles.
I have a plastic nut that I haven't experimented with.
Maple neck MIK Tele.
I'm not knowledgable about tuning heads, so I've left these alone.
I used to break the high E a lot, but the cryogenic strings fixed that.
My tuning holds up OK, but could be better.
I sometimes have trouble zeroing in on pitch when tuning. Not sure if this is due to the tuning heads or the nut (I've used pencil lead in it, but otherwise no experimentation yet).
Here's a recent video of my playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq6Ni0_yIy8

Ideas for experimenting with nuts? Tuning gears?

[all_identaties_taken]

Tusq nut

[blacklinefish]

At the 2'10" point, you bend up and as you come down you do a hammer/pull-off technique. It almost sounded like a trem-bar!

That's the second time I watched that little video and I enjoyed it even more than the last time. Man, I would love to sit in that room and play for a few hours, because I play very differently. I rarely bend more than a half-step, in fact I prefer to not bend at all. My vibrato is based on the classical method (can't help it), and with medium strings it is very subtle. So, perhaps it would compliment your style.

I think something other than a plastic nut is in order. Someone else mentioned tusq, so I'll bring up graphite. In fact, bone would be better than plastic. Bone is harder, and I think it would not let the strings bind as much.

Also, about "zeroing in pitch when tuning," I think you've noticed that striking the string harder temporarily alters the pitch. With a tuner, I used to pick very slightly on the strings because I noticed less "variation." Then, I would pick a little more aggressively when playing and it would be off. I now tune with a picking strength that matches my playing.

--gh

[Larry F]

Thanks, I'll look into these. That's good info about pick attack and tuning.

That little bend/hammer goes like this:

Step 1. Do pre-bend of a whole step, say, Bb bent up to C with the 4th finger. Let's say this is on the 2nd string.
Step 2. Hold the bend and do a trill (hammer and pulls) with the 4th finger (which is playing C) and the first finger on F.
Step 3. Keep doing the trill but now slowing release the tension of the 4th finger until you're back on Bb. On the way down, you'll be getting into the cracks, like C, C quarternote flat, B natural, B quartertone flat, Bb.

It is just like doing it with a trem bar. It takes a lot of strength to do it, but it is fun.

[Mark Davis]

All the nut really has to do is hold the strings at a proper heights above the frets and the slots need to be wide enough so the strings dont bind. Thats it no magic involved. As soon as you press down any string your finger becomes the nut.

I would be sure the strings can pass freely in the nut slots and in this case concentrate on the tuners which are the weakest link on the MIK models.

It sounds great so it deserves some better stuff.