TUSQ by Graph TechGuitar Nut Slotted Strat Style PQ-5000-00

I originally purchased this for a Squier Strat (SSS) made in Indonesia. As this was the curved nut, it did not fit my Squier as I needed the flat nut (which I ended up purchasing separately (great service from Amazon on this one). To remove the old nut, I cut into the edges of the old nut using a razor blade (X-Acto knife) to loosen it and then used a small block of wood that I tapped on either side of the nut to loosen it more. Once the old nut started loosening, it was cake to remove. I then cleaned the space of old glue (mine was gummy) before pre-fitting the new nut. The new (flat) nut was a perfect fit and lined up perfectly with the old nut I removed (when I put them side to side, holding them up). I glued it using a small amount of wood glue that I brushed in. Just to make sure it cured well, I left the guitar alone for a couple days before I strung it up again (I was also busy). So, was it worth the effort to change the nut? Absolutely! First of all, it's really easy. Second of all, I no longer have strings binding and twanging loudly as I'm tuning. Tuning is much smoother and it has increased the sustain somewhat. As for the extent of the sound change/sustain, I'm not sure how much was due to the nut and how much was due to the new GraphTech saddles or GFS Steel block I installed. But, after doing these things, I can say the sound and sustain was dramatically better. I can attribute better tuning and smoother bending to this nut though.

The hardest part was getting my original nut off since it was lacquered in by Fender. I bought my first Tusq XL at Guitar Center and shaved it down too far on the bottom so that I got a little buzz on the low E and G string, oddly enough. So I bought another here on Amazon. You can have it on in under an hour easily if your other nut is already off. Basically, had to shave a little off the back to fit in the slot and then shaved less this time off the bottom, after sanding down the tab they put on there. Didn't mess with the slots at all. My Tele plays great. I think it has better tone and clarity than the original bone nut, especially the Low E string, which with the bone sounds dull and thuddy. I do like the look of bone better though. Just be careful not to go too low when sanding on the bottom. I got mine to about .025" on the first fret on the Low E, which also is about .010" when pressing the Low E down on the third fret and measuring the first fret to the string. My action is about 4/64 on all the strings on the 12th and about .006" on the Low E 8th fret with a capo on the first and pressing around the 19th fret. Seems good enough.

On my Player Mustang, this was a good fit and required very little to make it work. The little tab at the bottom is there in the event that your guitar has a flat bottom for the nut. On my Mustang it was arched, so I just needed to file the tab off with a tiny little file. The width and thickness needed to be adjusted slightly to fit properly. I used a piece of medium grit sandpaper flat on the granite countertop and moved the part on top of it to keep it exactly flat to trim the thickness slightly. The guitar is tuning a lot more precisely and smoothly now. Being in tune is super important in the end. You will sound better tuned precisely with a guitar that is intonated properly. It was worth the money to me and there is no real need to pay someone to do this for you if you are reasonably handy. Take care with removing the stock part. You’ll want to score the edges with an exacto knife to remove it cleanly. On my guitar there was some finish on the nut that kind of glued it in place. Once I scored the edge it came out with just a very light tap.

I didn't believe them when they said this would change the tone of my cheapo Korean Squire strat. I busted my original nut and just played 5 strings for a couple years. I put it off cause I convinced myself it would take hours of sanding and filling. I'm an idiot. Don't be me. This one thing (and fresh strings) transformed my least favorite guitar to play into my favorite. I'm genuinely stunned. The sustain is awesome. The tone is brighter AND richer. I was finally able to dial in the intonation. The installation was so simple: 1.) Put a small flat head at the bottom of the existing nut (I wouldn't wedge it between the nut and the neck cause you might take a chunk out of the wood.) 2.) Hit the screwdriver. I used the palm of my hand and the remnants of the busted nut popped right out. 3.) Drop this sucker in and string it up. I've heard of some people have issues with fit, I had none; perfect down to the millimeter. I've seen some people glue the nut in and others the just dropped it in; I figured that's it's less work to not glue it in and I can always do it later anyways. I don't think I will glue it. It sounds incredible. I can't believe I waited years to do something so easy, so cheap and do meaningful to the guitar.

