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Changing Zero Fret Nut


merciful-evans

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I got my replacement nut today (thanks Boris -Gibson EU :) ).

 

It appears to be nickel. Probably plated. I have experience of titanium, and it doesn't look like that.

 

I was surprised to find that the nut is not captive, meaning that when you remove the strings it just falls off!

The nut is actually in 2 parts. One part is fixed to the neck. This is the receptacle for the 'loose' part. Its this second part that has been replaced.

The two adjustment screws are short pieces of studding that have to be removed from the old brass part and screwed into the new nickel one. They are extremely small.

 

Before removing them I thought it would be a good idea to check the protrusion height of the studs. This saves time adjusting the nut height in situ later. I have a micrometer, so I used it to measure from the stud end to the nut/zero fret at both positions. If anyone's interested, mine measured 0.264" between the e & B strings and 0.269" between the E & A strings. This height setting has seemed pretty good far so I kept with it.

 

I tried to keep the screw studs in position on the end of the allen key (they are too small to hold in my fingers) and transfer them direct into the new part. It took a minute or two to get the first set to 0.264". A 1/4" to a 1/3" turn roughly equals 0.001".

The second one came in at 0.269" straight away with no adjustment. What are the chances of that?! [omg]

 

Tuned back up and the job was done. Action and feel just as it was before, except no 'pinging' with string bends.

 

Strangely, the ruts in the brass piece are much smaller than I expected. I think a quick rub with fine emery would probably remove them. Trouble is, who wants to do that every couple of days?

 

Here's hoping the nickel part lasts well.

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I got my replacement nut today (thanks Boris -Gibson EU :) ).

 

It appears to be nickel. Probably plated. I have experience of titanium, and it doesn't look like that.

 

I was surprised to find that the nut is not captive, meaning that when you remove the strings it just falls off!

The nut is actually in 2 parts. One part is fixed to the neck. This is the receptacle for the 'loose' part. Its this second part that has been replaced.

The two adjustment screws are short pieces of studding that have to be removed from the old brass part and screwed into the new nickel one. They are extremely small.

 

Before removing them I thought it would be a good idea to check the protrusion height of the studs. This saves time adjusting the nut height in situ later. I have a micrometer, so I used it to measure from the stud end to the nut/zero fret at both positions. If anyone's interested, mine measured 0.264" between the e & B strings and 0.269" between the E & A strings. This height setting has seemed pretty good far so I kept with it.

 

I tried to keep the screw studs in position on the end of the allen key (they are too small to hold in my fingers) and transfer them direct into the new part. It took a minute or two to get the first set to 0.264". A 1/4" to a 1/3" turn roughly equals 0.001".

The second one came in at 0.269" straight away with no adjustment. What are the chances of that?! [omg]

 

Tuned back up and the job was done. Action and feel just as it was before, except no 'pinging' with string bends.

 

Strangely, the ruts in the brass piece are much smaller than I expected. I think a quick rub with fine emery would probably remove them. Trouble is, who wants to do that every couple of days?

 

Here's hoping the nickel part lasts well.

I've replaced mine with the nickle plated nut but it didn't last much longer. They finally sent me another replacement nut made from Titanium, I haven't switched to it yet. I'll switch to the titanium when I do my next string change. I'll keep everyboby posted on how well the titanium nut works.

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I've replaced mine with the nickle plated nut but it didn't last much longer. They finally sent me another replacement nut made from Titanium, I haven't switched to it yet. I'll switch to the titanium when I do my next string change. I'll keep everyboby posted on how well the titanium nut works.

 

I was kind of expecting that. Nickel might be ok for regular frets but this zero fret is bearing the brunt of the tuning motion.

 

If it wasnt for the nut slot sizes, I might have simply reversed the nut and see how well it worked without the zero fret.

 

Titanium is really really hard. If that doesn't man up to the task, I'll take up the xylophone.

 

Looking forward to your assessment.

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Hallo, I am italian and I had problem with Brass nut (the G string slip in the B nut space after bending or vibrato on second fret). I Contacted Gibson Europa assistant and they told me that i will receive a nickel nut instead of a titanium or Brass replacement. I don't undestand why in USA G deliver titanium and Europe nickel. We pay Gibson in the same way ...with money ... and why they don't sell nut in the gibson Shop.

Ciao, marcello

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I got my replacement nut today (thanks Boris -Gibson EU :) ).

