Nuts
Rebuild nut
Where we have an original nut which requires attention to maintain originality or a small chip from the edge of nut, we can look to rebuild. It’ not always possible to completely hide any which may have occurred, but at the end of the process, the nut will function just as it ever did.
Convert to/from locking nut
Love your guitar but not your locking tremolo? Then let’s convert it!
Locking nuts require a larger ledge than a standard non-locking version and when removed will leave a gap behind the new nut. We’ve got boxes and boxes of maple, rosewood, ebony and other exotic blanks we can use to match the fingerboard of your guitar. Once we’ve found a suitable match we’ll glue it in place and shape it to match the neck and fingerboard of your guitar, before cutting a slot for and installing your new nut. At the end of which, no one is any the wiser!
Bone
Cattle bone is widely used and is available either bleached or unbleached. It is hard, polishes well and takes graphite lubrication well. As an organic material, it is not entirely uniform in its density.
Tusq
Tusq nuts are made of a poured resin and are fairly consistent in their density. They take lubrication well but are not as hard wearing as either Corian or bone nuts and do not polish well. Generally available of
Corian
Corian nuts come in two varieties. The type we use is very consistent in composition, polishes reasonably well, is fairly hard wearing and takes graphite lubrication very well.
Horn
Mainly comes from the horns of water buffalo. Dark black in colour polishes beautifully and takes lubrication well. Horn is similar to tusq in terms of how hard wearing it is and similarly to the bone, is an organic and as such naturally variable product.
Brass
Please don’t. Brass is a very soft metal and as such takes an imprint of the string very quickly, thus developing sharp edges and increasing friction and the risk of string breakage. On the open string, a brass nut has a noticeably brightening effect. However, as soon as you fret a note the nut becomes irrelevant. The change to the sound of an open string really isn’t worth the issues brass causes.
Polymers
Commonly used on modern Fender guitars and many others. There is nothing wrong with some of the polymers being used. By and large, IF the nut is correctly these won’t cause you any issues.
Cheap Plastics
Rubbish. Nope that’s about it
Saddles
Bone
Cattle bone is widely used and is available either bleached or unbleached. It is hard, polishes well and takes graphite lubrication well. As an organic material, it is not entirely uniform in its density.
Corian
Corian nuts come in two varieties. The type we use is very consistent in composition, polishes reasonably well, is fairly hard wearing and takes graphite lubrication very well.
Tusq
Tusq nuts are made of a poured resin and are fairly consistent in their density. They take lubrication well but are not as hard wearing as either Corian or bone nuts and do not polish well. Generally available of
Horn
Mainly comes from the horns of water buffalo. Dark black in colour polishes beautifully and takes lubrication well. Horn is similar to tusq in terms of how hard wearing it is and similarly to the bone, is an organic and as such naturally variable product.
Brass
Please don’t. Brass is a very soft metal and as such takes an imprint of the string very quickly, thus developing sharp edges and increasing friction and the risk of string breakage. On the open string, a brass nut has a noticeably brightening effect. However, as soon as you fret a note the nut becomes irrelevant. The change to the sound of an open string really isn’t worth the issues brass causes.
Cheap Plastics
Rubbish. Nope that’s about it
Tuners
Replace tuners
You can’t tune a guitar without them so a stable set of well-made machine heads is an upgrade well worth considering. Before you do it is well worth thinking about whether it really is the tuners we need to change, or whether the tuning issues you’re having are being caused elsewhere. For further reading see our FAQ section.
Once you’ve decided you want or need to replace the tuners on your guitar there are a number of questions to look at. These include:
How simple a swap are the replacement set likely to be? Would you need to drill additional mounting holes, or change the style of bushings?
What ratio of adjustment and subsequent movement of the gearing do you prefer? Do you prefer a more or less sudden adjustment? Most tuners fall within the regions of 14:1 – 20:1, with the higher ratios giving increasingly finer adjustment of tuning.
Is the weight of the tuners a factor for you? Thr weight of a set of tuners can affect the balance of the instrument as it sits on you. The weight or lack of it can also play a part in changing the response of the instrument.
And finally, what budget should you set aside for the tuners and where applicable any fitting costs? The costs of replacement tuners can vary wildly and you could pay anywhere from £15.00 to £300.00 for the tuners alone. Whatever price range your budget dictates, there is usually a range of good quality options available.
Re-build tuners
Whether it’s to maintain originality or to avoid unnecessary repair bills, if we can avoid having to change a set of machine heads then we will. There are a small number of machine heads which cannot be taken apart and successfully reassembled. In other cases, we have large numbers of machine head parts to service damaged and broken tuners.
Brands stocked
Machine head brands stocked
– Gotoh
– Grover
– Schaller
– Waverly
– Kluson
– Fender
– Wilkinson
– Sperzel
– TonePros
– Van Gent
– Hipshot
Types of machine head
Types of machine head
We stock geared tuners for a wide range of instruments including:
– Guitar
– Bass
– Banjo
– Mandolin
– Ukulele
– Cello
– Violin
– Double bass
Payment Methods
We accept all major debit and credit card payments.
