Hello, all.  Before actually discussing nut materials,   I wanted to share with you another thing I have learned over the years  regarding the effects of a poorly manufactured (or, at least, poorly slotted) nut.   I’ve never heard or seen it discussed, but my experience has taught me an undeniable fact: If  string clearance at the first fret is too high (determined, of course,  SPECIFICALLY  by the nut given that  all other setup geometry is proper) many necks develop a “bow” which concentrates itself within the first 3-5 frets.  Truss rods generally serve only to correct neck relief in a more or less uniform sense between the nut and heel….bows specific to smaller areas of the fingerboard become valleys and plateaus on the playing surface.  Not good.  The scenario described above results in buzzy notes on the first playing position frets (usually between frets 3 and 5….really buzzy ‘G’ or ‘G#’ on either ‘E’-string, etc.).  Given that  the neck is in the proper state of relief, and all other setup aspects are proper,  this is not an inexpensive thing to correct.  One long standing high-end guitar company (whose products I see frequently) is particularly guilty of this final-setup negligence–new is not synonymous with perfect.  Clearances for the strings at the first need to be  filed to slightly varying but very small tolerances.   When you fret a first-position note, there should not be a sensation that you are in any way BENDING the string over the surface of the nut slot to make it contact the first fret.  If there is such a sensation, your guitar is suffering from at least one setup-related shortcoming which will result in instrument-warping physics.

TALK TO YOU ALL NEXT WEEK..In the upcoming blog we discuss the power of sentiment in the guitar world…it knoweth no bounds.