 

It appears to be nickel. Probably plated. I have experience of titanium, and it doesn't look like that.

 

I was surprised to find that the nut is not captive, meaning that when you remove the strings it just falls off!

The nut is actually in 2 parts. One part is fixed to the neck. This is the receptacle for the 'loose' part. Its this second part that has been replaced.

The two adjustment screws are short pieces of studding that have to be removed from the old brass part and screwed into the new nickel one. They are extremely small.

 

Before removing them I thought it would be a good idea to check the protrusion height of the studs. This saves time adjusting the nut height in situ later. I have a micrometer, so I used it to measure from the stud end to the nut/zero fret at both positions. If anyone's interested, mine measured 0.264" between the e & B strings and 0.269" between the E & A strings. This height setting has seemed pretty good far so I kept with it.

 

I tried to keep the screw studs in position on the end of the allen key (they are too small to hold in my fingers) and transfer them direct into the new part. It took a minute or two to get the first set to 0.264". A 1/4" to a 1/3" turn roughly equals 0.001".

The second one came in at 0.269" straight away with no adjustment. What are the chances of that?! [omg]

 

Tuned back up and the job was done. Action and feel just as it was before, except no 'pinging' with string bends.

 

Strangely, the ruts in the brass piece are much smaller than I expected. I think a quick rub with fine emery would probably remove them. Trouble is, who wants to do that every couple of days?

 

Here's hoping the nickel part lasts well.

 

What do you think about nickel nut? Has it the same spaces for string of brass one?

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What do you think about nickel nut? Has it the same spaces for string of brass one?

 

Yes its the same as the brass one in all respects. So far no ruts and its behaving fine I did raise the nut slightly at the bottom end after a couple of days.

 

As long as it continues to work I wont grumble further.

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Yes its the same as the brass one in all respects. So far no ruts and its behaving fine I did raise the nut slightly at the bottom end after a couple of days.

 

As long as it continues to work I wont grumble further.

 

Thank you

I asked you because I saw some pictures on brass nut with deep spaces (where the strings are leaded to the flat part of the nut) instead of the one I have in my guitar

Hi

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I've replaced mine with the nickle plated nut but it didn't last much longer. They finally sent me another replacement nut made from Titanium, I haven't switched to it yet. I'll switch to the titanium when I do my next string change. I'll keep everyboby posted on how well the titanium nut works.

 

Hey Scott ... thanks for posting that info dude!

After reading it I went to the Gibson USA support site, and requested the titanium one from them.

I got an email confirming they would send it a day or two later ... and it arrived today with the paperwork confirming it's titanium (took about 3 weeks or so) and of course no charge.

 

Anyway .... I appreciate the heads up Pal! :)

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Hey Scott ... thanks for posting that info dude!

After reading it I went to the Gibson USA support site, and requested the titanium one from them.

I got an email confirming they would send it a day or two later ... and it arrived today with the paperwork confirming it's titanium (took about 3 weeks or so) and of course no charge.

 

Anyway .... I appreciate the heads up Pal! :)

 

no problem. I guess we'll she how long the titanium last. I did notice the 2016 HP line with the zero fret nut all have titanium on them. I think the titanium nut is the fix. I'll be worried if the titanium doesn't work because I have 4 titanium bolts and 2 titanium rods holding my lower spine together. They've held out for the last 5 years. lol...

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Yikes ... that's some 'serious' reconstruction there dude!

But I guess if its been working well for you for 5 years ..... and you don't have any propensity to say things like "ul B bawk" .... it's all doing as designed, and good for that!!

 

Yeah, I can't imagine that the Ti nut will wear out unless a person's using those industrial grade diamond dust impregnated rod-type hack saw blades for strings. ;)

 

I don't know if they're cryo treated like the bridge saddles, but that wouldn't surprise me it they are.

In any case ... I think Ti should last a lot longer than the brass or nickle, and once again ... thanks for posting! :)

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Yikes ... that's some 'serious' reconstruction there dude!

But I guess if its been working well for you for 5 years ..... and you don't have any propensity to say things like "ul B bawk" .... it's all doing as designed, and good for that!!

 

Yeah, I can't imagine that the Ti nut will wear out unless a person's using those industrial grade diamond dust impregnated rod-type hack saw blades for strings. ;)

 

I don't know if they're cryo treated like the bridge saddles, but that wouldn't surprise me it they are.

