The Great Roller Nut Controversy

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Published on Sunday, 25 November 2012 21:38

Written by Frank J. Pasquale

Some time ago I got a call from my friend Rich who was very excited about a Jeff Beck concert he had seen a few days before. He was ecstatic because Jeff was playing a stock Fender Stratocaster and doing some serious dive bombs and whammy abuse as if he were using a Floyd Rose locking tremolo but he only had a stock Fender bridge

Rich was a blues style player who did not care for the feel of the Floyd Rose tremolo but still wanted to do Van Halen Style dive bombs without going out of tune and he wanted to know how he could do that with his guitar..  I told him that Jeff Beck had a stock Fender bridge but he was famous for using Wilkinson rollers nuts on his necks instead of standard bone or plastic nuts and this was probably how he managed to abuse his whammy without going out of tune. There was a long pause on the end of the phone…”What’s a roller nut?

After explaining the mechanics of the roller nut; how each individual string rolled on a precision cam roller so that each string could move back and forth without creating any friction when the tremolo was used, he was certain that he had to have this on all of his guitars.  This sparked a series of conversations that I have titled “The Great Roller Nut Controversy”. A roller nut can be a great addition to a great guitar but there are several factors to consider before installing one on any guitar.

First and foremost a roller nut is a permanent decision. The nut slot must be modified by moving it 1/16 of an inch forward towards the bridge in order for the intonation to be intact.  This is due to the fact that the new break point is now in the middle of the roller and not at the end of the nut. Once this wood is removed it cant be put back without some serious modifications to the neck and often the look and feel of the original guitar is not the same. So before you decide to use a roller nut it must be given serious consideration.

The next thing to consider is the material the nut is made out of.  Most traditional nuts are made of either bone or plastic while some of the more modern nuts are made of graphite or Graphtech TUSQ which we use almost exclusively. All of these materials give a slightly different tone. A roller nut is only made of metal so it gives a brightness to the sound that might not be wanted.

There is also the guitars action to be considered. The proper depth of the nut slots is essential to making a guitar play great. When I cut a nut for a guitar it is based on the needs of the client and I use very close tolerances measured with a dial caliper gauge to within 1/1000 of an inch. The roller nut is preset and slotted to a certain depth so in order to set the nut height properly I have to remove the actual wood from the neck instead of just filing the nut slot. This is not as accurate and removes tone wood from behind the nut. While there are some roller nuts that have height adjustments on them but they also add additional  screws to the nut and the face of the guitar and can greatly change the feel of the guitar when it comes to bending strings. Remember that a roller nut moves forwards to backwards  and you bend strings up and down.

The next major consideration is the radius. This is particularly important if you are going to add a roller nut to an existing guitar. A roller nut radius is preset at usually a 10 or a 12 inches. If the guitar fingerboard has a radius that is different from the roller nut the action will always seem off. If you are having a custom guitar built this can be overcome by matching the fingerboard to the nut during the neck construction but it cant be fixed on an existing guitar without removing all the frets and doing a re-radius the fingerboard. Often time this alone will completely change the feel of the guitar.

A final decision involves the actual mechanics of the nut itself. It has 6 moving parts that roll on a camshaft. The first rule of thermal dynamics when it comes to mechanics is this: “If it moves it can break!” Machinery requires frequent maintenance and wears out over time and this is no different. Roller nuts need to be oiled and maintained regularly and yet they will still wear out  eventually. This usually involves the rollers locking up on the camshaft which will create the very friction the rollers were designed to remove.  This is no different than having to replace a traditional nut that has worn out but the process is much more invasive. This issue ultimately comes down to the quality if the roller nut. There are a few good companies making top notch products and there are several bad ones on the market so do your homework.

With all of that being said the controversy comes in the form of a question: “Is this right for you?”

I have made guitars with rollers nuts and they play great and they stay in tune. The have the feel of a comfortable relaxed bridge with the stability of a locking style tremolo. However they do feel slightly different when you play them. The smoothness of the rollers will seem odd at first an the actual nut itself can seem obtrusive to the traditionalist but it will pass in time.

My suggestion if you are seriously looking to get a guitar with a roller nut is to find one in a music store and play it before you make any decisions.