Geeshie Wiley may be found on American Primitive Volume II, Revenant 214. All of her known recordings: Pick Poor Robin Clean, Skinny Leg Blues, Last Kind Words Blues, Eagles on a Half. Originally issued on Paramount Records in 1931.
I have a 1973 Precision Bass that needed a replacement nut, and the luthier that I went to for the repair actually volunteered to do a brass nut for it - keep in mind that over the course of its life I had already broken the original pickguard, and my older brother had put an EMG active pickup in it, so it was already not original. I said “sure!” When I got the bass back it played great, but the tone was so bright at the time that I switched it to flatwound strings. Funny thing, though: I recently put rounds on it again and it sounds fine. Mr. Morillo did an excellent job with the brass nut and didn’t charge any extra for it. I do my own maintenance work now, but he’s a good guy.
Yes a nice comment, Don here from Hamilton NZ on my Wife's tablet-SUSAN, after a Luthier fitted a zero fret on 1 of my guitars, WOW ,what a difference! so with the right fret-wire, I always do it on Any new guitar I get.Over here in NZ, in the 60's a Guitar Co (Jansen) did to all their electric guitar's, and That made Such a Difference to the sound, & we all (guitarists) why is this one sound sound more twangy & more delay Without Touching a toneknob, later we (mostly) realised 😮😮😮
I believe that it would stand to reason to have a nut made of metal over any other material so that the basic tone of open strings would more match that of the fretted notes. The zero fret was always a good idea.
Except that the string creates sound by vibrating between two fixed points. The only real variable there is how "fixed" the point is. If you have a loose/sloppy slot in the nut, that will affect tuning and perhaps how long it will vibrate. The fact that it's brass or bone is unlikely to make any difference, other than it staying tighter longer.
Hello Doc Groove! A metal made nut makes sense for the sound of open strings being similar to fretted notes, but it’s not as accurate as one might expect. I noticed on brass and steel nuts more overtones on open strings compared to fretted ones. That comes from the string bits behind the nut. On fretted notes there are also string bits behind the finger/s, but the zing gets muted by them. Behind the nut there is no finger, so I put a strip of foam under the strings behind it. NOW I have the exact same sound of fretted and open strings.☺️ (And muted same time the singing string bits on the headstock)😊 Cheers!🤘🏻
That was a pleasantly balanced review of brass nuts, etc. Usually, folk want to tell you that brass nuts, and even pins will enhance your tone - full stop. And yet, only 6 of the available notes bear on the nut. I love zero frets because if they are fitted properly the is the same between open and closed strings. Similarly with pins; the claim is that they affect tone by adding mass - yet in another part of the forest it is claimed that LESS mass in the bridge enhances tone. I have tried brass, bone, ebony, many plastics. I can't hear the difference. If you all can, good luck to you - maybe it was all that loud music I listened to in the 70s. Also a great comment on break angle on a dobro style bridge. Yours is definitely the way to go, but irritatinf for restringing.
I think you're 100% correct on all points. Tone-wise, adding mass/denser material only makes sense to me at the bridge, as it's the one boundary common to all notes. Brass nuts do look sharp, though.
I have two Stratocasters with a Kahler Spyder system on it and of course a locking nut made of metal. And I really do think I can hear a difference. And I prefer the metal compared to bone, plastic, or graphite on other guitars I own. And I think this might have something to do with the idea of open strings sounding like fretted notes. Having said that, it’s mainly noticeable when playing these guitars acoustic and of course that’s not how you use an electric guitar. Amplified, the differences in sound seem to get lost in even the smallest bits of overdrive and all of the many components involved in creating sound from an electric guitar in a band situation. So I never made a big deal out of it. 😬
"Enhancing tone" is like "turning up to 11" It's not a question of how much, but a question of what quality of tone. A brass nut is only gonna affect the open string vocabulary Adding or subtracting mass will inevitably "enhance" one quality while diminishing another quality of the sound. Brass endpins would be the better choice cause it will affect the volume or quality throughout the neck and not just the open string vocabulary. Depending on your setup, it could +/- brightness/darkness, volume/compression Attack/transients If you're not an auditory person, invest in a sonogram tuner that gives you a 3D display of sounds so you can put context behind the kinda empty words of "tone"
@@John_Malka-tits That sounds cool. For me, I tune every guitar differently for every chord in the track I'm focusing on. In this way, I can choose the chords with the most brass (open) notes over those with only frets to back them up (I like Stainless, but Evo gold is cool too). Then, I capo and re-record the same parts in tripletrack, but in tritone intervals. Just kidding, I don't go to such extremes, but I would love for someone else to, just for fun.
I'm not sure I believe that about the nut material having absolutely no effect on fretted notes. If you mount an electronic tuner on the head of your guitar it will sense a note vibrating even if you are fretting the string, so the entire head is still moving with the fretted note. It seems that added mass _anywhere_ on the head might serve to reduce the head movement, and would have _some_ impact on tone. How significant that impact might be, and whether that impact is positive or negative are different questions. Some kind of mass attached to other parts of the headstock might have even more of a certain type of impact to the tone.
Hey Teddy! Just a fun note about marking your brass with a Sharpie. That’s what EVERY machinist does now! Instead of using Dykem, like the master machinist Keith Fennerdoes, they call it Sharpem now! Hope that’s a bit a fun for ya! Astounding work as always!
I used to use Dykem to cover car panels when doing metal work picking and filing and shrinking to get them to the point they need very little filler, if any. Dykem leaves a residue that can clog up in some sand paper and some tooling. Sharpie ink is practically water thin. It penetrates the pores of the piece where Dykem builds up on the surface, no matter how lightly it's applied.
