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Per customer request, we are now proud to offer stainless steel Zero Glide frets! These frets basically do not wear out. This means they require no maintenance and never need to be replaced. Not only that, the stainless frets improve performance for tuning and bends. These frets are specially designed with an offset tang for our Zero Glide nut system. Comes in a pack of 3.
Available in Medium (.038"), Jumbo (.051"), and Super Jumbo (.058"), or an assorted pack of each size.
I bought a Gold Tone OB 150 Masterclone banjo that is equipped with a Zero Glide nut. This nut is amazing. YES it will help with tone. No more string binding with Zero Glide. Ever notice on a new instrument how when you are tuning up and on occasion you hear a sound like a string is catching in the slot You will not have that issue with Zero Glide. Once you actually play an instrument with a Zero Glide nut you will notice some differences. You may want to outfit all of your stringed instruments to Zero Glide. No need for slot files to set the action at the nut side of the neck. No more smoothing out string slots with high dollar files that snap really easy. No more using graphite or grease on the nut. Zero Glide takes care of that. Might be the first healthy choice for a nut for your instrument. Get one and install it. You will love it.
Just put one of these on an old beater of a cheap strat-clone kit that I use to experiment with "creative" wiring. Suddenly its in tune up and down the neck and stays that way after using the trem as well. It cost half the price of the kit but it has significantly improved the value of the instrument to me. It required a little sanding of the back of the nut but nothing drastic. I dont have many dedicated luthier tools so the fret wire is not trimmed perfectly (but the look is in keeping with the overall "relic'd" appearance of the guitar). The question now becomes can I get a discount if I order these in bulk?
I've used this for over a month and I'm more happy now than when I first installed it. The intonation on my acoustic is better than it ever was...you can fine tune the saddle almost dead on for intonation. One suggestion.....be sure to glue in the zero fret with a few drops of glue once you get the guitar right. I was working on my guitar on and off for a month and didn't glue in the zero fret. I was taking the strings on and off. Every time you reinstall the zero fret it will be in a slightly different place. String against fret will cause a slightly different indentation in the zero fret. You want the string to stay in the same spot on the zero fret.
I have 3 instruments with a Zero Glide nut that I play regularly on shows and in jam sessions. My Gold Tone OB 150 has one as standard equipment from Gold Tone. Next is my Martin D custom Acoustic and next is my Washburn M3SWK F body mandolin. I did the install on those last 2 instruments. YES, you WILL have to do some fitting. Follow the instructions to the letter on this. YES, you may find it to be a pain but the gain is more than worth it. Once the Zero Glide is installed and once you start playing a few tunes, you will wonder why you have not installed a Zero Glide nut a lot sooner.
No more string binding issues, no more graphite in the slots or any grease either. You don't need that stuff anymore. No need for nut slot files either with a Zero Glide unless you get one un-slotted. You will still have to fit the Zero Glide nut so you can make it a part of your instrument. No getting around that. It is all part of the fun so enjoy the pain and take your time with the fitting. Once that is done, the action at the first fret will be perfect. Your tone will be better. You will get some sustain you haven't had before. The Zero Glide nut should be the ONLY nut to go on your instruments. I like what it does for playability and tone.
I bought the mandolin version and fitted it to my Gibson. There's a lot of extra material to remove, but the result was great. Easier tuning (the old nut had tight slots for the A strings), better intonation. Later I used one of the extra frets in the package to fix a tenor guitar. For that, I simply filed the necessary ledges in the existing nut and widened the string slots. It would be nice if Stew-Mac would also sell the offset tang frets separately, for retrofitting to an existing nut.