In any case ... I think Ti should last a lot longer than the brass or nickle, and once again ... thanks for posting! :)

 

The titanium nut will last longer than the rest of the whole guitar.

Its overkill really.

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The titanium nut will last longer than the rest of the whole guitar.

Its overkill really.

 

Yeah ... I think Gibson just might be aiming to drive a stake into the heart of their "nut monster". ;)

If so ..... it worked great! ;)

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The titanium nut will last longer than the rest of the whole guitar.

Its overkill really.

 

It's not overkill if it solves the problem!

 

Greetings, fellow Gibson Forums members. I'm a newbie here (living in Finland). I would like to share my story with this zero fret 'saga'.

 

I bought this gorgeous red cherry '15 Les Paul Junior back on September 30th this year. It was made in 2014 and I love almost everything about it - the wider neck, gnarly p90 pickup, fit & finnish. But the Zero Fret nut has been somewhat troublesome. The nut was already worn out when I bought it, filled with these deep grooves (see my pic below).

 

M0z5Cov.jpg

 

 

I contacted the Gibson Europe service and received a nickel-plated replacement nut. I immediately noticed the differences between the original and replacement nut after receiving it. The original nut is a lot slimmer. Despite this size difference, I managed to setup the nut almost identically compared to the old one. I've been playing with this new nut for about a month and - surprise, surprise, it's already forming grooves on the part where the highest strings (G, B, e) are in contact.

 

 

WbCtG2W.jpg

P6JQ8YA.jpg

 

 

About fifteen minutes ago I sent a request to Gibson USA warranty service (not Europe) to receive a Zero Fret nut made from titanium. I'll update as soon as I get my answer. Really hoping to get this fixed once and for all.

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I hope you get the titanium nut now. Be sure to post up here one way or the other! You might find that Gibson pass this back to Gibson Europe though...

 

Thank you, merciful-evans.

 

Boris from Gibson Europe has been very helpful with my warranty claims so far. Kudos to him! It's a shame really if the European branch doesn't have titanium nuts readily available to ship to customers.

 

I went to the Gibson USA support site, and requested the titanium one from them.I got an email confirming they would send it a day or two later ... and it arrived today with the paperwork confirming it's titanium

 

Nice. Would you mind posting a picture of it? I'm really interested in being able to spot the differences between these variants.

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Well, dont know nothing about those nut's of your's.

Only normal plastic on mine.

 

But I think it is a bit lame that they let the customers test their new product.

 

What I came here for is that I think you can't praise enough this mans work.

 

Yes, talking about Gibson EU's Boris!

A really exelent bloke indeed, had two problems and he solved both of them the quickest way posible.

 

The first time my new Quick Connect pickups didn't have the right molex plug for my PCB.

Fist he sent me two adapters but they didn't fix it.

After that he asked me if it would be ok to send me a PCB that would work with my new pickups.

A few days later I had the pickups installed with my new PCB.

 

The second time the bridge pickup of my new Trad shorted and worked with only one coil.

Mailed Boris explaining exactly what was happening and again he solved it.

This time I had to wait a bit longer because they had no 59 Tribute's stock here in Europe,

he had to order one from the custom shop in Nashville.

But it wasn't even that long, and I had my brand new pickup delivered.

 

Really good Customer Care.

 

Can't say the same about the shop's.

The sales guy at my authorized dealer didn't even know what I was talking about when I had my PCB problem.

And told me that they wouldn't give me back my money because they ordered the pickups especially for me (They had no QC Pickups at hand in the shop).

He offered me to let their tech install them rewiring they guitar the old fashioned way.

And he wanted me to pay for it!

And what sense does it make to have Quick Connect and then wire it told school style?

I said no way, and he told me he would contact Gibson to find a solution.

After waiting two weeks, he still didn't have no solution for me.

 

To my luck I had my poor English skills, and that way I landed on this Forums and contacted Gibson myself.

 

Now sorry for the highjack, and back to your nut's.

 

Hope Titanium works for you guys so you can enjoy your beatyfull instruments!

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Thank you, merciful-evans.

 

Boris from Gibson Europe has been very helpful with my warranty claims so far. Kudos to him! It's a shame really if the European branch doesn't have titanium nuts readily available to ship to customers.