I had a hard time figuring out if I needed the curved or straight bottom version for my 2009 Highway One Strat. The curved one (this one) was the correct fit. I had some buzzing in my old nut. This one has no buzzing. The slots are cut very nicely (I use 10-46 string size). It has better sustain and a slightly cleaner sound than my old nut. I confirmed nut buzz vs. fret buzz because I could pinch the strings on the tuner side of the nut and make the buzz go away. I bought a set of needle files for shaping. I had to file the little tab off the bottom, and I had to file the thickness slightly. I think they make them a little thick on purpose so you can file to a perfect fit. File a little at a time, and don't force it into the nut slot - just file a little more for a snug fit that you can push in with your thumb. If you don't have the right files to file off the tab, don't forget to order some. It's an extra $5 well spent on a set of diamond needle files. This works without lowering the slot depth, but the action is higher than ideal. Expect to need some fine tuning of slot depth. You're either going to pay for a luthier to do it or buy the proper nut slotting files to do it yourself. Where I am, paying for the adjustment would be cheaper than paying for a luthier to make a whole new nut. I'm buying some nut files to adjust the string height myself. The way I look at it is that for the cost of nut adjustments on two guitars, I can get the files and learn to do it myself. The cost is a wash in the short term, but I always lean toward investing in tools and learning skills vs. paying for one time services. On an acoustic Tusq I bought previously, I thought I'd be clever and sand down the base to set the string height. That was not a good approach. I ended up with a couple of strings too low and a couple too high. I shimmed it and tried to fix the mess with a torch tip cleaner. Overall - I wasted $10 and 3 hours. I'm back to the factory nut on my acoustic now. I really recommend you plan to get the right tools (nut files) if you're going to do this yourself. At a minimum, look into the DIY feeler gauge file. I'll be in business with low string action on both guitars in another week when I get the files!

Update because I bought a second one: I purchased another Graph Tech nut for my new Fender Player Series HSS Stratocaster and am very pleased with it like the previous one I purchased (see below). On the Player Series the new nut required minor sanding to remove the middle nub and also to make it slightly shorter (across the neck) and thinner (to fit in the nut slot). Within 20-30 minutes I had it installed and playing with a nice upgrade over the stock plastic nut. ------------------- A change in tone was immediately noticeable, even without plugging in. The whole guitar rang more than the stock nut on my 2006 MIM Strat and bends feel a little smoother. The ends required some sanding, and I sanded off the nub in the bottom, but it matched the stock nut very quickly and popped right in. The whole swapping and shaping process took maybe 30 minutes. Overall a very nice product. If I end up getting rid of it, it will only be because of slight tone preference.

I did have one gripe with the nut that I received but I am still going to give it 5 stars. The nut was to short and I had to shim it with a tiny piece of walnut to get it to work. Not going to really fault them for that though as there are a billion different strat and tele models and everyone of them slightly different. I was very surprised to see that after shimming, this nut required no slot filing of any kind. First nut I've ever bought that didn't need even a little touch-up done. I have graphtech nuts on my Les Paul and I had to file the nut slots slightly on that one but this one was perfect. It was just a tad too thick to fit in the slot but a few passes on some 220 grit took care of that. Then the ends hang off a tiny bit which I'll have to sand slightly but again, not going to fault them for that. I would highly recommend this nut. One awesome feature that I found though was the radius that they put on it. My fretboard has a 14" Radius and it looks like this nut has a 10" Radius on it. My previous nut that came standard on my guitar was very flat and because of this I had to radius my saddles more than I would like. I was able to back down the radius on my saddles with this nut allowing for easier bending with a lower action. Awesome! Great Product and would highly recommend for even the novice guitar player. Thanks for the great product!

I build too many guitars, usually with Musikraft necks, and this is my go-to nut for Strat and Tele styles. This has the correct spacing for 1 11/16" necks and is easy to shape and fit to the slot and to proper height. Also sounds great. As a bonus, they come in off-white and black to match different color schemes.

Fini la corde qui accroche au sillet et les désaccordages intempestifs ! Avec ce sillet on retrouve une stabilité d’accordage parfaite et on peut enfin utiliser le vibrato de sa Stratocaster sans craindre le désaccordage (surtout avec des mecas a blocage)

TOP !

Les sillets graphtech sont excellents, je note ici le fait que j'ai commandé un sillet type stratoide (comme précisé dans la boutique), et j'ai reçu un sillet type gibson (modèle pour epiphone)... Ce Modèle n'est évidemment pas du tout compatible avec un manche de type Fender. Il m'est donc absolument inutile.

Na veel schuurwerk aan de zijkanten blijkt dat de topkam te laag is voor mijn Squier strat.

I've used these before on my electric guitars & love them so they've become my default nut. Several styles available to fit many guitars. Material is some kind of ceramic with a kind of lubrication internally to cut down on friction sounds almost glassy when tapped on a hard surface. Very consistant quality always good. Definately worth using.