Here's a link to a Graphtech page, where they did an audio test, and claim that Tusq may be the best saddle/nut material.
Make sure you hit the 'take a look' link in the middle of the paragraph, to see the audio graphs.
from : localhost/graphtech.com/weblog/index.php
The density is supposed to be more even in density than bone, so I can see how it would work better than bone when used with a piezo.
This is making me think of using Tusq in the future, if I ever change a nut.
doesnt the nut only affect tone when you play open chords? When you fret, it's the tone of the fret and the bridge that are taken into account.
I like TUSQ alot. Very easy to work with. (No nasty smell when shaping it)I can't hear any sonic differeance from bone?
Originally Posted by Quencho092doesnt the nut only affect tone when you play open chords? When you fret, it's the tone of the fret and the bridge that are taken into account.
This is a common misconception, that the effect of the nut on tone is eliminated when you fret a string.
In fact, the string vibrates in three dimensions; two of these, the side-to-side and vertical planes are visually evident, so we tend only to think of the string's vibration in these two planes, but the string also experiences cyclic tension changes as it moves to the outermost extreme of its excursion arc then back through the null point. These tensile elements of the vibration spectrum affect the string's whole length, not just the free vibrating length, and the high end harmonics are very strongly represented by them, so anything which sustains the tensile components, or conversely, damps them, will affect the tone. Ironically, this includes the security and stability of the tuners and the quality of the players string wrap. It always makes me smile when someone comes to me fretting about their tone and willing to spend hundreds on new pickups to make themselves sound like Zakk Wylde or whoever, but whose strings look like they've been put on by a trained monkey and a blind one at that...
For me, the jury is still out on tusq. I was pleasantly surprised by the way it rang once when i dropped a tusq saddle, but it still seems a bit soft to me. Remember tonal response isn't always about density, but also hardness, elasticity and co-efficient of restitution. I have Tusq saddles on my Strat though, and it sounds OK, but I plan to put metal saddles back on it when i get a chance.
Originally Posted by octavedoctorThis is a common misconception, that the effect of the nut on tone is eliminated when you fret a string.
In fact, the string vibrates in three dimensions; two of these, the side-to-side and vertical planes are visually evident, so we tend only to think of the string's vibration in these two planes, but the string also experiences cyclic tension changes as it moves to the outermost extreme of its excursion arc then back through the null point. These tensile elements of the vibration spectrum affect the string's whole length, not just the free vibrating length, and the high end harmonics are very strongly represented by them, so anything which sustains the tensile components, or conversely, damps them, will affect the tone. Ironically, this includes the security and stability of the tuners and the quality of the players string wrap. It always makes me smile when someone comes to me fretting about their tone and willing to spend hundreds on new pickups to make themselves sound like Zakk Wylde or whoever, but whose strings look like they've been put on by a trained monkey and a blind one at that...
For me, the jury is still out on tusq. I was pleasantly surprised by the way it rang once when i dropped a tusq saddle, but it still seems a bit soft to me. Remember tonal response isn't always about density, but also hardness, elasticity and co-efficient of restitution. I have Tusq saddles on my Strat though, and it sounds OK, but I plan to put metal saddles back on it when i get a chance.
Thats a lot of big words...
so how bout them yankees?
Originally Posted by octavedoctorThis is a common misconception, that the effect of the nut on tone is eliminated when you fret a string.
I dunno about you, but when I fret, my fingers dampen the vibrations so that, except for sympathetic vibrations, the vibration from the fret to the bridge is independent of the vibration from the fret to the nut.
To confirm this, I did a quick experiment whereby I fretted using my ring finger and used my 1st finger to alternatively lightely dampen the strings between the nut and the fretted fret. Sure enough, after strumming and A/Bing between damped and undamped, I couldn't tell a difference. So, for now, I'm concluding that the material the strings come into contact with make no difference if the material is behind the fretted fret, and hence, bone should affect only open notes.
Oh gosh! I have TUSQ nuts, string trees on both strats, and saddles on one of them. Mainly because the Tech would cut the nut so that there's no catching when the string moves through. And he likes the stuff. If he'd said brass nuts, i'd probably have gone with it
I'm a much bigger fan of Rumours.I know that the tusq reacts to sunlight and turns a yucky yellow brown color after a while.
GS
That sound chart doesn't make sense. The tusq saddle is smooth as a wave and the other waves are always rigidly up and down - sometimes dropping out completely. I say its a crock.
Originally Posted by MattPeteI dunno about you, but when I fret, my fingers dampen the vibrations so that, except for sympathetic vibrations, the vibration from the fret to the bridge is independent of the vibration from the fret to the nut.
To confirm this, I did a quick experiment whereby I fretted using my ring finger and used my 1st finger to alternatively lightely dampen the strings between the nut and the fretted fret. Sure enough, after strumming and A/Bing between damped and undamped, I couldn't tell a difference. So, for now, I'm concluding that the material the strings come into contact with make no difference if the material is behind the fretted fret, and hence, bone should affect only open notes.
Read my post again. You are only focusing on the strings lateral vibration. The cyclic tensile vibrations occupy the strings length and are independent of the sounding length of the string. The material the nut is made of will have an effect on these and as they are responsible for most of the high end harmonics the retention or loss of these will significantly affect the tone and sustain. PM me and i'll send you a PDF copy of the relevant study.
Don't be put off by long words, just get a dictionary.
