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 Resonator Guitars & Lap Steels.
I m impressed with this. Easy to install. I m not a luthiar but I have refretted a few guitars and made some nuts and saddles. This is a pretty incredible system. I was going to cut a new nut for an acoustic guitar I just bought. I tested it and it was not sliding perfectly through the nut even though there was no ping while tuning. The way I test a nut is to strike a note then smack the string between the nut and the machine heads. behind the nut I put a tuner on the head stock so I can watch the note go up and come back. It simulates a good bend and you can watch the quality of the nut you have on the guitar. Most guitars will stick at about 6 to 10 cents above the tuned note unless you have a really well cut nut. At least the wound strings will....steel strings will usually drop back to the tuned note if the nut is decent . The nut I had on this guitar was pretty good....no pings while tuning yet it would still catch occasionally which effected tuning.
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.
This is one of those things that you ask yourself why has no one thought of this before, but it likely would have been very difficult to produce on a volume scale without CNC machines.......I put the ZB4 on a Washburn parlor guitar and was amazed at the difference in tone clarity, sustain and definition as well as tuning stability and the lowest possible action.........What more could you ask for for one single mod??.....Zero Glide makes several different sizes etc to fit just about any guitar, so be sure you get the right model for your instrument. The unslotted ZB4 requires slotting, so it does require some skill and proper files. I would recommend letting a tech install if you have no experience or tools. I do predict that some of the major instrument makers will be using this in the near future. Why did'nt I think of this. JB/Texas
$34.99