Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 I recently received and installed the titanium nut on my 2015 Junior and can't believe the difference. I bought my 15 used because I got a great deal on it but it quickly started developing grooves in the brass nut. I had tuning issues and it had a weak, kind of metallic "plinky" sound. I looked into replacement nuts and saw Gibson was offering titanium replacements so I sent them my serial number and Gibson sent me a titanium nut and I can't believe how much better it is. No more tuning issues, the sound is much less weak sounding and although I've only been playing it a week or so with the new nut it hasn't developed any signs of wear yet whereas the original brass nut seemed to have larger grooves worn into it every time I even thought about playing it. I'm just wondering why Gibson went with brass in the first place? I know brass nuts aren't new so wasn't Gibson aware of wear issues? Or do other brands use a different type of brass? This is the only brass nut guitar I've ever played but it didn't sound great and it seems with decades of brass nut/zero fret guitars out there Gibson would have been aware of the issues associated with brass nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 HTND...... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 HTND...... V Thanks, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolution Six Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 The best nut is the adjustable TUSQ , the classic design is perfect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 The best nut is the adjustable TUSQ , the classic design is perfect I saw that one too when asking around about replacement nuts. If the free titanium (free being the key word) doesn't work out long term I'll buy the Tusq nut, I've had several people recommend it to me now. I've replaced the nut, I ditched the G Force for Grovers, I keep the "Spock's coffin" case way in the back of my closet where no one...including myself .......has to look at it. Now if only Gibson would offer a fix for the Les Paul 100 headstock my Junior would be perfect lol. As it is I just slapped a sticker over the headstock so you can't see the sig. I know I sound pretty critical but I do love the sound and looks (except for the headstock of course) of my junior. I also really dig the wider fingerboard. I just wish they would have gone with the traditional sig and tuners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 I'm just wondering why Gibson went with brass in the first place? I know brass nuts aren't new so wasn't Gibson aware of wear issues? Or do other brands use a different type of brass? This is the only brass nut guitar I've ever played but it didn't sound great and it seems with decades of brass nut/zero fret guitars out there Gibson would have been aware of the issues associated with brass nuts. Why you guys buy these guitars that you hate is beyond my understanding. Gibson went with brass because they needed a metal that was easy to mill. It's also a proven nut material that's been around for decades. The problem ends up being that the contact area of the zero nut is much smaller than on a conventional brass nut. So as the G Force would draw the strings back and forth across the nut grooves are cut. There are only 6 notes on the guitar that can be effected by the nut. Sonicly there is no difference. That's all it your head. I was impressed that Gibson gave out the new Titanium nuts for free. I have all three versions of this nut but the brass one is still on my 2015 SG and will be until I start hearing some buzz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 Why you guys buy these guitars that you hate is beyond my understanding. Gibson went with brass because they needed a metal that was easy to mill. It's also a proven nut material that's been around for decades. The problem ends up being that the contact area of the zero nut is much smaller than on a conventional brass nut. So as the G Force would draw the strings back and forth across the nut grooves are cut. Sonicly there is no difference. That's all it your head. I was impressed that Gibson gave out the new Titanium nuts for free. I have all three versions of this nut but the brass one is still on my 2015 SG and will be until I start hearing some buzz. Why you think I hate the guitar is what I don't understand. I don't hate it at all, like I said I like the wider fretboard and the pickup and looks (except thenheadstock) are great. But if you're really wondering why I bought the 15 junior it's because I had wanted a Jr for a long time and the 15s were dirt cheap. I mean deals like I've never seen before cheap. For the price I paid I figured I'd give it a day in court and if I didn't like it I'd just sell it. There was no way I could lose money so,it wasn't exactly a big risk. And the problem with my guitar wasn't the G Force. My guitar was like brand new when I got it and I've actually heard some guitar stores were selling brand new 15s as used to justify the low prices they were selling them for to avoid embarrassing Gibson anymore than it already was by the 15. I have no idea if that's true or not but when I bought my Junior (in early 16) they were everywhere for really cheap. Maybe the original owners hated them all so much they put them up for sale really quickly or maybe it was guitar stores trying to sell stock that very few people wanted....who knows? The point is for all I know my Junior might have been brand new and either way the nut didn't have grooves worn in it when I got it. I ditched the G Force soon as I bought the guitar and at that point the nut was fine. The grooves developed with GROVER TUNERS ON THE GUITAR. Talking about stuff you don't know about in a condescending way isn't the best way to start a conversation dude. And sonically there is a HUUUUGE DIFFERENCE. Whether that's from the material itself, the design differences between the titanium and brass nuts or the fact that my titanium nut doesn't have grooves worn into it like my brass nut, I can't say, but there is a huge difference soundwise. The fact that you think the G Force is what wore the grooves in my guitar leads me to not have much faith in what you're saying buddy. Would you like me to take some pics of my original brass nut so you can see how badly it was worn? Let me know, I'll be happy to show you some. The problem was so widespread Gibson had to offer free replacement nuts dude, it's not like what I'm saying is