Roller nut/ graphite nut and staying in tune after diveboms

[jms8250]

I have a strat with a bone nut I installed.  It is well cut and everything but I still have problems with the strings binding at the nut when I use the whammy bar.  I like the sound of the bone nut, but it might be worth trading for a graphite nut or roller nut.  Do these work and which one would work best?  

I would also just like to discuss with you strat players methods for keeping in tune following heavy whammy bar use...I know it will never be perfect but I insist on th notion that a strat can be adjusted to stay in tune even following heavy whammy bar use and dive bombing....

I lube my nut with graphite every time I change strings. THis helps.

I can get away with occasional not so heavy handed whammy bar use...Actually overall the guitar does pretty good with the whammy bar usage.  Sometimes dive bombing will not knock me out of tune but overall it is inconsistent.  Will changing the nut help out.

What impact on the sound does the roller ball nut have?  

I do several things to stay in tune:
I play with a Calaham bridge and block; these stay in tune very well
I use virtually no string wraps on certain strings since I figured out that these wraps are reservoirs of unstretched strings...I think this is one of the Jeff Beck tuning secretes  passed down to Eddie Van Halen --Please correct me if wrong....
I lubricate the nut slots with graphite dust, I also do this at the string tree
I have a really good technique for stretching the strings
I set up my bridge tp pivot on the scews a bit and not bind...

Virtually all my tuning problems are at the nut where the strings catch and  go sharp....

I want to learn more about adjusting the springs to stay in tune.  I am note sure how this approach works....

Overall my tuning is rock solid and above average for whammy bar use.

What can I do to get it more near perfect?


What do you guys think?

jms
www.peerlesstone.com

[MrBump]

I have a roller nut on my Charvel.

It STILL goes out of tune after silly use...  the best way I've found of getting it back is to have it adjusted so that I can snap the bar back a tone or so, stretching the strings.

Mark.

[Ratrod]

Locking tuners are a great way to improve tuning stability.

Or go for a floyd rose setup with a locking nut.

[Philly Q]

+1 on the locking tuners.  

If you have vintage Kluson-style tuners Gotoh make superb locking tuners in that style.  They don't add any extra weight and they pull the strings closer to the headstock so you - possibly - could do without string trees.

I don't really like whammy bars nowadays but I have had lots of different ones in the past.  For roller nuts, I've had the original Wilkinson and the Fender/Wilkinson unit.  They worked well but the Fender one tended to buzz, intermittently but very loudly, on the plain strings.  I don't know if the LSR has this problem, but I've heard it affects sustain.

Assuming you don't want to go the Floyd route, I'd think a Graph Tech nut (and maybe their string trees too) is probably your best bet.

Or, I've never tried it, but there's Big Bends Nut Sauce (warning: website opens annoying video clip):

http://www.bigbends.com/

[Antag]

The best non-Floyd option I've ever found for tuning stability is the LSR roller nut.

My 2 Warmoth strats have Wilkinson trem/LSR roller nut/Schaller locking machineheads & stay in tune after all but the fiercest divebomb/squeals.

I still prefer a Floyd above all other trem units, although I'd quite like to have a Kahler with a Floyd/Schaller locking nut (the Kahler string clamp is cr&p...)

[Simon D]

I've never tried a LSR (I'd like to - maybe on my next Warmoth build), but my Warmoth Soloist has a Wilkinson trem, locking Sperzels and a graphite nut, and once the strings are stretched in, it take serious abuse to make it go out of tune.

Likewise, on my PRS Tremonti, there's a set of locking tuners, a PRS trem and a graphite nut, and that holds its tune very well. I think they do make a difference.

My Strat has a standard nut, non-locking tuners and a Callaham block, and any tough whammy use will see it go out of tune - not badly, but to the extent I need to stop playing and retune it.

I gave up on Floyds a few years ago - drove me mental whenever I wanted to change strings. Some people have the patience for them, but I don't!

[il˙ti]

I lube my nut

Hehe.  :D


 :roll:


 :oops:

Carry on.