We recently had a customer bring in an acoustic guitar that was having some issues cutting in & out when plugged into the amp. It was in for a very minor "Check Electronics" We usually charge $35 to diagnose an electronics issue & 95% of the time that inspection fee includes us repairing the issue. So a fairly inexpensive repair. Upon our inspection we noticed the under saddle pickup was pretty wrecked! We managed to "band aid" the system until she can buy a new one. She let us know she had just taken the guitar in recently to a local tech for a setup & bone saddle. Unfortunately a drop in pre-cut graphite saddle was what she received & whomever did the work demolished the under saddle pickup system. So here we have a customer not getting what they asked for and now having to pay another $150 plus for a new pickup system plus the installation labor, all because someone did not use care & finesse when working around those electric components . So think about why even small repairs need to be performed by a professional that guarantees their work. 

So many guitars are sent from the manufacturers with plastic or corian nuts & saddles. Do you know what corian is? Its just countertop material. Did you know that "Tusq" is not anything more than a plastic too? That factory material chokes the tone of the instrument & you don't get as much sustain from the open strings.

To get the full tone potential from a guitar we recommend removing that material and upgrading it to bone. We start with a bleached cow bone blank and hand carve it specifically for your instrument. This organic material produces a rich top notch sound. 

If you are noticing some string buzz, fretting out & tuning issues, you could be in need of a new nut. The next time you upgrade, make sure you get real cow bone & you will notice a world of difference.

Check out this video of a before & after on a full bone job we recently did. This Martin owner brought his guitar in for a setup, he mentioned he played lead & when we played it we noticed the sound just wasn't as good as it could be. Swapping out the synthetic nut & saddle to bone made a huge difference.