I had a brass nut on my '70 Les Paul and my G nut slot had a low groove worn down which I attributed to many G bends. I used to cut a few millimetres of my high E string to fill the G groove to act as a shim. I finally after many decades got it refretted and PLEKed and had the nut replaced with a bone one. I didn't notice any difference in sustain but a huge difference in tone. Much more treble with the bone compared to brass.
Brass nuts always interested me, good if not perfect solution to what a zero fret sort of seeks to do. Somewhere in this world is an acoustic guitar I made and sold which had a zero fret and a brass saddle in the bridge. It was really quite a nice sounding thing but they may have modified it since.
If this wasn't my favourite channel before (it was) then after mentioning Tim Blake Nelson, (my favourite actor) in Buster Scruggs, it would be even more. Great work and great description of what you are doing.
These small Recording Kings are fun to have indeed. Especially if you want to experiment with different tunings. I went the other way. I bought one years ago to try if I could use it as a guitar for Nashville tuning. Works amazingly well! The guitar is cheaper than a decent pedal, but I’m glad I bought it. 😊
I've done brass nuts but the only way to get open strings to sound exactly the same as fretted strings is to use a zero fret. They do of course have to be replaced from time to time ( just like a nut ) but they do sound really balanced. I bedlieve someone is now making a nut which consists of a zero fret and nut combined but I havent tried one. Great video as always!!
so . . music and sound is subjective . . if YOU think it sounds better it is . . I do remember the brass thing was supposedly "warmer" when you had locking trems . . I dont know . . I always go back to EVH mantra . . " if it sounds good . . it is good ." lol bty this was back in the late 80s early 90s . . your content is amazing . . thank you for what you do .
One thing I can tell you about a brass nut is that they last a very long time. I have a 1960 fender precision bass that I bought used in the early '70s. In the early '80s I had a brass nut installed when everybody was going crazy for brass. That nut is still on my bass and even with decades of RotoSound swing bass strings and heavy usage, it still functions perfectly. I did notice a bit more zing after it was installed.
I run brass off with a Scotchbrite green pot scrubber material finish. It makes for a very lovely satin finish. We found an 1850s-1860s rimfire Derringer in an old chest of drawers. I polished out the brass over steel frame to a mirror shine with jeweler's rouge. After that the brass reflected everything in a very dark yucky icky manner, so I went back to the satin finish and it looks super great. I need to replace the trigger rebound spring and it will shoot again. I have to make custom black powder loads for it. Either that or it will blow up in someone's hand. It's .22 rimfire which is .22 Short (BLACK POWDER).
Try the CCI .22 CB shorts. They only use the prime and I think a miniscule amount of powder. Ultra low power and likely safe (though I'd still look around and see if anyone else tried first). Those tiny Derringers are really amusing.
Great video and the modern Recording King is a great guitar. I've made several videos on my, all solid wood, RD-328 and have had many who say the same as I do, they love it. Again, awesome video and very nice work.
I had absolutely no expectations or any idea what kind of movie Buster Scruggs was when I came across it online. Fell in love with it almost immediately. Very fun experience!
Ted , I bought my son a Danelectro U-2 with lipsticks ( and an amp for $350!) , recently a Gretsch Streamliner Jet. Both are exactly 25" , I have measured both with my trusty old teacher's metal school rule , ( 1 metre/ 3 feet , plus fractions.). To me 25" is the ideal string length. As to nuts , his has a metal/brass nut; made in Korea in the 80s and sounds great Thanks for the vid. TJ from Oz
That seems like it would be a great "rubber bridge" guitar platform. Tuned down to C standard is great - I want to get that Madison Cunningham style sound, so wicked!
Fascinating, as always. BUT I was disappointed that at no stage did you show the full length of the Recording King. Not all of us have heard of them, and I was really curious to see the full instrument. My only complaint, ever. Love this channel!
Beautiful work putting in that output jack.. Excellent choice to add the 3 small countersunk holding screws to the tail. Looks authentic, works perfect.
I used a resonator tailpiece on my Gretsch Jim Dandy. It looked ok, but I changed it to Selmer Gypsy Jazz style tailpiece. I pit the output jack at about 4:30 on the bottom bout. Turned out ok. I used a cheap single coull pickup. Put cream knobs to match my guitar finish. I did it because the Jim Dandy is made in Indonesia and the bridge was lifting from the back. Had a bit of belly bulge too, so resolved two issues in one. Still sound awesome too.
Thanks for the tip! It never crossed my mind to understring it! I have this Levin mod 19 from 1948 that I have beeb fixing up. I love playing it! Very similar to this Recording king. I installed a new adjustable, compensated, rosewood floating bridge. But these old guitars, for some reason, always have very high action, so the break angle of the new bridge was a bit too flat. Understringing fixed that! 😀👍
@twoodfrd I feel your pain regarding filing nuts to shape. Just the other day it took me an hour and a half just to file down a high nut. The string heights themselves were fine, but the nut slots were too deep/nut body too high. I had a set of string cut-offs to gauge the depths so I could get as close as I dare to that perfect 2/3 depth. This nut wasn't brass though. Some metal impregnated graphite composite. It's been some years since I had to shape or reshape brass. My second Wal bass had a brass nut fitted. It DID ping like a piano. ❤
I had a similar buzzy Kent tailpiece and Tom at Halifax Folklore Centre put a thick strip of leather between it and the body and it did the trick. Still there 40 years after. Love that guitar.
twoodfrd 1:11 The owner of this Guitar tunes it down a Major Third to C Standard (sometimes Low B Standard which is a Half step below it) & uses it as a Mini Baritone Guitar, quite a punchy sound. We're going to turn it into an Acoustic-Electric Guitar w/ a Soundhole Pickup also made by Recording King.