controversial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megafrog Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 I have switched my 2015 Les Paul DC to the titanium zero fret and it went from a mess to a great guitar. I suspect that this zero fret will never need replaced because titanium is stronger than steel. The brass zero fret was flawed because steel strings are stronger than brass. The sustain I get with the titanium zero fret is on par with a good PRS, in the 45 second range where as the brass nut would get about 10 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 Why you guys buy these guitars that you hate is beyond my understanding. Gibson went with brass because they needed a metal that was easy to mill. It's also a proven nut material that's been around for decades. The problem ends up being that the contact area of the zero nut is much smaller than on a conventional brass nut. So as the G Force would draw the strings back and forth across the nut grooves are cut. There are only 6 notes on the guitar that can be effected by the nut. Sonicly there is no difference. That's all it your head. I was impressed that Gibson gave out the new Titanium nuts for free. I have all three versions of this nut but the brass one is still on my 2015 SG and will be until I start hearing some buzz. Also you mentioned "buzz" my Junior never had fret buzz or anything like that, it just made kind of a "plinking" (for lack,of a better word) noise. This noise got worse and worse as the nut grooves got deeper. It also wouldn't stay in tune as the grooves got deeper. Since I've installed the titanium nut I haven't had any tuning issues, it's like night and day. Again, I don't know if my problems were down to the grooves in my guitar's nut or if it's the differences in design but the titanium nut fixed the problems I was experiencing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 I have switched my 2015 Les Paul DC to the titanium zero fret and it went from a mess to a great guitar. I suspect that this zero fret will never need replaced because titanium is stronger than steel. The brass zero fret was flawed because steel strings are stronger than brass. The sustain I get with the titanium zero fret is on par with a good PRS, in the 45 second range where as the brass nut would get about 10 seconds. Yeah, my experience has been the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Why you think I hate the guitar is what I don't understand. I don't hate it at all, like I said I like the wider fretboard and the pickup and looks (except thenheadstock) are great. But if you're really wondering why I bought the 15 junior it's because I had wanted a Jr for a long time and the 15s were dirt cheap. I mean deals like I've never seen before cheap. For the price I paid I figured I'd give it a day in court and if I didn't like it I'd just sell it. There was no way I could lose money so,it wasn't exactly a big risk. And the problem with my guitar wasn't the G Force. My guitar was like brand new when I got it and I've actually heard some guitar stores were selling brand new 15s as used to justify the low prices they were selling them for to avoid embarrassing Gibson anymore than it already was by the 15. I have no idea if that's true or not but when I bought my Junior (in early 16) they were everywhere for really cheap. Maybe the original owners hated them all so much they put them up for sale really quickly or maybe it was guitar stores trying to sell stock that very few people wanted....who knows? The point is for all I know my Junior might have been brand new and either way the nut didn't have grooves worn in it when I got it. I ditched the G Force soon as I bought the guitar and at that point the nut was fine. The grooves developed with GROVER TUNERS ON THE GUITAR. Talking about stuff you don't know about in a condescending way isn't the best way to start a conversation dude. And sonically there is a HUUUUGE DIFFERENCE. Whether that's from the material itself, the design differences between the titanium and brass nuts or the fact that my titanium nut doesn't have grooves worn into it like my brass nut, I can't say, but there is a huge difference soundwise. The fact that you think the G Force is what wore the grooves in my guitar leads me to not have much faith in what you're saying buddy. Would you like me to take some pics of my original brass nut so you can see how badly it was worn? Let me know, I'll be happy to show you some. The problem was so widespread Gibson had to offer free replacement nuts dude, it's not like what I'm saying is controversial. My my.... but we are a little touchy... Yes, it's known that the original Gibson brass nut is a poor design that will wear quickly. GForce units, or anything that causes more movement of the strings make the nut wear even faster. Also at issue are the types of strings used. Some cut the brass faster than others. Brass nuts in general are not problematic as they have more surface area to take the wear. As for the overall sound of the guitar. The nut material makes no difference at all. Have a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 My my.... but we are a little touchy... Yes, it's known that the original Gibson brass nut is a poor design that will wear quickly. GForce units, or anything that causes more movement of the strings make the nut wear even faster. Also at issue are the types of strings used. Some cut the brass faster than others. Brass nuts in general are not problematic as they have more surface area to take the wear. As for the overall sound of the guitar. The nut material makes no difference at all. Have a good one. Touchy? Your first words to me were "I don't understand why you guys buy guitars you hate" and then you proceeded to tell me the problem was with the G Force (which I took off the day I got the guitar) and sound difference was "all in your head". And you reply with more condescention and passive aggressiveness. "My my but we are a little touchy"? Way to take the high road and show I was wrong. When you are condescending and rude to strangers don't be surprised if they don't like it dude. I don't know if brass nuts in general are "problematic" this is my only experience with them but it just seems to me that since Gibson put them on almost every 2015 LP and the zero fret/nut was a huge deal that they surely should have noticed the problem somewhere in the developmental stage? If it's just a problem with this particular Gibson design it's a pretty obvious one. It