The Zero Glide Replacement Nut System borrows the "zero fret" concept to reduce string contact in the nut by up to 93%, increasing tuning stability, playability, and open string tone. It only takes a few minutes to install with absolutely no permanent alteration to your instrument. For Bass.
Also available in Black Delrin.
I play fingerstyle guitar. My favorite guitar is a Gretsch 5420 Electromatic . For some reason the designers at Gretsch moved away from the zero fret. When You string up with 10's or 9's I guess it probably doesn't matter much because the first position will be easy with light gauge strings. My touch and style of playing requires .012's. With heavier strings while the 5420 is beautiful to see and hear the first position was challenging to play. I installed the zero glide following the instructions in the package and to my amazing pleasure the 5420 played like my '66 Nashville used to. I couldn't be happier. Thanks to the people that designed this product. The tone is great the tuning is improved and the first position action is second to none.
Wow, what an innovation! This product eliminates the critical process of nut filing completely disappear to be replaced by a zero fret which enhances the sound of your guitar. It is not without some challenges in installation, but once completed your guitar just sounds and plays better.
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.
Works as described but installation was a pain. I have a warmoth tele neck that I installed it to. I had to cut back the nut slot a little to fit the new bone nut and fret in place. I thought it would just drop in.. I wasn't anticipating that but my skills didn't let me down. I filed the nut and fret down on both sides a little, added some super glue and now it works great. i have a bigsby so tunning is a breeze now!