I made my first saddle from a bone blank for my 71 fg75 I couldn't find anyone who made a 84mm saddle and the only blank I found was 82mm but about 3 hours cutting filing and sanding I have a working bone saddle with a store bought bone nut and it made a significant difference should have done it years ago
Nylon 66 (polymerized hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid) is used for clothing, including hosiery. Nylon 6 (polymerized caprolactam) is used, among other things, for gears.
I put a brass nut on a Strat. I did it for looks. Didn't really notice much if any tonal difference, and I play lots of 'cowboy chords'. Swapped it for an Earvana, which I am very happy with
I remember that record on R, Crum's documentary. Wonderful early bluesy sound. Hopefully now available someplace. Those old masters need to be better known, and easily listened to.
Possibly the best bass guitar I've ever owned had a stainless steel nut. It was a Jolana D-Bass, made in Soviet era Czechoslovakia during the mid 1980s. I bought a second one to string up with the heaviest four strings from a five string set so I could tune it to drop c for a band I was in at the time. Filing the nut slots was a serious chore, as the steel was incredibly hard.
@@drummerhammarHardness is all relative. Stainless isn't hard compared to High Carbon Steel, sure, but it's much harder than any of the common nut materials.
You can't be serious? Jolana is a laughing stock in all former eastern bloc countries, people had to play them because that was all there is and now nobody will touch them.
After trying out titanium saddles on my tele, strat and les pauls, I finally bought titanium nuts for my strat and es 339. I can say in open strings everything is a bit brighter, and overall clearer note separation and tuning. I hope it's not just my imagination but that's what I noticed(I think).
45 years ago an excellent repair guy in Rochester NY recommended a brass nut for my 65 Mustang. It has been there ever since. My original Danelectro bass came with an aluminum nut. Held in place with a screw!
My old Danelectro had an aluminum nut. Sometimes I think about making one. Then I tried Lexan, but my tools could barely scratch it. Ceramic changed dimensions from firing. I like to make nuts compensated (esp, G) but still looking for that perfect, workable but hard material.
I have been into brass nuts for the last few years. I generally use .375 inch brass mak-a-key. Most recent one was made from cast brass from an old lamp base. Brass is definitely harder to work than bone. Cheers and well done.
To truly reduce transferred energy into the neck, you would need a higher impedance mismatch between the materials. Brass might actually absorb vibration quite well from the steel string.
Re 15/32" drill bit. - 15/32 equates to 11.9mm, so a 12mm drill bit is only 0.1mm larger (and a whole lot easier to come by) Just a suggestion. Your channel is excellent by the way :-)
Been listening to a ton of Justin Townes Earle on here lately. I've yet to find a studio album that I vibe with, but boy... the solo live stuff with him and his Recording King is pure gold. Definitely sad he's gone from us, way too soon... As a novice player it blows me away how much he can fill a room with just his voice and a single guitar.
I never knew who Justin was until I saw him open for Social Distortion in 2018. Went home and downloaded EVERYTHING I could find. I love the music, but when I'm asked "What kinda music does he play?"....I'm stumped, and usually take a stab at "country/folk/blues/rock-a-billy?"
@@Skulllywag Had no idea he opened up for Social Distortion! Seen them a dozen times, but not very much recently. JTE was all over the place genre-wise, definitely hard to pin down. I heard he played in a punk band when he was younger but never verified it. My friend went "junkin" (thrift shopping) with Mike Ness once on a side note...
I purchased a Recording King parlor guitar a few years ago, and after I set the action the way I wanted, it's a pretty good little guitar that actually plays nicely. The tone has a ladder-braced boxy quality to it as well.
I had to get a brass bridge/tailpiece for my old strat. My sweat rusted out the original chrome/steel bridge saddles to the point of becoming one clump of rust. I bought a Fender brass bridge /tailpiece back in the 70's. Ted's remarks about different quality variations of brass,I wondered does Ted or anyone tell me if Fender used quality brass or a lesser quality. I put the brass bridge on in early 70's
Regarding the jack placement, I added a soundhole pickup to an acoustic guitar I have and put the jack in the usual endpin location. I soon discovered that it made the guitar unstable when sitting on a guitar stand and clumsy when playing. I moved it to the lower bout "Les Paul location," and I find that feels and works much better. A wide washer or small block of wood can be used on the inside if one is concerned about pressure on the Jack cracking the sides. I've used this jack location on 3 of my acoustic guitars without any problems or special precautions. YMMV 😎
I have the Recording King Dirty 30s parlor guitar with what I assume is the same pickup. I vastly prefer it to any piezo with an acoustic amp, but it really comes into its own when you plug into a Fender Blackface and add just an ever so slight amount of breakup to thicken it a tad, but not enough to make it obvious that it's not still clean. Fantastic sound, especially with a slide.
My 79 SG Exclusive has a brass nut. The Nut is still in perfect shape, but my frets are just about gone. The Brightness effect could be entirely placebo but I do feel like I hear more of it in higher strings with the brass nut installed.
My brother put a brass nut on an original run mustang bass back in the 80's. It sounds great. I think he made it from a belt buckle. I have that bass now. It has a Badass high-mass bridge on it but it's in pretty bad shape. One of the saddle pieces is broken. I can get new saddles for it. There's still some "new" ones for sale but I think I'm going to put a new high-mass bridge on it with brass saddles. Just because. Hipshot brand I think.
I loved the smaller vice held in the bigger vice. It reminds me of a book I’m reading about Welsh stick chairs, where they put a machinist vice in the woodworking face vice to get a better height
Once you fret a note, how much of a role can nut material realistically play in how a guitar sounds? I can see how it could be noticeable when open strings ring. Bone, Graphtek, Brass... are quality materials that allow a luthier to make a durable nut that won't pinch wound strings during tuning, bending, or use of a vibrato (tremolo) tailpiece. The "tone" motivation seems goofy. For saddles, it's much more realistic.
