GraphtechPT500000 Black Tusq Xl Nut - Slotted St Style

What I didn't know is that you CAN get this tusk XL nut in the ivory colour!But I kinda like the black now it's in...It didn't affect my tone that I could hear, the last one was just plain tusk, not the XL. Where I used pencil graphite to keep the strings moving. Of course with XL it's intrinsically self lubricating via what it's made of.This particular nut is pretty cool because you may not know if you have a flat or round bottom without removing the old nut.Well I work out, so I have a flat bottom.Where you just leave the tab on.If you have a round bottom, you can easily file the tab off.One thing!If you have a flat bottom, then with this nut, not all of your bottom will touch the timber.This when Graphtech say that their nuts have better tone because there's no cavities in them, like with bone etc.Well, with this nut you have two big cavities either side of the tab?Okay so, on my Strat this is the third nut, the first, the original nut was plastic and it was hollow!! It was okay...The next was one of these but just tusk not XL.It improved the tone!!The current one is the XL the tone didn't seem to change?Context: I also have the Graphtech metal body saddles with PTFE inserts.Now those DID improve the tone to a surprising degree! They put a smile on my face. And they are GREAT!Hardly any string breakages, more stable tuning.I think that the nuts don't notice as much because when fretting you aren't playing through the nut. You're playing from fret to saddle?And .. Concider Floyd Rose Guitars!They have a metal nut, and they still have great tone.So, will I buy the flat bottom version ?No... I'm happy with this one.I think that the flat bottom would only amount to a teeny improvement when playing open strings.I think that Graphtech are a great company!They don't make false claims, and they really believe in their products, I saw one of the founders on line.It's refreshing!So... That's it my review... Where I'll just say it one more time 'bottom' 😅

Perfect, major difference with guitar

Worked well

I had a wayward Strat, one flick of whammy and it went badly out of tune! This is a classic Strat problem that most new guitars suffer from. After a frustrating couple of jams I decided to overhaul the guitar to improve tuning stability.This nut, locking tuners and bullet strings have certainly helped, it stays in tune much better, but still not 100%. But, I can live with it now and these things have helped me realise the potential of a great guitar.The fitting is a little battle for sure, don't be fooled into thinking this is a straight swap out. I had to do a lot of sanding and fetling to get this to sit right, I even had to reshape the neck on my guitar with a bit extra sanding down to get a central fit for the nut. This was probably more a guitar problem than a nut issue, but I want you to be aware this isn't always an easy job to get right and only tackle it if you have half an idea what to expect and aren't afraid of sanding, if like me you have to sand the neck, have some lemon oil handy to finish it off and use very high grade papers. That said, there are lots of videos on YouTube that you can watch to get a good idea what to do, so don't be frightened to have a go, just be well prepared.Once installed I couldn't really notice any improvement in tone, it might be a bit brighter on open strings. I think the strings still stick a little bit and I can't seem to get around this, that said maintaining stable tuning on a Strat is a dark art so it could be anything that causes this, hard to know for sure.If you have a wonky Strat, get one. It will help!

I have bought loads of gear and spares from Absolute and have spoken to the guys too over the phone and at shows in the NEC each November, and they are so hlpful, such a good company to deal with, this nut is currently fitted on a 22 fret Mighty Mite Strat neck. Even though I don't use the tremolo, bending strings by finger is noise-less. It also seems to have increased the sustain, and it certainly has brightened the open string tones up.Whatever you need, speak to Absolute, they have a HUGE website too.BB

Very good ,but trim the funny looking centre bit ,otherwise it sways on nut space

A cheap solution to the "ping" of string bending and tuning. I'm so satisfied with these nuts that it's a must have for all my guitars. The only problem is finding the right size for the nut you want to replace as there are so many different sizes. Paired with a set of matching string trees and you should have no binding problems and reduced tuning issues.

It’s very fragile, and it broke in half before it got into the nut groove on the guitar.