Graphtech TUSQ XL 5000-00 Nut - St Style

I was bought a lovely looking Fender Player series HH Telecaster for Christmas 2019. It looked good, sounded good but had an annoying buzz when either the A or D string was played unfretted. I did a complete setup, starting with the truss rod, checking all the frets for level and then setting the action to Fender’s recommended height. Still there was an annoying buzz on those two strings.Checking the clearance between the strings at the first fret with a capo at the third fret, it became clear that the problem was with the factory fitted nut. The slots had been cut far too deeply on every string, but the A and D had no clearance at all.After a little research and watching a few videos, I decided to buy a Graph Tech TUSQ nut and replace it myself. Removing the OE nut was straightforward. The nut slot was cleaned and the fretboard masked off in preparation. The string spacing on the Graph Tech was perfect and the slots nicely formed. I had to file off the bottom peg as my nut slot was curved. The peg is there so it can also fit a flat nut slot. The Graph Tech needed sanding a little thinner to fit the slot, which I did with fine wet or dry paper taped to my table. The ends were also slightly too long and these were filed to shape. Once I’d checked the height was spot on by restringing the high and low E strings, the nut was refitted with a little drop of PVA glue and the guitar restrung and left for the glue to dry.I’d love to say I noticed a world of difference to the sound qualities of the Graph Tech nut material, but I can’t. What I can say, is that I found it easy to fit and a perfect replacement for my dodgy Fender item. Well worth the money and a straightforwardv DIY job using the simplest of tools. The guitar now plays perfectly.

I have a cheap tele copy, which I love, but it came fitted with a bad plastic nut that made anything on the first few frets play like a nightmare. The nut slot was flat, so I got this Tusq and left the underside as-is. Some sanding of the front and sides was required to get the correct fit, then I applied wood glue to the corners and the middle tab and set it in place. Some finer sanding of the front at the top and bottom was needed to get rid of any sharp edges for comfort of playing.Initially I thought that having this nut be "floating" as it were using the corners and middle tab as struts might cause a problem for a flat slot. It's no problem at all. Things immediately felt nicer when played open, and the first frets were now a lovely place to be.A side effect is how stable the tuning has become. I find myself going into my tuner after a session and thinking "that can't be right" when I see that not a single string has gone whack.When dealing with something as variable as guitars, your experience might vary. For a tenner and a limited amount of handiwork, the results have been stellar for me.

Pound for pound one of the best upgrades you can make. With all of the tonal qualities of bone but the added advantage of the teflon additives ensuring the strings can move smoothly for tuning stability you cannot go wrong. Whilst there may be some small adjustments required (e.g.filing off the lug if you have a radiused neck below the fretboard) they are simple and quickly completed.

I've not used it yet...and am curious as to how it will work...will I use it in a flat slot (thereby keeping the little levelling tab on the bottom)? Or will I file off that tab and cut a curved nut slot to follow the radius? I don't know - but I can't help thinking that a nut with just three points of contact as this would be in a level (normal) slot won't contribute as much to sustain as one that makes contact all along its length...who knows?

It doesn't fit a Squier Stratocaster 40th Anniversary. The string spacing is too big on this product (The strats has 33.5mm, this one has 35.18.Still adding 5 stars as I know it's a great nut, just thought about leaving a review for future folks who were wondering if that would fit a Squier Stratocaster 40th Anniversary.

Great replacement nut, I used this on a Squier Tele to replace a cheap plastic nut. Needed some a good amount of filing and measuring to get it set up right. After this and a few other mods the tone and feel of the guitar seems better.This isn't too hard to fit with the right tools but it is certainly worth researching what it involves before deciding whether you want to do it yourself. There are lots of videos online showing how to do it and also information available from the manufacturer.

Please be careful when ordering this as it does not fit Fender type guitars. The nut is correct to the part number, but this does not match the description or pictures, instead it is an Epiphone type nut.

Fits height wise perfect, so good In fact on the 2020 Mexican fender neck the string height was perfect. Just needed width and depth adjusting to the exact guitar dimensionsI’ve been using these for years. They are so much better than most factory nuts and even some bone nuts.Essential for any guitar