I wasn't too happy with the response of that kind of pickup. They are, by nature, microphonic and feed back. I am much more satisfied with a piezo disc about the size of a nickel. I wasn't real sure that I wanted to attach it to the soundboard with the adhesive, so I use a post-it note with clear postage tape applied to the paper side. I can attach the pickup to the tape, use the post-it note until it no longer sticks to the top and then I just make another post-it note/tape deal. The adhesive on the pick up remains like tape on a roll, which stick to the underlying tape. There's red brass and yellow brass, depending on the copper content. Guitar nuts are yellow brass.
@@alnicospeaker An instructor showed me when I did my apprenticeship. In use, it just seems smoother. Probably acts as a depth stop definitely not abrasive.
Tip on drilling sheet metal so that the bit doesnt jump through an incompletely drilled hole, then thread it's way through like a fast pitch screw (works especially well on larger diameter holes): This requires modifying the drill bit grind but doesnt seem to have negative consequences. • Start with a bit sharpened normally. The cutting edge cuts into the work with a rake angle (face angle) determined by the bit's helix angle. • Use a Dremel rotary tool with no.409 cut-off wheel. • Alter the leading edge of the drill-bit cutting edge into a scraping profile that changes the rake angle of the cutting face to 0°. • The width of the resulting facet doesnt matter much. It can be from 1 to 3/64ths inch or maybe more. • Now, when the bit is almost finished cutting through the work, it is no longer prone to distorting the last, foil-thin shaving of metal into the flute of the bit before it is cut free. Using this technique, I can hold a 16 ga. piece of sheet metal down on a scrap wood backer and drill through with a ⅜ bit without fear that the bit will grab the work and spin or distort it (or leave me with a cut hand)
Nylon is a soft material but it also has a very low friction coefficient. i figure that's why it lasts longer, other materials catch the string and get worn down more
Awesome video Ted thanks for sharing! question: for the brass nut how does it stay in the slot? Do you glue it? or is it held down by the pressure of the strings? Thanks hope to hear from you 😀
I have various guitars with a brass topnut - mostly early 80s Japanese, and they're original: they just don't wear out. They never get sticky either, and they sound great to my ears. Brass all the way 😎👍
I have a recording King RD316. Mahogany back and sides with an adi spruce top, scalloped forward shifted X braces, and it sounds awesome. For the price I can’t imagine a better sounding acoustic.
I have done brass, aluminum, bone, synthetic ivory and plastic. The idea is, the harder the material, the more the vibration will remain in the string and maximize sustain and response. I notice better tone and sustain from brass and aluminum over locking nuts, but bone and aluminum have been my favorites. Building them from Aluminum and brass bar is a truly daunting process though.
@@keithhampton9700 ah, very good point. I have a few hollowbodies where we definitely want resonances through the wood, not just the chamber, but some damping too for combatting reverberation buzz. It has been electrics where I always focus on the harder of materials. While locking nuts give such a dense joint it keeps the vibration abundantly in the string, I have still always noticed better sound and performance using a hard material nut that isn't clamping them off.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for mentioning that it's a premium price for that type of work....some times people think that it's something standard to fabricate
Lucky winner
Appreciate your review
Geeshie Wiley may be found on American Primitive Volume II, Revenant 214. All of her known recordings: Pick Poor Robin Clean, Skinny Leg Blues, Last Kind Words Blues, Eagles on a Half. Originally issued on Paramount Records in 1931.
Thanks!
Paramount Records Grafton Wisconsin, a funny lost studio that issued a lot of the early blues.
Did he mention her?
@@TheAlexFromGalax @12:11
A modern recording, by one of the best: ruclips.net/video/p6UrSOTMiOE/видео.htmlsi=p5OodKU8uYoFznzo
I have a 1973 Precision Bass that needed a replacement nut, and the luthier that I went to for the repair actually volunteered to do a brass nut for it - keep in mind that over the course of its life I had already broken the original pickguard, and my older brother had put an EMG active pickup in it, so it was already not original. I said “sure!” When I got the bass back it played great, but the tone was so bright at the time that I switched it to flatwound strings. Funny thing, though: I recently put rounds on it again and it sounds fine. Mr. Morillo did an excellent job with the brass nut and didn’t charge any extra for it. I do my own maintenance work now, but he’s a good guy.
Yes a nice comment, Don here from Hamilton NZ on my Wife's tablet-SUSAN, after a Luthier fitted a zero fret on 1 of my guitars, WOW ,what a difference! so with the right fret-wire, I always do it on Any new guitar I get.Over here in NZ, in the 60's a Guitar Co (Jansen) did to all their electric guitar's, and That made Such a Difference to the sound, & we all (guitarists) why is this one sound sound more twangy & more delay Without Touching a toneknob, later we (mostly) realised 😮😮😮
I use aluminum. A huge benefit of metals is that one dimension is perfect, and all the edges are square before you even start.
I believe that it would stand to reason to have a nut made of metal over any other material so that the basic tone of open strings would more match that of the fretted notes. The zero fret was always a good idea.
Except that the string creates sound by vibrating between two fixed points. The only real variable there is how "fixed" the point is. If you have a loose/sloppy slot in the nut, that will affect tuning and perhaps how long it will vibrate. The fact that it's brass or bone is unlikely to make any difference, other than it staying tighter longer.
After owning the Brian May guitar, I would like an F fret on all my guitars. Perfect string height and the nut becomes a string guide only.
Hello Doc Groove! A metal made nut makes sense for the sound of open strings being similar to fretted notes, but it’s not as accurate as one might expect. I noticed on brass and steel nuts more overtones on open strings compared to fretted ones. That comes from the string bits behind the nut. On fretted notes there are also string bits behind the finger/s, but the zing gets muted by them.
