Earvana Compensating Guitar Nut: Anyone try one?

[gnugear]

Warmoth offers them and I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with them. Are they easy to install, do they sound good, are they precut, blah blah ...

Wow.

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/part...de_string_nuts

I have a neck coming from them, and I'm curious why they didn't offer that as an option. If they had that model made out of graphite, I'd probably call 'em up and see if I'm too late to change out the typical warmoth graphite one I'm having them put in.

best,

sterling

[fatback]

I believe it's made out of Tusq which is very similar to graphite, (self lubricating). I'm not sure about this but my friend describes it as "white graphite". I've heard great things about the Eavana nut from Gary Brawer and Jeff at SF guitarworks. I'll have to try one soon and judge for myself. The cool thing is that you don't need a tuner with special presets to use it like the Feiten system.

[Eric Pykala]

I've been using one on my "darkside" Variax for about a year and a half now. It's my "utility/recording/stunt/synth guitar", and wanted to see if I could improve the intonation. It works very well. Mine is the black LP-style one, seems to be made of the same material as their Tremnut, but as my guitar is a hardtail I can't vouch for how well it works with a trem (everything Graphtech makes works). Fitting it is not difficult, just finicky, and there's no point in even attempting it unless you have a real or virtual (I use the Petersen VS-II) strobe tuner to set it up properly. You MUST have something that accurate to get maximum benefit from it. It works all the way up and down the neck unlike the Feiten system, it works with a capo, and it works with YOUR tuner. When I first got it, I restrung my PRS and my Variax, and in a dead-quiet house just listened to the difference between the two (PRS uses a compensated nut also). The Variax was in (very) noticeably better tune up and down the neck, a fact confirmed by my strobe tuner.
Downside, it's a little larger than a stock nut, so some of you appearance-anal folks may not like that aspect (hey, even me, I'm not putting one on my Musicman Silhouette Special because i don't even want to think about removing the factory bone nut which is beautifully painted-in). Get the black one; it disappears better.
Where I notice the most difference is when tracking multiple guitar parts in different places on the neck. I never realized there was that much subtle phase cancellation (due to tuning discrepancies) happening in the overdub process. Everything sounds, to use a favorite word on this board, "sweeter".
I'm glad there are people like Buzz Feiten and the Earvana folks working on what has been an age-old problem. You can be the best player in the world, but if you're out of tune even the drunk overweight chick who fell into your pedalboard knows it (right on, Scott!). -Eric

[Scumback Speakers]

I've got one on my Strat, works great!

anyone know where you can find more info on this? looks interesting. bump...

[BPlexico]

Originally posted by bobbystroker
anyone know where you can find more info on this? looks interesting. bump...

I would suggest going straight to the source:

http://www.earvana.com/

Originally posted by BPlexico
I would suggest going straight to the source:

http://www.earvana.com/

thanks. already had a look at the site. was looking for a little more...any other ideas?

[BPlexico]

Ooops! Ok, how about these perhaps?

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guita...ng_Nut-01.html

http://www.langcaster.com/Earvana-Guitar-Nut_2.html

http://www.guitartrader.com/z040401earvana.icl?srcdoc=

[Strung Up]

For me, the jury's still out. My impressions so far:

BIG improvement for 'in-tune-ness' throughout neck range. Haven't A/B'd it with BFTS, but it's in the ballpark with my BFTS guitars for chording 'sweetness'.

No apparent negative effect on tone or sustain. I haven't figured out how to do serious A/B on sustain. Logically, it's a two-piece, mechanically-coupled nut, so I have reservations, but haven't heard any major drawback.

As previously mentioned, cosmetically, takes a little getting used to. If you care about that stuff a lot (I don't).

Biggest hang for me, is that per the site, in order to intonate the bridge saddles:
you have to loosen and move the 'nut' towards the headstock, adjust intonation at the saddles, then readjust the nut to it's proper position.

For someone who likes to adjust intonation pretty regularly (every string set change or so), this is a HUGE PITA, with the increased potential for wear and failure of the parts being tightened. Why no offsets like BFTS?

Still living with it for now, though.