lol...no a carbon 9v battery DOEs sound very different (in some pedals) than alkaline or a power adaptor. It isn't BS it's because of the resistive load and other factors. Very real and very true.
People often hear what they want to. It's a reason I ALWAYS taught my kids to believe half of what you see and NONE of what you hear. Even when you think you SEE something it could be an illusion.
Hey I'm not arguing that you heard a difference in open strings with a different nut. The way the slots are cut...amount of relief, width, clearances...will all affect the tone of open strings but once you fret a string, I'm sorry but I "think" (no scientific backing...no frequency analysis before and after...but someone SHOULD do this once and for all...it isn't rocket surgery and this debate would be instantly settled) that, once you put a capo on the neck for instance, the fretwire composition of the frets behind the capo will have NO EFFECT on tone. Neither will different colored headstock paint or tuner buttons. You probably wouldn't even hear those on open strings. A headstock faceplate made of rosewood isn't gonna SOUND any different than an ebony one...fretted or not.
Hey, I'd LOVE to be proven wrong when someone posts screenshots of the different frequency responses of a guitar with a capo on the 3rd fret with different nut materials. I just don't see it. I don't think I'd see it even if I saw it.??
Strings, pickups, picks, batteries (YES batteries...but only when the pedal is ON), cables, tubes, caps, pots, frets, slides, switches, saddles...they all make an audible difference.
Nuts on fretted notes, stamped vs painted serial numbers, tuner buttons, TRCs, dirtbirds vs mop, blue vs red paint, ....things like that, if you ask ME...make absolutely NO tonal difference. As soon as someone posts those Spectrum Analyser screenshots clearly showing a major (or any) difference...well THEN I'll change my tune (no pun intended) and gladly eat my words.
So let's see the data.
And data does NOT include a recording of the tone difference you hear when you drop a beef shinbone nut onto a glass coffeetable vs a plastic or tusq one. If we were making drumsticks out of them...to play our GLASS drum heads with then the "drop-test" might matter but dropping a nut onto a hard surface has about as much effect on the fretted string's tone as dropping a JJ 12AX7 and then a longplate Mule onto a pile of rocks and thinking that how they sound as they smash has ANY parallel when it comes to plugging one into an amp.
Yes you do taptests on acoustic guitar top and backsets. You do not...EVER tap test nuts. That's just...I hate to say it and I'm not trying to offend anyone...that's just stupid.
So you want the nut material to thud or ring? There are materials that thud and ring a lot more and less than plastic, tusq, bone or graphite. Does tuning fork material make the best nut or does WOOD make the best? Both ring and thud WAY more than any of those other materials so if it's "ring" you want...use tuning fork not tusq. If it's thud...use hard rubber and not whatever they use on the SEs.
HEY...I AM that corksniffing gearqueer who wants to squeeze EVERY last drop of tuneful performance out of my nuts...I mean guitars. I AM that guy who hears a half dead battery sounding better in an old Ge Fuzzface. I can hear the difference in cables, strings, picks....If there's ANYTHING I can do to improve the performance of my guitars, I DO it. And it doesn't have to be drastic. I can hear a major (well feel) difference between Mallory, Sozo and Mustard tone and coupling caps. I hear the improvement old tubes will always provide.
If nut material played any role in ANY of my guitars (and I have plenty..acoustics and electrics...NONE of my acoustics have stock saddles. They ALL have stock nuts).
I'm not saying I'm Senor Physics. I am not a luthier or a physicist. I AM a serious gearhead who doesn't own a single piece of unmodded stock gear. NOT ONE. Not a mic, not a pedal, not a cable or a pickup. Except nuts. And IF they DID make a difference, I would change them I PROMISE.
What kind of a nut does a Floyd have? Can you hear it SUCKING when you fret a string? I can't.
YMMV