Behind the nut there is no finger, so I put a strip of foam under the strings behind it. NOW I have the exact same sound of fretted and open strings.☺️ (And muted same time the singing string bits on the headstock)😊 Cheers!🤘🏻
I'm a fan of the the zero fret.
That was a pleasantly balanced review of brass nuts, etc. Usually, folk want to tell you that brass nuts, and even pins will enhance your tone - full stop. And yet, only 6 of the available notes bear on the nut. I love zero frets because if they are fitted properly the is the same between open and closed strings. Similarly with pins; the claim is that they affect tone by adding mass - yet in another part of the forest it is claimed that LESS mass in the bridge enhances tone. I have tried brass, bone, ebony, many plastics. I can't hear the difference. If you all can, good luck to you - maybe it was all that loud music I listened to in the 70s. Also a great comment on break angle on a dobro style bridge. Yours is definitely the way to go, but irritatinf for restringing.
I think you're 100% correct on all points. Tone-wise, adding mass/denser material only makes sense to me at the bridge, as it's the one boundary common to all notes. Brass nuts do look sharp, though.
I have two Stratocasters with a Kahler Spyder system on it and of course a locking nut made of metal. And I really do think I can hear a difference. And I prefer the metal compared to bone, plastic, or graphite on other guitars I own. And I think this might have something to do with the idea of open strings sounding like fretted notes.
Having said that, it’s mainly noticeable when playing these guitars acoustic and of course that’s not how you use an electric guitar. Amplified, the differences in sound seem to get lost in even the smallest bits of overdrive and all of the many components involved in creating sound from an electric guitar in a band situation. So I never made a big deal out of it. 😬
"Enhancing tone" is like "turning up to 11"
It's not a question of how much, but a question of what quality of tone.
A brass nut is only gonna affect the open string vocabulary
Adding or subtracting mass will inevitably "enhance" one quality while diminishing another quality of the sound.
Brass endpins would be the better choice cause it will affect the volume or quality throughout the neck and not just the open string vocabulary.
Depending on your setup, it could +/- brightness/darkness, volume/compression
Attack/transients
If you're not an auditory person, invest in a sonogram tuner that gives you a 3D display of sounds so you can put context behind the kinda empty words of "tone"
@@John_Malka-tits That sounds cool. For me, I tune every guitar differently for every chord in the track I'm focusing on. In this way, I can choose the chords with the most brass (open) notes over those with only frets to back them up (I like Stainless, but Evo gold is cool too). Then, I capo and re-record the same parts in tripletrack, but in tritone intervals.
Just kidding, I don't go to such extremes, but I would love for someone else to, just for fun.
I'm not sure I believe that about the nut material having absolutely no effect on fretted notes.
If you mount an electronic tuner on the head of your guitar it will sense a note vibrating even if you are fretting the string, so the entire head is still moving with the fretted note. It seems that added mass _anywhere_ on the head might serve to reduce the head movement, and would have _some_ impact on tone.
How significant that impact might be, and whether that impact is positive or negative are different questions.
Some kind of mass attached to other parts of the headstock might have even more of a certain type of impact to the tone.
Hey Teddy! Just a fun note about marking your brass with a Sharpie. That’s what EVERY machinist does now! Instead of using Dykem, like the master machinist Keith Fennerdoes, they call it Sharpem now! Hope that’s a bit a fun for ya! Astounding work as always!
I used to use Dykem to cover car panels when doing metal work picking and filing and shrinking to get them to the point they need very little filler, if any. Dykem leaves a residue that can clog up in some sand paper and some tooling. Sharpie ink is practically water thin. It penetrates the pores of the piece where Dykem builds up on the surface, no matter how lightly it's applied.
...and then he flew into playing some awesome country licks! Love the video as always sir
I had a brass nut on my '70 Les Paul and my G nut slot had a low groove worn down which I attributed to many G bends. I used to cut a few millimetres of my high E string to fill the G groove to act as a shim. I finally after many decades got it refretted and PLEKed and had the nut replaced with a bone one. I didn't notice any difference in sustain but a huge difference in tone. Much more treble with the bone compared to brass.
Brass nuts always interested me, good if not perfect solution to what a zero fret sort of seeks to do. Somewhere in this world is an acoustic guitar I made and sold which had a zero fret and a brass saddle in the bridge. It was really quite a nice sounding thing but they may have modified it since.
I once saw R. Crumb perform. His band had a saw. It was insane.
If you like the singing saw, go see a band called Elephant Revival.
@@evanduquetteNeutral Milk Hotel have a few songs with a singing saw. Check out the song "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea"
So you saw a saw?
Dr Suess you’re up
The retro look on that pickup box made me smile.
If this wasn't my favourite channel before (it was) then after mentioning Tim Blake Nelson, (my favourite actor) in Buster Scruggs, it would be even more. Great work and great description of what you are doing.
These small Recording Kings are fun to have indeed. Especially if you want to experiment with different tunings. I went the other way. I bought one years ago to try if I could use it as a guitar for Nashville tuning. Works amazingly well!
The guitar is cheaper than a decent pedal, but I’m glad I bought it. 😊
I've done brass nuts but the only way to get open strings to sound exactly the same as fretted strings is to use a zero fret. They do of course have to be replaced from time to time ( just like a nut ) but they do sound really balanced. I bedlieve someone is now making a nut which consists of a zero fret and nut combined but I havent tried one. Great video as always!!
so . . music and sound is subjective . . if YOU think it sounds better it is . . I do remember the brass thing was supposedly "warmer" when you had locking trems . . I dont know . . I always go back to EVH mantra . . " if it sounds good . . it is good ." lol bty this was back in the late 80s early 90s . . your content is amazing . . thank you for what you do .
It’s nice to see the extra care you used to install an economy pickup. Inspiring detail. Nicely done Ted!