 

 

 

Nice. Would you mind posting a picture of it? I'm really interested in being able to spot the differences between these variants.

 

Hallo i had the same problem with Brass nut. The european G assistant wrote me that is unavaible the titanium one for us, unlucky european customers. They send me nickel one. White here please if they will send you the titanium one and how you can get it, thank you

Here's my photos

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/cenefosse/20151114_121906_zps9ki7bvp9.jpg~original

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/cenefosse/20151114_121820_zps0f8riwuo.jpg~original

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/cenefosse/20151114_121801_zpstun9qvzl.jpg~original

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Hallo i had the same problem with Brass nut. The european G assistant wrote me that is unavaible the titanium one for us, unlucky european customers. They send me nickel one. White here please if they will send you the titanium one and how you can get it, thank you

Here's my photos

 

Well I guess Gibson USA redirected my message to Gibson Europe since I got email today from the legendary Boris! You should contact Gibson Europe again because that's the official route to handle these warranty claims. I'm not sure if I can post the email exchange between me and Boris because the communication is considered private (read the confidentiality notice). Let's just say that I'm happy and will update here later.

 

And massive thumbs up for Boris. [thumbup]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I guess Gibson USA redirected my message to Gibson Europe since I got email today from the legendary Boris! You should contact Gibson Europe again because that's the official route to handle these warranty claims. I'm not sure if I can post the email exchange between me and Boris because the communication is considered private (read the confidentiality notice). Let's just say that I'm happy and will update here later.

 

And massive thumbs up for Boris. [thumbup]

 

So how did it go, will you get the titanium nut?

 

I'm in Sweden and have the same problem with the brass nut, so I just wrote to customer service to ask for the titanium nut replacement...

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Just an update on my Titanium replacemant. Anybody that has bought a Gibson from the 2015 Line with the zero fret nut has had this problem. I had to replace my brass nut within the first 2 months. I put a replacement Nickle plated nut in, which lasted longer but did the same thing. I just replaced the Nickle with a new Titanium nut. One thing I want to say is the tone of my guitar (2015 Gibson Les Paul Classic) has improved. Maybe the titanium nut matched with the titanium saddles is the the key but my guitar sounds much better with the titanium nut, as for longevity, we shall see. But I think making the nut out of titanium is going to be the permanent fix that we all are hopeing for. On a new issue I've noticed on my guitar, The brass that surrounds the zero fret nut is starting to tarnish and turn green in a few spots. Has anybody else noticed this problem with there guitars? and is there a way to prevent it from becoming more of a problem and can it be reversed? Thanks in advance. Scott..

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Just an update on my Titanium replacemant. Anybody that has bought a Gibson from the 2015 Line with the zero fret nut has had this problem. I had to replace my brass nut within the first 2 months. I put a replacement Nickle plated nut in, which lasted longer but did the same thing. I just replaced the Nickle with a new Titanium nut. One thing I want to say is the tone of my guitar (2015 Gibson Les Paul Classic) has improved. Maybe the titanium nut matched with the titanium saddles is the the key but my guitar sounds much better with the titanium nut, as for longevity, we shall see. But I think making the nut out of titanium is going to be the permanent fix that we all are hopeing for. On a new issue I've noticed on my guitar, The brass that surrounds the zero fret nut is starting to tarnish and turn green in a few spots. Has anybody else noticed this problem with there guitars? and is there a way to prevent it from becoming more of a problem and can it be reversed? Thanks in advance. Scott..

 

 

Hey Scott

 

Brass will turn green as it oxidizes, this will be accelerated by humidity etc. Should clean up easy enough with a little fine steel wool. A quick scrub and a buff and it'll be shiny again.

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The brass that surrounds the zero fret nut is starting to tarnish and turn green in a few spots. Has anybody else noticed this problem with there guitars? and is there a way to prevent it from becoming more of a problem and can it be reversed? Thanks in advance. Scott..

Unless you want to constantly fight it, might be better to just let it age like the rest of the folks with brass nuts.

 

Personally, I think it might match better, looking closer to the wood color around it.

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Why so bitter? [confused]

I'm not bitter. Don't see how that might come across.

 

Personally, I don't think "aged" or tarnished brass looks bad on a guitar at all, nor does polished look bad. Nor shiny.

 

I don't see anything to be bitter about here, for me or the poster.

 

But I DO see much to be happy about.

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