Torn about my Mccarty and going to the shop..

Parralax view

Parralax view

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My McCarty needs to go in for a set up and some light fret work to remove flats at the 5th and 7th and the divots at the first, second and third frets that are common to all guitars. That's not my issue. My issue is the nut. It has given a ping or two recently when it has never given issue. However, in it's life, it's probably had 80 to 90 string changes, that's a lot of playing at least for me.

My practice when I take a guitar in for set up is to install a bone nut if it has plastic or other. My guy can provide any color I deem appropriate, black / dark would be my choice. My question is, are the PRS stock nuts in Graphite workable?? The strings sit very deep and always have. Since they sit deep, will it make it worse if the nut is even deeper?? Will it do anything to value?

I have a ding I'm going to have him check out and repair if possible, or maybe not if he deems it unneeded. I was just curious if anyone had ever removed their stock teflon black nut and installed bone and what were the results both in performance and appearance??
 
Last edited:
Don't go bone, the graphite nuts are just all around better performing.
It's a relatively simple and inexpensive replacement that any luthier should be able to replace easily and cheaply.
 
I'll let others with more experience speak to the differences in the materials...I address the question of value.

A competent luthier can replace a nut with their eyes closed. It's a bread and butter job that good luthiers do every day. Because it would be so easy to change back, or to whatever a prospective buyer might want, don't sweat about any change in value to your guitar unless you do something really drastic like putting on a locking nut or a wider nut that would require widening the nut slot.

Pick any material you like, just keep it the same width as the stock nut so it can be easily reversed and you'll be fine in value.

But if you don't see selling the guitar in the future... OWN IT!!! Put whatever nut on there that floats your boat!
 
garrett said:
Bone is easily my favorite material. Great for any application. Very durable and works great with a trem.

I've had three done: shallow Gibson style on my HBII and blocky PRS style on two SE models. Look, sound, and perform perfect for me.







Click to expand...

Love the blackout look on the One! A black MannMade would really look hot on it!
 
Ok, I feel a bit better about my choices. My guy uses Camel bone exclusively, my strats all have been done by him and the difference was immediate in tuning and overall "better" of the ring of the strings. Selling it will never be a real option for me while I'm alive, and afterwards, WGAF......I think I'll go with his almost black bone. The ding on the other hand is right in the bottom bout inside the scrape binding. From 5 ft. away, it's invisible, but I know it's there. I think a simple fill will do the trick, but if he keeps it as long as he kept my strat that he refinished the neck on and refretted, I may never see it again! ;-)
 
bodia said:
Love the blackout look on the One! A black MannMade would really look hot on it!
Click to expand...

A beast of a guitar for sure. I almost regret letting that one go.

My Strat type guitar started life with a Graphtech trem nut. With a Hipshot trem, I wore it out in six months. Replaced it with bone and the guitar sounded better and has kept tune remarkably well even with trem abuse since about 2003.



Also, Paul acknowledges the musicality of bone as a nut material, and they use it on the 594 series. Their newest proprietary nut material is really good, too.

 
One of my concerns is that my McCarty is a Cherry Sunburst with scrape binding and it looks proper with a black nut. I have some nut material laying around and just kinda taped a piece over the black nut for appearances.. it looks unnatural in white. I want the darkest I can get. I know he has samples of other dark nut material, green, streaked, etc. but I'm not sure about black. If he has no black or there isn't such, Graphite it is...

This may be my excuse to get that Zak Myer in Trampas I've been lusting for....."why dear, it's simply uncivilized to not have a PRS guitar in the house at all times".. that should work...;-)
 
Personally, I`m all about the PRS nut. I`ve Had them replaced on 5 of my keepers. The work was done by the bomb of a Baltimore Luthier, Phil Jacoby. He also used to work at the factory.
 
Parralax view said:
One of my concerns is that my McCarty is a Cherry Sunburst with scrape binding and it looks proper with a black nut. I have some nut material laying around and just kinda taped a piece over the black nut for appearances.. it looks unnatural in white. I want the darkest I can get. I know he has samples of other dark nut material, green, streaked, etc. but I'm not sure about black. If he has no black or there isn't such, Graphite it is...

This may be my excuse to get that Zak Myer in Trampas I've been lusting for....."why dear, it's simply uncivilized to not have a PRS guitar in the house at all times".. that should work...;-)
Click to expand...

Don't settle for graphite. Black Tusq, maybe. The obvious solution is a new PRS nut. I like the current version much better than the old ones. You could also see if he will get you some water buffalo horn.

BN-0291-000-web.jpg
 
If you go with bone it will change tone. Better? Worse? Who knows, but you'll notice something. It was a let down on one of my Strats. The ol' "if it aint broke..."
 
I will probably remain with what's safe. The Graphite. I have bone nuts on all my strats and while the originals were old, and at least one had been unsuccessfully futzed with by a supposed great tech out here, it wasn't great. The bone has improved my strats so we all hear different things. But bone on my Mccarty may be a road to far...
 
By "The Graphite" do you mean the PRS nut? Important to note their current nut is a proprietary, brass-impregnated material. If your McCarty is an older one, it'll likely sound a little better and definitely better than your everyday graphite nut.

Otherwise, bone on the McCarty will be great.
 
.... just when I'd made up my mind. ;-) The nut has never been touched in any way on my McCarty, work wise that is. I don't know if it's too deep, or just right. I do know the strings sit much deeper in it than on my other re-nutted guitars, which are pretty much all of them, but I don't really want to alter the appearance of the guitar even in a simple way. I had no idea it was proprietary. It is an 04 so it's the older material. On view, the nut is not shriveled, dirty, broken or sharp on the edges, it might just stay on there and we move on. Even us sideline PRS guys with only one, want it to remain just as it is appearance wise. I do have an old Kramer with a "graphite" nut on it, it appears shriveled and older, I didn't think that could happen, but I remember the person I inherited it from saying that they had the nut installed in 1985...
 
It's my understanding that the 'next generation' of nut was introduced 2004(?). When I bought my used 2000 McCarty, I had the nut replaced with a new PRS one. The new one weighs 1 gram more according to my guitar tech because I asked him to weigh both at the time because I was interested to know the difference. Maybe someone here know the exact year the change was made to the nut...
 
garrett said:
Bone is easily my favorite material. Great for any application. Very durable and works great with a trem.

I've had three done: shallow Gibson style on my HBII and blocky PRS style on two SE models. Look, sound, and perform perfect for me.

Click to expand...

I've got her sister!

20170505_095639_zpskucsg8ty.jpg
 
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