Has anyone tried the Goldtone zero glide nut on their mandolin?

[Mandolincelli]

I have a lot of slipping and sliding going on with my FLATWOUND strings and this zero glide nut caught my eye (https://www.zeroglide.com/).

Is there anyone out there who has experience with this zero glide nut (made by Goldtone)? I would really like to hear what difference, if any, that it has made.

Thanks,

Ken

[mandobassman]

I'd be curious to hear about this too. I've always liked the zero fret concept and this looks like it could be a good way to retrofit a mandolin with this setup.
I'm curious though, what do you mean by "slipping and sliding" with flatwound strings. I don't see how flatwound strings would behave any differently with a zero fret than any other type of string.

[Mandolincelli]

I would think that if there was a rough edge on the nut that a flatwound string would slip by it a lot more easily than the usual ribbed wound string would. I'm no builder, though. Sometimes I have to push the string on both sides of the nut in order to get it to give me a true tuning. If I don't, it will be out of tune pretty quickly.

[mandroid]

Offset fret tang, as shown, the 0 to 1st fret is a hair less . so a trifle sharp.

My Hodson D'Jangolin was made with a Zero fret, in the 1st place ..

I dont have another identical but for that detail to compare sounds .

[Explorer]

@mandroid - without the offset tang, the zero fret crown would be flat of the the fretboard edge. The offset ensures it will be right over the edge of the fretboard. Without the offset, you'd need to trim off the edge of the fretboard in the same amount as half the width of the tang.

@the OP - If your strings are binding at the nut slots, to the point your strings aren't moving freely enough that tuning isn't accurate untilthe strings settle in from either pressing or playing, either having the slots correctly cut for the string sizes *or* maybe even just a little bit of nut slot lubrication would help or eliminate the problem.

I've occasionally just run a pencil into the slot, coloring it in so the slot is well coated with the graphite, and then tuned up and down. When i then remove the string and take a look, i occasionally notice a slot where the graphite at the bottom of the slot is completely undisturbed, meaning the string isn't making good full contact at the bottom of the string slot. That not only means the string is binding, but can also negatively affect sound.

[k0k0peli]

I will re-do my Rogue mando including replacing the nut. But spending US$30 or so for a Zero Glide nut for a US$45 axe seems a bit on the overdoing-it side.