I don't see how that ad hoc experiment works by the way, you are changing the wrong variables.
Make sure you hit the 'take a look' link in the middle of the paragraph, to see the audio graphs.
from : localhost/graphtech.com/weblog/index.php
The density is supposed to be more even in density than bone, so I can see how it would work better than bone when used with a piezo.
This is making me think of using Tusq in the future, if I ever change a nut.
doesnt the nut only affect tone when you play open chords? When you fret, it's the tone of the fret and the bridge that are taken into account.
I like TUSQ alot. Very easy to work with. (No nasty smell when shaping it)I can't hear any sonic differeance from bone?
Originally Posted by Quencho092doesnt the nut only affect tone when you play open chords? When you fret, it's the tone of the fret and the bridge that are taken into account.
This is a common misconception, that the effect of the nut on tone is eliminated when you fret a string.
In fact, the string vibrates in three dimensions; two of these, the side-to-side and vertical planes are visually evident, so we tend only to think of the string's vibration in these two planes, but the string also experiences cyclic tension changes as it moves to the outermost extreme of its excursion arc then back through the null point. These tensile elements of the vibration spectrum affect the string's whole length, not just the free vibrating length, and the high end harmonics are very strongly represented by them, so anything which sustains the tensile components, or conversely, damps them, will affect the tone. Ironically, this includes the security and stability of the tuners and the quality of the players string wrap. It always makes me smile when someone comes to me fretting about their tone and willing to spend hundreds on new pickups to make themselves sound like Zakk Wylde or whoever, but whose strings look like they've been put on by a trained monkey and a blind one at that...
For me, the jury is still out on tusq. I was pleasantly surprised by the way it rang once when i dropped a tusq saddle, but it still seems a bit soft to me. Remember tonal response isn't always about density, but also hardness, elasticity and co-efficient of restitution. I have Tusq saddles on my Strat though, and it sounds OK, but I plan to put metal saddles back on it when i get a chance.
Originally Posted by octavedoctorThis is a common misconception, that the effect of the nut on tone is eliminated when you fret a string.
In fact, the string vibrates in three dimensions; two of these, the side-to-side and vertical planes are visually evident, so we tend only to think of the string's vibration in these two planes, but the string also experiences cyclic tension changes as it moves to the outermost extreme of its excursion arc then back through the null point. These tensile elements of the vibration spectrum affect the string's whole length, not just the free vibrating length, and the high end harmonics are very strongly represented by them, so anything which sustains the tensile components, or conversely, damps them, will affect the tone. Ironically, this includes the security and stability of the tuners and the quality of the players string wrap. It always makes me smile when someone comes to me fretting about their tone and willing to spend hundreds on new pickups to make themselves sound like Zakk Wylde or whoever, but whose strings look like they've been put on by a trained monkey and a blind one at that...
For me, the jury is still out on tusq. I was pleasantly surprised by the way it rang once when i dropped a tusq saddle, but it still seems a bit soft to me. Remember tonal response isn't always about density, but also hardness, elasticity and co-efficient of restitution. I have Tusq saddles on my Strat though, and it sounds OK, but I plan to put metal saddles back on it when i get a chance.
Thats a lot of big words...
so how bout them yankees?
Originally Posted by octavedoctorThis is a common misconception, that the effect of the nut on tone is eliminated when you fret a string.
I dunno about you, but when I fret, my fingers dampen the vibrations so that, except for sympathetic vibrations, the vibration from the fret to the bridge is independent of the vibration from the fret to the nut.
To confirm this, I did a quick experiment whereby I fretted using my ring finger and used my 1st finger to alternatively lightely dampen the strings between the nut and the fretted fret. Sure enough, after strumming and A/Bing between damped and undamped, I couldn't tell a difference. So, for now, I'm concluding that the material the strings come into contact with make no difference if the material is behind the fretted fret, and hence, bone should affect only open notes.
Oh gosh! I have TUSQ nuts, string trees on both strats, and saddles on one of them. Mainly because the Tech would cut the nut so that there's no catching when the string moves through. And he likes the stuff. If he'd said brass nuts, i'd probably have gone with it
I'm a much bigger fan of Rumours.I know that the tusq reacts to sunlight and turns a yucky yellow brown color after a while.
GS
That sound chart doesn't make sense. The tusq saddle is smooth as a wave and the other waves are always rigidly up and down - sometimes dropping out completely. I say its a crock.
Originally Posted by MattPeteI dunno about you, but when I fret, my fingers dampen the vibrations so that, except for sympathetic vibrations, the vibration from the fret to the bridge is independent of the vibration from the fret to the nut.
To confirm this, I did a quick experiment whereby I fretted using my ring finger and used my 1st finger to alternatively lightely dampen the strings between the nut and the fretted fret. Sure enough, after strumming and A/Bing between damped and undamped, I couldn't tell a difference. So, for now, I'm concluding that the material the strings come into contact with make no difference if the material is behind the fretted fret, and hence, bone should affect only open notes.
Read my post again. You are only focusing on the strings lateral vibration. The cyclic tensile vibrations occupy the strings length and are independent of the sounding length of the string. The material the nut is made of will have an effect on these and as they are responsible for most of the high end harmonics the retention or loss of these will significantly affect the tone and sustain. PM me and i'll send you a PDF copy of the relevant study.
Don't be put off by long words, just get a dictionary.
I don't see how that ad hoc experiment works by the way, you are changing the wrong variables.
