Have any of you people installed the "Earvana" nut on your guitar?

[GONZO-X]

i'm seriously considering doing this......

there was a thread a while back......

here's a link.........
http://www.earvana.com/

[pchorman]

I went as far as ordering this, largely due to the thread you're probably referring to about a year ago. I brought it to the luthier for installation and he never had to install it because he was able to fix my intonation problem with a more conventional method: regulating the existing nut. I sent back the earvana compensated nut.

like you, I would like to hear from others who installed it though, as it still fascinates me how the dammed thing should help.

[Griffinator]

Nope, sorry - I won't buy a product from a company whose website depends on cheap-ass popup and banner advertising to support itself.

[Robert Wall]

I have Earvana nuts on 3 homebuilt str@ style guitars, on a RainSong WS1000 and even on my (gulp) $3,700 James Goodall 1997 Rosewood Jumbo. Obviously, I like the results. A lot.

Rick and Deneen do have a fairly clunky website, I agree, but until they get the kind of pro recognition and especially OEM customers, I guess the Epileptic Stimuli seizure-causing pokemon flashing banner ads will be around.

The explanation of how it works is both simple and complex. The simple part is that it supplies a different distance from the nut to the first fret for each string, to make up for the different amounts of string stretch when you fret a note at the first fret. The not so simple part is that it actually provides six slightly different scale lengths to "temper" the tuning all over the neck. The result is that the "cowboy chords" all play in tune and the entire neck sounds more in tune. Sort of like Buzz Feiten but a lot cheaper and you don't need to buy a $100 Korg tuner. With Buzz Feiten, they move the whole nut a secret amount closer to the 1st fret and build secret offsets into the bridge intonation and then build the secret stuff into the Korg tuner and nail you on the price! Earvana works with any tuner. And if you've got a micrometer, the Earvana "secret" is all yours.

Assuming you can get your old nut out without wrecking the neck, you can probably install the Earvana. John Wescott, my excellent fret guy, and James Goodall both recommend a flat bar (John uses and old Fender neckplate) laid on the fingerboard and given a sharp yet gentle tap against the front of the nut, then using a suitable drift to gently wiggle the nut sideways out of the slot. It is always a good idea to take a very fine and very sharp Exacto blade to any lacquer or other finish on the neck which has flowed onto the nut so that you don't make a mess in the removal process. If gentle measures don't loosen the nut, you're probably better off seeing a pro.

After you remove the old nut and clean out the slot, you just fit the base piece (it files and sands like soft wood or plastic) until it matches the bottom contour of the slot and the radius of the fretboard, and then glue it in with a small spot of Superglue gel. Let it get hard overnight and then screw the adjustable top piece on to the base and slide it all the way back toward the headstock, but don't tighten it yet, and then string the guitar.

If you have jumbo frets the height of the strings should be about right; for lower frets, filing with a round-bottom nut-slotting file set is required. These files are not cheap -- about $65/set at Stew-Mac.com. For the acoustic model, you always have to file it -- it comes unslotted.

After the string slots are correct, then:

1. Set the intonation at the 12th fret as usual, adjusting the bridge saddles accordingly and then:

2. Slide the nut top until the open E notes and the first fret F notes are all registering as 0 cents sharp or flat on your tuner and lock down the screws.

3. Do a final 12th fret intonation setting of the saddles; recheck the above; tune 'er up with your tuner and you are ready to amaze yourself.

I didn't buy the Earvana tuning software 'cause they don't have it for Mac, but the Size 0 Phillips screwdriver is a good idea if you are going to do your own install and you don't already have one. An extra small .5mm drill bit is helpful if the screws are going to go all the way through the nut base and into the neck. Don't forget to use a bit of bar soap on the screws.

Don't wanna do it? Your regular guitar tech should be willing to put this on for no more that their regular nut replacement charge.

I'm even considering putting an Earvana on my Sonic Blue 1963 Stratocaster, "Flo". Unlike the Buzz Feiten system, you can take the Earvana retrofit nut back off and reinstall the stock nut if you want to sell an old classic. They will pry Flo, however, from my cold dead fingers. If I wasn't afraid of grave robbers, I'd take her with me.

The sound? Impeccable. I play in the Worship Band at my church, where the guitarist's credo should be "In tune and out of the way". All my guitars sound beautifully in tune, that gets me up in the mix, and that makes me smile.

Anyway, If you can brave the flashing banner ads, go to the Earvana forum and nose around in the Installation threads. There is one guy who posts there who is giving away a photo-enhanced set of instructions for installing the Earvana.

I recommend it. It works. YMMV. Good luck!

RW

[GONZO-X]

i believe i'm sold. at the low price, i just don't think there's a lot of risk, and it's seems so non-invasive, that it's gotta be worth trying.....

i've played for years with a very accute understanding of the inadequacies of tempered tuning.......

and i know that people like vai and satch and VH jumped on the feiten system when it came out.......

it just makes sense.