Today, I was playing around with my "Malmsteen" and it occurred to me that in addition to the scalloped fretboard, I also took the liberty to change the nut into a brass one (One that I cut myself). I wanted the guitar to be as close to the YJM Model as close a possible but within budget.
Anyway, the nut change did change the tone, making it significantly brighter compared to the stock plastic nut (Squier). However, what most people do not know is, it doesn't change the tone (At least not in an audiable way) when you fret the notes. Think of it this way. What acts as the nut after you fret the note, is your fingers and the fret. So, logically speaking, shouldn't the tone of the note produced by the nut, when fretting a guitar be replaced by the way the note is fretted and the material of the fret?
The next question will be, why would I want to change the nut of the instrument, if it doesn't affect the tone that much anyway since I will be fretting most of the time. Well, it isn't a necessary change but, I changed it due to the fact that I scalloped the fretboard of the instrument. Due to that, the tone of the guitar is considerably brighten so to speak and to balance out the sound when I am doing my open chords and strings, I changed the nut to a brass one instead.
The same principle applies to nuts of other material. This is exceptionally so if it's being performed on an acoustic guitar, where majority of the players are playing open strings. However, that will be another story or discussion for another day.
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