Thank you Ted for another fun and informative video… keep ‘em coming! 😊
One thing I can tell you about a brass nut is that they last a very long time. I have a 1960 fender precision bass that I bought used in the early '70s. In the early '80s I had a brass nut installed when everybody was going crazy for brass. That nut is still on my bass and even with decades of RotoSound swing bass strings and heavy usage, it still functions perfectly. I did notice a bit more zing after it was installed.
Your playing on that C Tuned Recording King was great! Have you been practicing? It sure does sound like it.
I run brass off with a Scotchbrite green pot scrubber material finish. It makes for a very lovely satin finish. We found an 1850s-1860s rimfire Derringer in an old chest of drawers. I polished out the brass over steel frame to a mirror shine with jeweler's rouge. After that the brass reflected everything in a very dark yucky icky manner, so I went back to the satin finish and it looks super great. I need to replace the trigger rebound spring and it will shoot again. I have to make custom black powder loads for it. Either that or it will blow up in someone's hand. It's .22 rimfire which is .22 Short (BLACK POWDER).
Try the CCI .22 CB shorts. They only use the prime and I think a miniscule amount of powder. Ultra low power and likely safe (though I'd still look around and see if anyone else tried first). Those tiny Derringers are really amusing.
Great video and the modern Recording King is a great guitar. I've made several videos on my, all solid wood, RD-328 and have had many who say the same as I do, they love it. Again, awesome video and very nice work.
"He breaks a lot of G strings." .... My man!!
Better than fingering A minor
I had that problem with my first Ibanez. I went through so many G strings. No pun intended.
I have removed quite of few g strings on guitars and my girlfriend
The brass nut almost gives it a dobro sound
As always great video, thanks, I look for you every week. Lots of learning and always enjoyable. But I cant help but wonder how Stella turned out?
Saw your podcast appearance, great job!!
Excellent work, Mr. Woodford
I have a vintage Ventura V-15 model 12-string guitar that has a brass nut, brass saddle, and brass pins. The sustain is amazing!
I had absolutely no expectations or any idea what kind of movie Buster Scruggs was when I came across it online. Fell in love with it almost immediately. Very fun experience!
Fantastic post. Thanks!
Ted , I bought my son a Danelectro U-2 with lipsticks ( and an amp for $350!) , recently a Gretsch Streamliner Jet. Both are exactly 25" , I have measured both with my trusty old teacher's metal school rule , ( 1 metre/ 3 feet , plus fractions.). To me 25" is the ideal string length. As to nuts , his has a metal/brass nut; made in Korea in the 80s and sounds great Thanks for the vid. TJ from Oz
Just listened to Mr. Wiley, thx Ted! I need that too!
sounds wonderful. Thank you.
That seems like it would be a great "rubber bridge" guitar platform. Tuned down to C standard is great - I want to get that Madison Cunningham style sound, so wicked!
Look forward to your weekly posts. Thanks!
I have a Kala ukulele that I just love!
I can play it for tips while piloting a Seneca twin in the Bahamas.
Interesting, I think I like the brass sound. I never would have thought that
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Me too.
Great job! I had no idea the amount of labor involved. Probably a good thing you didn't mention how much. Some musicians have a weak heart.
Fascinating, as always. BUT I was disappointed that at no stage did you show the full length of the Recording King. Not all of us have heard of them, and I was really curious to see the full instrument.
My only complaint, ever. Love this channel!
Awesome content Ted. I really liked watching you make a brass nut. Something new and the guitar had a nice ring when done.
Beautiful work putting in that output jack.. Excellent choice to add the 3 small countersunk holding screws to the tail. Looks authentic, works perfect.
I used a resonator tailpiece on my Gretsch Jim Dandy. It looked ok, but I changed it to Selmer Gypsy Jazz style tailpiece. I pit the output jack at about 4:30 on the bottom bout. Turned out ok. I used a cheap single coull pickup. Put cream knobs to match my guitar finish.
I did it because the Jim Dandy is made in Indonesia and the bridge was lifting from the back. Had a bit of belly bulge too, so resolved two issues in one. Still sound awesome too.
Thanks for the tip! It never crossed my mind to understring it! I have this Levin mod 19 from 1948 that I have beeb fixing up. I love playing it! Very similar to this Recording king. I installed a new adjustable, compensated, rosewood floating bridge. But these old guitars, for some reason, always have very high action, so the break angle of the new bridge was a bit too flat. Understringing fixed that! 😀👍
@twoodfrd I feel your pain regarding filing nuts to shape.
Just the other day it took me an hour and a half just to file down a high nut.
The string heights themselves were fine, but the nut slots were too deep/nut body too high.
I had a set of string cut-offs to gauge the depths so I could get as close as I dare to that perfect 2/3 depth.
This nut wasn't brass though. Some metal impregnated graphite composite.
It's been some years since I had to shape or reshape brass.
My second Wal bass had a brass nut fitted.
It DID ping like a piano. ❤
Gees, your dedication to quality really shows in the results.
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PS : Loved your after sound on your brass nut. Like a tru~blues. Awesome sound way cool 😎
I had a similar buzzy Kent tailpiece and Tom at Halifax Folklore Centre put a thick strip of leather between it and the body and it did the trick. Still there 40 years after. Love that guitar.
twoodfrd
1:11 The owner of this Guitar tunes it down a Major Third to C Standard (sometimes Low B Standard which is a Half step below it) & uses it as a Mini Baritone Guitar, quite a punchy sound. We're going to turn it into an Acoustic-Electric Guitar w/ a Soundhole Pickup also made by Recording King.
I made my first saddle from a bone blank for my 71 fg75 I couldn't find anyone who made a 84mm saddle and the only blank I found was 82mm but about 3 hours cutting filing and sanding I have a working bone saddle with a store bought bone nut and it made a significant difference should have done it years ago
Sounds brighter and less boomy... could be mic location off just a little. Neat experiment! Thanks for the knowledge.
