Slotted ZS-1 Guitar Nut System for Gibson

Excellent product. Easy install, and an improvement in tone, action, and tuning stability. I put zero frets on all my guitars now.

An inexperienced guitar tech worked on the nut of my Guild M75 Aristocrat electric and I ended up with a “sitar” sound on my high E string and a dead G string and bad intonation. A friend recommended Zero Glide and that company recommended this particular nut. Installation was not particularly difficult for a handy guy, but took two hours and involved sanding nearly 1/8 inch off the bottom of the new nut and 1/16th plus off each side while being careful to keep it even. The video on the company website helps. Once fitted correctly you decide how big of a “zero fret” you want. There are four of different sizes in the package. I tried them all and found that the smaller ones provide very low action at the nut (which is nice), but require a higher action up the neck to clear the first fret where the strings can rattle. I ended up using the largest fret provided as it allowed me low action where I need it. Once you have it figured out you trim the zero fret to length and glue it all in place. I am very happy with the results. The open strings ring beautifully and the intonation is just right. This was exactly the fix this guitar needed.

The nut slot for the low E string on my Epiphone Sheraton was too low causing a buzz at the first fret. Since I had to replace the nut, I decided to try this idea and it worked great. It allows you to easily set the action at the first fret to the right height for your playing style. The result is all of the strings are positioned properly and there are no problems with intonation going out. Unlike a standard nut, with the strings resting on the zero fret, you don't have to worry about the strings working themselves into the nut slots and making it necessary to replace the nut again. When the zero fret does wear down (would take a long time I would think) you can just pop out the worn zero fret and pop in a new one. With proper first fret action, it also makes it much easier to fret bar chords at the top of the neck. Since the nut slots on the zero glide nut are only for string spacing, the strings don't get stuck in the slot when tuning, so tuning is smoother. Lastly, it also adds clarity to open position chords because now all strings are playing against a fret instead of some of them sitting on the nut. If you have to replace a nut, this is a great option. If you don't think that you do, you might want to check! Once I put this on one guitar, I realized that another guitar had high action at the first fret, so I replaced that one, too, with one of these nuts. It does take a bit of careful work to install if you do it yourself - just don't rush it.

Finally, all the chords in the first position near the nut all sound good and I can concentrate on playing instead of tuning and trying to make it sound good. With a traditional nut, unless you have a perfectly set up guitar, which is expensive work to get done, or if you *try to* do it yourself, both difficult and expensive to achieve, you cannot get the kind of nice sounding chords this system delivers. It took about two hours of work to shape the zero fret nut and cut and smooth the fret. The only tools I needed were a set of calipers, a file to use as a sanding plane, and a fret cutter. If you take your time, have these three tools, or a sanding block instead of a file, and select the right fret of the four they give you and put it in with the correct orientation, you will end up with your guitar sounding super sweet. Would I say it's perfect? Like another reviewer, I would say it's almost perfect. Finally, I have a guitar that sounds sweet enough to record and really get to know.

I have installed 2 of these now. The OF660 was the most difficult. First off there was a split in the nut which I should have returned but wanted to get it done and figured it would work out ok (it did but required extra sanding). Being a carbon fiber guitar the fretboard "fell off" a bit right into the nut, requiring a larger fret, the jumbo supplied is just barely tall enough. The slot needed some work because it was not flat or square, so lot of fiddly filing and sanding to get the nut to fit right. A lot of hand sanding. Fret shaping was a bit fiddly also. ES 339 Pro Zero Glide had a little wider string spacing than my original nut. I determined that would work OK as it would still fit and would give me a little more space there for fingering. The nut itself was a little too small, height ok but depth was a loose fit, but close. I did need to sand one side of the bottom as it sat at a bit of an angle. This time I used a fine belt sander to get the width right and for sizing/dressing the fret. Only one fret in the two kits was marked with color size. The frets were of different types too, some with barbs to hold them in, one was bent and unusable. Luckily one of the left over frets from the first kit was the correct size. They are nickel frets and will need replacement someday. Why don't they supply these with SS frets? Bottom line: Yes, I can recommend them if you are somewhat handy. They are cheaper than a set of fret files. Play ability was greatly improved on both guitars simply by lowering the nut. Seems to improve tuning stability. I would inspect the kit carefully before starting however.

Fantastic just what I needed .

This is my sixth Zero Glide purchase. I'm now doing these installs for friends on their guitars. Raves all 'round. Mac from Montreal

There is no better way to set the action at the nut. If you use a standard nut, you have to leave it a little high to allow for nut wear over time. Zeroglide matches the height of the other frets and you get perfect action; my guitar went from a finger-killer to easy playability. (Its former owner used it as a steel guitar, the action was so high) Because a ZeroGlide doesn't require you to modify the guitar itself in any way, it won't devalue a collectable like mine. I can reinstall the original nut when I want to without any harm. To fit the nut, I used #120 sandpaper stuck to a flat surface and sanded the nut down to fit into the nut slot exactly. It's a hard material but sands readily. The first picture is a ZeroGlide on my Fender; the nut is a blinding white. I wanted my 1986 Ibanez to have a darker nut to match its aged white binding. I boiled it for a minute in tea. It took the color easily and actually got a little _too_ dark. I suspect the tea color will fade over time, so I'm leaving it dark. My frets didn't come color coded, but that really didn't matter for installation. I tried each and used a steel ruler to test for height. Snipped fret with cutters slightly long. The ends filed easily to shape and final length. Now my Ibanez has perfect action from the first to the 22nd fret. I just love it, well worth the investment. Pictures: The first is a plain ZeroGlide on my Fender classical. The second is the dyed nut on the Ibanez.

Much better than a bone nut for my gretch with bigsby. A metal fret slides the strings better than a porous nut, returns to pitch way better. One of the most important purchases for a trem equipped guitar.

僕が持ってるレスポール風の安物のコピーモデルは弦がビビって嫌だったので、これを買うことに決めました。 その結果、ビビらなくなった上に、見た目もカッコよくなりました！ありがとう！