SE nuts. How much difference does an upgrade make?

[dogrocketp]

I had a wide thin, wide fat nut put on my son's 245. It's great.

 

[oldjock]

I have the SE Santana. I was looking for a wider string spacing. So I purchased a Graphtech black tusk XL6234. It is a 1 3/4” nut with string spacing of 38 mm. Once installed the edges were trimmed to fit the neck and viola more space. Both e strings are a bit closer to the edge but this has not been an issue with the wide/fat neck.
I’m really loving this guitar

 

[CyFan4036]

I slotted and installed my own bone nut not too long ago. It really isn’t that difficult. The differences in tuning stability, tone and bending are quite noticeable.

 

[enakki]

Hello, I just bought SE cu24 and after reading forums decided to replace tuners for schallers which I have already mounted on my strat and also the nut for tusq xl. when I removed the original nut, I tired the sound comparison by dropping both how they sound. on youtube the tusq was ringing and the SE nut had plastic dead sound. mine SE is ringing almost by same way as the tusq! So now I'm pretty curious if they started to put something better on the SE line. this is brand new 2018 model (trampas green). I tried to put the TUSQ on guitar anyway - width and height is perfect but the slots are not as deep as those on original one so the strings height is not very comfortable.. So I returnet back to the original one and I will sand the bottom of the tusq nut later as I haven't find sand paper at home. but back to the point - the nut which my SE came with does not seem to be cheap plastic thingie. at least according to the sound it makes when dropped. I'll see how it behaves until I'll replace it (or maybe not).

 

[MichaelS]

Hello, I just bought SE cu24 and after reading forums decided to replace tuners for schallers which I have already mounted on my strat and also the nut for tusq xl. when I removed the original nut, I tired the sound comparison by dropping both how they sound. on youtube the tusq was ringing and the SE nut had plastic dead sound. mine SE is ringing almost by same way as the tusq! So now I'm pretty curious if they started to put something better on the SE line. this is brand new 2018 model (trampas green). I tried to put the TUSQ on guitar anyway - width and height is perfect but the slots are not as deep as those on original one so the strings height is not very comfortable.. So I returnet back to the original one and I will sand the bottom of the tusq nut later as I haven't find sand paper at home. but back to the point - the nut which my SE came with does not seem to be cheap plastic thingie. at least according to the sound it makes when dropped. I'll see how it behaves until I'll replace it (or maybe not).

I want to say that I've read somewhere at some point that the '17 SE models (the ones with headstock signatures) started having better nuts...

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

I want to say that I've read somewhere at some point that the '17 SE models (the ones with headstock signatures) started having better nuts...

Not mine...

 

[an0656]

Prs sells nuts at their parts store...

 

[mtyler06]

Curious about those who have upgraded the nuts on your PRS SE guitars.

I'm not crazy about the tuning stability on my compared to my acoustic, but my experience is more that acoustics have better tuning stability anyway.

Did you notice much difference? What about in tone?

My 2018 SE is in the shop right now having the stock nut replaced with a core, restrung with 10s, and a new setup. I'll let you know what (if any) difference when I get it back.

 

[Buck]

The new Tusq nut on my Holcomb SE, along with new locking tuners turned a good guitar into a great one. IMHO...anybody with an SE should at least swap out the nut for better tuning stability...and the bonus is you can file to your specific string gauge. I learned to do it myself cuz I was sick of paying the local guitar shop tech...much easier than you may think and then you know it's done right

 

[Hotspur]

My 2018 SE is in the shop right now having the stock nut replaced with a core, restrung with 10s, and a new setup. I'll let you know what (if any) difference when I get it back.

Any updates?

 

[mtyler06]

Tuning stability is a bit better overall, but using the tremolo still pulls it out of tune. I haven't really noticed much difference in tone like others have. I'm going to give it a few more hours of playing time before making any more changes, but I'm considering blocking the tremolo or installing a tremel-no.

 

[shimmilou]

Have you tried any lube in the slots?

With mild vibrato, my SE Tremonti stays in tune very well, but with heavy vibrato it goes a little out of tune. I bought some Grover locking tuners, and I'm going to try and file the slots just a bit when I change them. I swear I see little flecks in the Tremonti nut, just like the 22 nut, but not sure, so I'm going to try the locking tuners and slot filing first.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

Have you tried any lube in the slots?

I have a Core nut on the SE, and it helped with tuning a little, and a little more when I lightly sanded the slots - but no lube on the Core nut. As I recently posted in another SE thread, last week I put a drop of high quality bicycle lube (TriFlow Teflon) on the 6 knife edges on the trem screws, and also on the saddle slots. This weekend I decided to go full-Satriani on the guitar, and I'm happy to say, it pretty much stayed in tune - enough that I could make it through a few songs of heavy whammy abuse until I noticed I had to slightly tune up my high E.

 

[Antmax]

It's mostly tuning stability if your sizing up your strings and if the nut was catching the strings maybe a little more sustain. Mine was set up well for 9's, but the short scale made is feel like spaghetti, had to be a lot more gentle to prevent buzz on the low E and I had to bend about 50% further than was comfortable.

Seemed easier to replace the nut for 10's and save the stock one to keep it completely reversible.