Should I put a brass nut on my partscaster?

[AngryMcMuffin]

I have a partscaster that was born as my first electric guitar, a Squier strat, I got a 1995 Mexican strat neck for it, I've heard a variety of thoughts and opinions on them. So, what are the pros and cons of a brass nut on a Strat? And what should I do for a bridge upgrade? I already have pickups/electronics done. Just need these last few things for my "Squier" to be a really good guitar to me.

 

[rikomaru]

grab that nut if it matches your hardware. In my opinion it would be almost purely aesthetic unless your current nut binds up on you and you really need the change. I'm a bit fan of graphtech saddles, but i've not had much string breakage even before I started using them.

 

[Le Jeff]

Brass is self-lubricating, so there's that. Tonally, you'll only notice a difference on open strings.

 

[Anant Naag]

Im using a brass nut, open strings do sound tonally more open and lot more harmonic content.
Its tough to file when adjusting for new gauges for sure though

 

[AngryMcMuffin]

All great words on it! It does need a new nut because the slots are too worn out from the guy before me using .12s and bigger, also it's broken in one place. Anyhow, I'll look into graphtech. I may try to go brass with both the nut and saddles if that's an option. If you can hear a difference.

 

[Renkenstein]

I like brass nuts.

I just really like using brass on guitars in general for added resonance, and nuts are no exception. Tone-wise, you'll only notice a difference in the open strings, like it was mentioned before.

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

The nut and saddles do a lot more for your tone than the wood. Definitely worth investing in, but Graphtech seems to be the best middle ground for workability and resonance.

In the end, if you like to tinker, you might have five or six different combos in as many years, and one day you might just go, "Yup. That's the one." It's a lot of trial and error.

 

[AngryMcMuffin]

The nut and saddles do a lot more for your tone than the wood. Definitely worth investing in, but Graphtech seems to be the best middle ground for workability and resonance.

In the end, if you like to tinker, you might have five or six different combos in as many years, and one day you might just go, "Yup. That's the one." It's a lot of trial and error.

Trial and error is something I've had, and I'm sure I'll have plenty more of it. I don't mind the slighty harder to work with part, so I'll go brass after I get done paying for my car in the next couple months! I'll have to post the result when I'm done!