6/6 Nylon is *tough* stuff! That's what Gibson used. It's really difficult to slot as well.
Nylon 66 (polymerized hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid) is used for clothing, including hosiery. Nylon 6 (polymerized caprolactam) is used, among other things, for gears.
I put a brass nut on a Strat. I did it for looks. Didn't really notice much if any tonal difference, and I play lots of 'cowboy chords'. Swapped it for an Earvana, which I am very happy with
I remember that record on R, Crum's documentary. Wonderful early bluesy sound. Hopefully now available someplace. Those old masters need to be better known, and easily listened to.
Possibly the best bass guitar I've ever owned had a stainless steel nut. It was a Jolana D-Bass, made in Soviet era Czechoslovakia during the mid 1980s. I bought a second one to string up with the heaviest four strings from a five string set so I could tune it to drop c for a band I was in at the time. Filing the nut slots was a serious chore, as the steel was incredibly hard.
Geez fret files are already expensive enough to replace!
Happy that you like your bass though 👍
Nope, Stainless is not hard, but very tough.
@@drummerhammarHardness is all relative. Stainless isn't hard compared to High Carbon Steel, sure, but it's much harder than any of the common nut materials.
You can't be serious? Jolana is a laughing stock in all former eastern bloc countries, people had to play them because that was all there is and now nobody will touch them.
@@ileutur6863 ...Musima...
Guitar players believe they hear things that the rest of us mere mortals have never heard. Great vid!
After trying out titanium saddles on my tele, strat and les pauls, I finally bought titanium nuts for my strat and es 339.
I can say in open strings everything is a bit brighter, and overall clearer note separation and tuning.
I hope it's not just my imagination but that's what I noticed(I think).
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I made a brass nut for a classical guitar. Worked with cruder tools than you did. Took me all day long but it did turn out beautiful !
I had an late 70s early 80s electra..with a brass nut..the guitar was a work of art from Japan..wish I still had it
45 years ago an excellent repair guy in Rochester NY recommended a brass nut for my 65 Mustang. It has been there ever since. My original Danelectro bass came with an aluminum nut. Held in place with a screw!
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My old Danelectro had an aluminum nut. Sometimes I think about making one. Then I tried Lexan, but my tools could barely scratch it. Ceramic changed dimensions from firing. I like to make nuts compensated (esp, G) but still looking for that perfect, workable but hard material.
I have been into brass nuts for the last few years. I generally use .375 inch brass mak-a-key. Most recent one was made from cast brass from an old lamp base. Brass is definitely harder to work than bone.
Cheers and well done.
Wonderful work as always Ted, thanks for sharing your expertise.
“Last kind word” was covered ( I think it is the same song) by Rhiannon Gidden’s album “ Tomorrow is my turn” it is an excellent song
Brass nut, an ever so slightly brighter tone and looks lovely!!!! Rock on!!!
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To truly reduce transferred energy into the neck, you would need a higher impedance mismatch between the materials. Brass might actually absorb vibration quite well from the steel string.
Re 15/32" drill bit. - 15/32 equates to 11.9mm, so a 12mm drill bit is only 0.1mm larger (and a whole lot easier to come by) Just a suggestion. Your channel is excellent by the way :-)
Great job once again!
Been listening to a ton of Justin Townes Earle on here lately. I've yet to find a studio album that I vibe with, but boy... the solo live stuff with him and his Recording King is pure gold. Definitely sad he's gone from us, way too soon... As a novice player it blows me away how much he can fill a room with just his voice and a single guitar.
"Maybe a Moment" is one of my favorite songs. I need to listen to more of his stuff.
I never knew who Justin was until I saw him open for Social Distortion in 2018. Went home and downloaded EVERYTHING I could find. I love the music, but when I'm asked "What kinda music does he play?"....I'm stumped, and usually take a stab at "country/folk/blues/rock-a-billy?"
@@Skulllywag Had no idea he opened up for Social Distortion! Seen them a dozen times, but not very much recently. JTE was all over the place genre-wise, definitely hard to pin down. I heard he played in a punk band when he was younger but never verified it. My friend went "junkin" (thrift shopping) with Mike Ness once on a side note...
@@MaxG-jk8ty Mike is a real character...not a fan of his politics, but love the music.
Ballad of Buster Scruggs! One of my favorites as well. The dark humor is on point!
Cork for diy gaskets works well for under bridge. Some even have a adhesive backing.🤘🤠🤘
I purchased a Recording King parlor guitar a few years ago, and after I set the action the way I wanted, it's a pretty good little guitar that actually plays nicely. The tone has a ladder-braced boxy quality to it as well.
You have a Delmonico's in Canada? I wonder if its the same as the one near me in Utica, NY? I always thought it was a local restaurant? Humm?
I had to get a brass bridge/tailpiece for my old strat. My sweat rusted out the original chrome/steel bridge saddles to the point of becoming one clump of rust. I bought a Fender brass bridge /tailpiece back in the 70's. Ted's remarks about different quality variations of brass,I wondered does Ted or anyone tell me if Fender used quality brass or a lesser quality. I put the brass bridge on in early 70's
I love brass nuts. Do they make a tonal difference - I very much doubt it. It's just they look so cool. Especially with Jescar gold fretwire.
Regarding the jack placement, I added a soundhole pickup to an acoustic guitar I have and put the jack in the usual endpin location. I soon discovered that it made the guitar unstable when sitting on a guitar stand and clumsy when playing. I moved it to the lower bout "Les Paul location," and I find that feels and works much better. A wide washer or small block of wood can be used on the inside if one is concerned about pressure on the Jack cracking the sides. I've used this jack location on 3 of my acoustic guitars without any problems or special precautions. YMMV 😎
When I woke up this morning, I had no idea that I'd learn so much about brass nuts today!.
