Nut

What it means

The nut is a narrow strip at the upper end of the fingerboard of a string instrument, just before the pegbox. Small notches in it carry the strings onward, evenly spaced, to the tuning pegs.

Together with the bridge at the lower end of the fingerboard, the nut marks the two endpoints of the vibrating string length, and so has a direct share in setting pitch.

In the notation

The nut itself never appears in notation, but the term 'open string' for an unstopped string implicitly assumes that the string begins exactly at the nut.

Musical use

The height of the nut sets the string action just above the fingerboard, which in turn affects how easily a note can be stopped and how prone the string is to buzz against the frets or fingerboard when plucked or bowed. The depth of each notch must also match the gauge of its string precisely, so the string neither binds nor rattles.

On bowed instruments such as the violin the nut is usually made of ebony, while on guitars it is often bone, plastic, or synthetic bone; the material audibly affects how sound is transmitted at this point.

The nut should be distinguished from the capo, which acts like a movable, additional nut but is clamped onto the fingerboard afterward, and from the bridge, which performs the equivalent function at the lower end of the string length.

Performance practice

If an open string buzzes, or a note fretted in first position sounds unusually stiff, check the nut slots and the action at that point — a nut cut too low or too roughly is a common and often overlooked cause.