| Materials |
Characteristics/Applications |
Sound |
Workability |
| Bone |
Hard material with a vintage look, must be cut cleanly to keep strings from binding in slots. |
Bright and clear, with a detailed sound. |
Hard, dense material. Bad-smelling dust. |
| Brass |
Hard material polishes well and looks good with gold hardware. Great sustain for bass and slide guitar playing. |
Bright with very good sustain. |
Slow-working, dust can clog files, gets hot when power-sanded. |
| Nickel |
Made of the same material as our fretwire (18% hard nickel/silver) so it matches sound & look of frets. Polishes well. |
Very bright with excellent articulation and sustain. |
Very slow working, gets hot when power-sanded. |
| Graph Tech TUSQ |
A Graph Tech proprietary material which is precision engineered under high pressure and heat. It is specifically formulated to deliver an optimum sonic transfer rate. Stringent production methods create consistent material that is rich in tone and harmonic content. Standard TUSQ will have a slightly brighter sound than the Black TUSQ XL. |
Evenly balanced tone. |
Easy to cut, less shaping required with pre-molded blanks. |
| Graph Tech Black TUSQ XL |
Black TUSQ XL is a similar material to standard TUSQ but is also Teflon impregnated. Teflon is 500% slipperier than graphite. This is great for use on electric guitars that get tremolo use or have tuning stability issues. It is also great for someone who bends notes often. |
Well balanced tone with a bit more warmth. |
Easy to cut, less shaping required with pre-molded blanks. |
| Corian |
Hard synthetic material takes a fine finish and is available in large oversized blanks. |
Balanced, clear, even sound. |
Cuts slowly but evenly. |