Earvana Compensated Nut on Strat:

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

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This has been recommended to me by several colleagues, but without a lot of supporting information.

Thoughts???
 
Bollocks. How's that for a thought? Compensated nuts like this and Feiten are solutions to a non-existent problem. Sure they found that low frets tended to play out of tune, but they failed to understand the actual cause. The reason low frets play out of tune is always a high nut. Fretting just above that increases the tension in the string considerably because of the extreme bend, making the note sharp. Dress the nut properly so it is the same height as the first fret and the problem goes away.
 
DonP said:
Bollocks. How's that for a thought? Compensated nuts like this and Feiten are solutions to a non-existent problem. Sure they found that low frets tended to play out of tune, but they failed to understand the actual cause. The reason low frets play out of tune is always a high nut. Fretting just above that increases the tension in the string considerably because of the extreme bend, making the note sharp. Dress the nut properly so it is the same height as the first fret and the problem goes away.
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Thanks, Don...I hoped you would chime in...seems like, after what I have read, it improves tuning in the lower register at the expense of individual notes in the upper register....
 
Robert Herndon said:
Thanks, Don...I hoped you would chime in...seems like, after what I have read, it improves tuning in the lower register at the expense of individual notes in the upper register....
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It does - when you fix a low register problem the wrong way, something else has to give - and that is, as you say, the high register.
 
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Hell Robert as good a player as you are you can play around all the little imperfections with out adding the Earvana nut.
 
DonP said:
Bollocks. How's that for a thought? Compensated nuts like this and Feiten are solutions to a non-existent problem. Sure they found that low frets tended to play out of tune, but they failed to understand the actual cause. The reason low frets play out of tune is always a high nut. Fretting just above that increases the tension in the string considerably because of the extreme bend, making the note sharp. Dress the nut properly so it is the same height as the first fret and the problem goes away.
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Agreed. I have been adjusting the nut height so that a fretted note on the first fret is not sharp or flat. Many guitars are sharp. I have 3 guitars with Buzz Feiten nuts and I have never noticed a benefit.
 
I'll come from a different angle, because of some very recent experience. Quite a few months ago I ordered a new neck for my Strat from Warmoth. I wanted to try a few different features. One of them was an Earvana nut. In my humble style of playing techniques, I usually don't use full-on chords above the 10th fret. I love open chords. I'm very heavy handed. Even though all the nuts on all my guitars are properly cut, I would easily get some strings out of tune on the open chords if the intonation was set up at the 12th fret. So I'm used to balancing my intonation at the first 5 frets. But... with the Earvana nut, I can have it both ways. Intonation is now set at the 12th fret, and my open chording tuning is just as stable. But yes, the nut has to be properly cut. In fact, most of the slots that Warmoth cut into the Earvana nut were too low. Serious string buzzing at the lower frets, even thought there was generous amounts of relief. Since I wanted to give the Earvana a fair chance, I had to get a local repair guy to shim up the Earvana nut. If the guitar had a regular nut, I would have replace it myself.

I believe Ernie Ball Music Man guitars build their guitars with compensated nuts... at least some of them, or maybe all of them. Notice I didn't say Earvana nuts. For many years there was a legal court mess between Earvana and EBMM on the use of the design of the nut. And only till this year, finally, it has been resolved. Anyways, go try a EBMM and hear what you think... :wink:
 
Interesting responses!

I was just curious...I have found that it is 100 times easier to intonate a Strat than a Gibson, so for me, probably not needed and I frequently play chords around the 12th fret in quite a few songs....
 
I had a older ESP LTD PB 500 solid body guitar that had the compensated nut on it.It worked fine but not sure i would of noted a big difference anyhow.
 
Here's the thing. If a nut needs compensation to make the first fret intonate properly, then the first fret needs compensation to make the second fret intonate - and so on all the way up. And that simply isn't the case. Body position and movement introduce far greater errors.
 
DonP said:
Here's the thing. If a nut needs compensation to make the first fret intonate properly, then the first fret needs compensation to make the second fret intonate - and so on all the way up. And that simply isn't the case. Body position and movement introduce far greater errors.
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Enter True Temperament Fretting... :boobpoke:

Enter at your own risk:
TrueTemperament Frets

After I get drunk, this should make me play better:

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Yes, I know about that. I've studied it and it is pretty clear that there is no systematic correction going on here. If it is correcting anything, it is inconsistencies in the strings. And then of course there is the problem of what happens to the tuning when bending.
 
I think it is better to accept guitars as imperfect by their nature and that listeners are unable or maybe uninterested in discerning any potential imperfections anyway. To sum up, music happens despite poor intonation, and people even manage to enjoy it so, just play the damn thing!

And now, I will end this sermon with the serenity prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.
Amen.
 
Biddlin said:
How the hell did Segovia and Reinhardt and Charlie Christian manage to play those awful old guitars? It is as if a huge rain of stupidity has fallen upon us.
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I've seen all kind of shortcuts performed in the studio...like certain guitars used only for open chords because they had intonation issues - Buck Owen's had an old Telecaster like this....On a recording, you can do anything to get through the session...
 
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