Nut material - does it make a difference?

WezV

musicegbdf said:

Whilst we are talking Nuts... Earvana . Very impressed by how it helps intonation . Surprised both these and Buzz Feiten have not had a greater take up ...though have to say a couple of my more expensive guitars seem to be better at overall intonation than the cheaper ones. PRS for example , so not sure if there is a little tweeking in the fret placement.

As to Mr PRS . I am a like. Just think how he gave Fender and Gibson a massive wakeup call to the crap they were churning out until he hit the scene. Still keeping them on their toes too... I am sure his passion is genuine

PRS do have the nut set slightly closer to the first fret so are effectively a 'compensated nut'.   in fact i think some PRS actually have this taken a step further so the nut is slightly angled

here is what teh man himself says

"In response to concerns, requests and questions referencing the Buzz Feiten Tuning System, I would like to clarify Paul Reed Smith Guitars position on this matter. In 1980, I patented a compensated nut for guitars that addresses the age-old problem that fretted instruments do not play in tune at the nut end of the neck. This patent was assigned to DiMarzio to market at that time and has since reverted ownership back to PRS Guitars.

When the drawings and tooling were made for the first PRS models, I incorporated this patented concept by shortening the distance between the nut and the first fret on all PRS guitars so the intonation would be adjusted at the nut and the guitars would play in tune. I did not advertise this fact because I knew a good percentage of customers would notice these new PRS instruments played in better tune then what they owned or was available at the time. I also felt that would translate into sales and customer satisfaction. I did not feel the need to explain the whole concept to the rest of the industry.

Anyone who is concerned that their PRS does not incorporate the Buzz Feiten Tuning System nut compensation feature can rest assured that nut compensation has been an integral part of all PRS instruments since 1980. "

and why we are at it here is his view on nut material - I got a lol for my plink/plonk comments above and here is paul doing the same thing