The Zero Glide Replacement Nut System borrows the "zero fret" concept to reduce string contact in the nut by up to 93%, increasing tuning stability, playability, and open string tone. It only takes a few minutes to install with absolutely no permanent alteration to your instrument. For Banjo / Mandolin (Blank).
Also available in Black Delrin.
Pretty easy to install - sand it down to fit - pick the fret that matches the rest of your fretboard - couldn't be easier!
Works as described but installation was a pain. I have a warmoth tele neck that I installed it to. I had to cut back the nut slot a little to fit the new bone nut and fret in place. I thought it would just drop in.. I wasn't anticipating that but my skills didn't let me down. I filed the nut and fret down on both sides a little, added some super glue and now it works great. i have a bigsby so tunning is a breeze now!
I've used this for over a month and I'm more happy now than when I first installed it. The intonation on my acoustic is better than it ever was...you can fine tune the saddle almost dead on for intonation. One suggestion.....be sure to glue in the zero fret with a few drops of glue once you get the guitar right. I was working on my guitar on and off for a month and didn't glue in the zero fret. I was taking the strings on and off. Every time you reinstall the zero fret it will be in a slightly different place. String against fret will cause a slightly different indentation in the zero fret. You want the string to stay in the same spot on the zero fret.
I bought the mandolin version and fitted it to my Gibson. There's a lot of extra material to remove, but the result was great. Easier tuning (the old nut had tight slots for the A strings), better intonation. Later I used one of the extra frets in the package to fix a tenor guitar. For that, I simply filed the necessary ledges in the existing nut and widened the string slots. It would be nice if Stew-Mac would also sell the offset tang frets separately, for retrofitting to an existing nut.
I just put the Zero Glide on my guitar. Very impressed. This is as close to perfect as I can get. I can bend all over the guitar and 95 of the time the notes come back to the original pitch....the few times they don t it s so minimal most people wouldn t notice it....I really believe that it s probably the tuners....they re decent low grade tuners. Nothing special. Amazing considering this is a 300.00 guitar. I checked the space between the 1st fret and the E and B strings fretted at the third fret...distance between 1st fret and bottom of string .....they looked like they were less than a thousandth and the guitar was not buzzing on an open string. The action is very low with extra thin strings on it. This made the guitar play even easier. I had the strings set at about 4 thousandths from the first fret while fretting at the third. This took them lower....especially on the first 5 frets. Good job on this I do wish they would have sent me a smaller fret.
$39.99