took no time before the nut on my guitar started developing the grooves, how could Gibson possibly have played and tested the 2015s in the design stage and not noticed the problem? As for strings I use Ernie Ball, not exactly exotic. If a guitar can't handle a set of regular old Ernie Ball strings without having grooves worn into the nut that guitar has issues. I usually stick up for Gibson as far as QC goes, I think the QC "issues" are mostly down to people being overly anal but in this case Gibson clearly screwed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 My my.... but we are a little touchy... Yes, it's known that the original Gibson brass nut is a poor design that will wear quickly. GForce units, or anything that causes more movement of the strings make the nut wear even faster. Also at issue are the types of strings used. Some cut the brass faster than others. Brass nuts in general are not problematic as they have more surface area to take the wear. As for the overall sound of the guitar. The nut material makes no difference at all. Have a good one. If nut material makes no difference why did Gibson use brass in the first place? Why not plastic or bone? And again....the Titanium nut made a huge difference on my guitar. Whether it's the design....the material...or the fact that the titanium doesn't get ground away by the strings like the brass did....I don't know. But it's a huge difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 If nut material makes no difference why did Gibson use brass in the first place? Why not plastic or bone? And again....the Titanium nut made a huge difference on my guitar. Whether it's the design....the material...or the fact that the titanium doesn't get ground away by the strings like the brass did....I don't know. But it's a huge difference. I didn't say it makes no difference. I said it makes no difference in the sound of the guitar. I explained why Gibson used brass in my first post here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 I didn't say it makes no difference. I said it makes no difference in the sound of the guitar. I explained why Gibson used brass in my first post here. So the reason they went with a brass nut/zero fret is it's easy to mill? That's why they switched from 50 +years of bone or plastic nuts? Because brass is easy to mill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 "I don't understand why you guys buy guitars you hate" Now it's my turn to respond twice... According to these posts you have written here you don't like the GForce, you don't like the headstock logo, you don't like the case. But now the only thing you didn't like was the nut... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 So the reason they went with a brass nut/zero fret is it's easy to mill? That's why they switched from 50 +years of bone or plastic nuts? Because brass is easy to mill? While Gibson has used many different forms of plastic over the years they have never used bone on production guitars. Only on special signature model guitars. Yes, brass was used on the first zero nut design because it is easy to mill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 Now it's my turn to respond twice... According to these posts you have written here you don't like the GForce, you don't like the headstock logo, you don't like the case. But now the only thing you didn't like was the nut... And now it's my time to point out I didn't say that the only thing I didn't like was the nut. At all. I never saidmanything close to that. I said I liked the wider fretboard....I liked the pickup and sound of the guitar.....and I love the looks of it. (What I really loved though was the dirt cheap price I paid because nobody else wanted the 2015s. Im sure I'm not alone on that one.) I guess you just missed all that? As far as the nut goes until the nut started getting grooves in it I didn't care one way or the other about the nut, it was a total nonissue when I bought the guitar. I don't dislike the concept of a zero fret and in fact I was curious about a zero fret because I had never even heard of one before the 2015 Gibsons. The case looks ridiculous, so I don't use it......the headstock logo was ugly as sin so I covered it. The brass zero fret was awful I changed it. Now I have a rocking Jr for dirt cheap. Sorry that me pointing out how much better my guitar sounds with the titanium nut on it bothers you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 While Gibson has used many different forms of plastic over the years they have never used bone on production guitars. Only on special signature model guitars. Yes, brass was used on the first zero nut design because it is easy to mill. So why not just use plastic? Too hard to mill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 You're just running around in circles. Chase your own tail for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 You're just running around in circles. Chase your own tail for a while. Why if you have nothing to say do you keep responding? Why did they switch to brass in the first place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 "So as many of you know Gibson has replaced the plastic nuts on their Gibson USA Les Pauls and SGs with a new brass adjustable "Zero Fret Nut". This has caused a huge uproar with the Gibson fan boys who insist that Gibson stop offering higher levels of adjustability and durability " Were you trying to be ironic when you said "higher levels of durability"? Because I've never had to replace any nut on any guitar except my 2015 LP brass nut which was around 2 years old and already had grooves worn into it. I'm just a "fanboy" I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 The titanium nut is my favourite feature of these models. I'd use it on every one of my e-guitars if I could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenjason95 Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 The titanium nut is my favourite feature of these models. I'd use it on every one of my e-guitars if I could. I'm very pleased with mine so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nesterdron Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 What would we be looking at for cost? I may go for a D36 head in copper later on down the road. Im not quite sure the titanium head would look good on a copper body although I think a titanium bezel would look nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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