I was thinking leave it proud with long slots for a Frankenstein look. (I'm at 22 min. I'll go see how you made out).
I wasn't familiar with the brand Recording King. I might have to check out these guitars
I have the Recording King Dirty 30s parlor guitar with what I assume is the same pickup. I vastly prefer it to any piezo with an acoustic amp, but it really comes into its own when you plug into a Fender Blackface and add just an ever so slight amount of breakup to thicken it a tad, but not enough to make it obvious that it's not still clean. Fantastic sound, especially with a slide.
Thanks Ted!
the Phil Leadbetter Recording King Resonator Guitar is awesome ! R.i.p Phil.
My 79 SG Exclusive has a brass nut. The Nut is still in perfect shape, but my frets are just about gone. The Brightness effect could be entirely placebo but I do feel like I hear more of it in higher strings with the brass nut installed.
My brother put a brass nut on an original run mustang bass back in the 80's. It sounds great. I think he made it from a belt buckle. I have that bass now. It has a Badass high-mass bridge on it but it's in pretty bad shape. One of the saddle pieces is broken. I can get new saddles for it. There's still some "new" ones for sale but I think I'm going to put a new high-mass bridge on it with brass saddles. Just because. Hipshot brand I think.
I loved the smaller vice held in the bigger vice. It reminds me of a book I’m reading about Welsh stick chairs, where they put a machinist vice in the woodworking face vice to get a better height
Once you fret a note, how much of a role can nut material realistically play in how a guitar sounds?
I can see how it could be noticeable when open strings ring.
Bone, Graphtek, Brass... are quality materials that allow a luthier to make a durable nut that won't pinch wound strings during tuning, bending, or use of a vibrato (tremolo) tailpiece. The "tone" motivation seems goofy. For saddles, it's much more realistic.
It matters if you believe it does. Priceless.
The guitar of the Sans Saba Songbird??? How wonderful.
I wasn't too happy with the response of that kind of pickup. They are, by nature, microphonic and feed back. I am much more satisfied with a piezo disc about the size of a nickel. I wasn't real sure that I wanted to attach it to the soundboard with the adhesive, so I use a post-it note with clear postage tape applied to the paper side. I can attach the pickup to the tape, use the post-it note until it no longer sticks to the top and then I just make another post-it note/tape deal. The adhesive on the pick up remains like tape on a roll, which stick to the underlying tape.
There's red brass and yellow brass, depending on the copper content. Guitar nuts are yellow brass.
Nice job Ted! Ooooh I like shiny.
Brilliant channel always enjoy your videos
if you want a finer finish when draw filing, rub some chalk into the file.
Thanks for that tip, is the chalk acting as an abrasive or more of a depth stop for the teeth of the file..or both?
@@alnicospeaker An instructor showed me when I did my apprenticeship. In use, it just seems smoother. Probably acts as a depth stop definitely not abrasive.
Tip on drilling sheet metal so that the bit doesnt jump through an incompletely drilled hole, then thread it's way through like a fast pitch screw (works especially well on larger diameter holes):
This requires modifying the drill bit grind but doesnt seem to have negative consequences.
• Start with a bit sharpened normally. The cutting edge cuts into the work with a rake angle (face angle) determined by the bit's helix angle.
• Use a Dremel rotary tool with no.409 cut-off wheel.
• Alter the leading edge of the drill-bit cutting edge into a scraping profile that changes the rake angle of the cutting face to 0°.
• The width of the resulting facet doesnt matter much. It can be from 1 to 3/64ths inch or maybe more.
• Now, when the bit is almost finished cutting through the work, it is no longer prone to distorting the last, foil-thin shaving of metal into the flute of the bit before it is cut free.
Using this technique, I can hold a 16 ga. piece of sheet metal down on a scrap wood backer and drill through with a ⅜ bit without fear that the bit will grab the work and spin or distort it (or leave me with a cut hand)
Nylon is a soft material but it also has a very low friction coefficient. i figure that's why it lasts longer, other materials catch the string and get worn down more
Awesome video Ted thanks for sharing! question: for the brass nut how does it stay in the slot? Do you glue it? or is it held down by the pressure of the strings? Thanks hope to hear from you 😀
Great work
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Ibanez IMO started the brass nut craze on their Musicians and Artists
That tiny faction of an inch makes all the difference! I'm currently experimenting with unicorn horn instead of ivory.
Always enjoy your videos Ted but I’d say ‘brass for sass’!
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I have various guitars with a brass topnut - mostly early 80s Japanese, and they're original: they just don't wear out. They never get sticky either, and they sound great to my ears.
Brass all the way 😎👍
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I have a recording King RD316. Mahogany back and sides with an adi spruce top, scalloped forward shifted X braces, and it sounds awesome. For the price I can’t imagine a better sounding acoustic.
I have done brass, aluminum, bone, synthetic ivory and plastic. The idea is, the harder the material, the more the vibration will remain in the string and maximize sustain and response. I notice better tone and sustain from brass and aluminum over locking nuts, but bone and aluminum have been my favorites. Building them from Aluminum and brass bar is a truly daunting process though.
Try using very hard rubber for a nut. Works better for a semi hollow Bass. Just enough mute.🤘🤠🤘
@@keithhampton9700 ah, very good point. I have a few hollowbodies where we definitely want resonances through the wood, not just the chamber, but some damping too for combatting reverberation buzz.
It has been electrics where I always focus on the harder of materials. While locking nuts give such a dense joint it keeps the vibration abundantly in the string, I have still always noticed better sound and performance using a hard material nut that isn't clamping them off.
Nelson is extremely talented.