Buzz Feiten or Earvana?

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:02 pm

Has anyone experienced a major difference between the Buzz Feiten nut and the Earvana nut?

Do you find one is 'better' than the other?

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:29 pm

I haven't tried them...but for the record I wanna say that I LIKE the tuning inconsistencies of the guitar. Built-in imprecision is a good thing, it reminds you of the impossibility of perfection.

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:54 pm

inverseroom wrote:I haven't tried them...but for the record I wanna say that I LIKE the tuning inconsistencies of the guitar. Built-in imprecision is a good thing, it reminds you of the impossibility of perfection.

IR, I agree with you totally when it comes to lead guitar work, licks, and riffs. Totally agree. The inconsistencies are where some of the magic lies; in tuning as well as idiosyncracies in timing (my fave).

But it's way too annoying and downright ugly when finger picking or working with arpeggiations.

Plus, it's something nice I can mod my Strat with.

The evil tinkering mod bug gets us all from time to time

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:25 am

It gets me incessantly!

I'm surprised nobody has chimed in about this.

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:06 am

I was going to get the Buzz Feiten system on all of my guitars at one point. What stopped me is that while it corrects some inconsistancies, it creates others. Pushing down on the strings is always going to create some kind of pitch anomolie. I think the best bet is to have a good luthier take the time to set up your instrument correctly. I actually discovered my "guitar guy" while looking for Buzz Feiten "authorized installers" in my area. After discussing it with him, I decided that it wasn't really the way to go.

I haven't heard much about Earvana. How does it differ physically? Is it just a simmilar compensated nut?

-James

LDT2 · Post by **LDT2** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:32 am

I've neen haunted by intonation issues even after getting my guitar intonated for decades!! I'm one of those people that hear tuning problems that most others don't hear, so I had to constantly retune for different songs and got pretty good at being able to "adjust" the tuning by bending certain strings and such while playing a chord. The TP6 tailpiece on my Les Paul has been a lifesaver, BUT...

When I got the Buzz Feiten system done to my guitar, WOW, I don't find myself constantly retuning at all. It really made a HUGE difference for me and I don't constantly cringe from the intonation while I'm playing. I've not noticed other issues personally. It's made playing much more pleasurable for me.

If you have these kinds of problems, I highly recommend the Buzz system. I've not heard of the other so I can't comment on that.

Hope this helps,

Lucio

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:40 am

Lucio, it does help. Thank you.

James, yeah, the earvana is another compensated nut like the buzz feiten. Big difference in price though because the feiten system uses pure bone.

Rivers · Post by **Rivers** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:08 am

I tried the Earvana nut a few years ago.

It was easy to install and did seem to help with intonation but I wasn't real happy with the tone-seemed to rob some of the life/sparkle from the tone and eventually took it off.

This was a few years ago and it was made of some hardened plastic.

The new ones might be different?
IIRC it was only about $30 so you could aleays try it and lose it if it doesn't help.

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 12:24 pm

Thanks Rivers. The last thing I'd want to do is rob any tone from this guitar so I'm definitely concerned about earvana's lack of openness about what material the nut is manufactured from. I just soldered in new Bill Lawrence pickups and have never been happier with my tone. FYI, the 200L in the neck position is especially magic. Another problem is no one seems to be offering compensated nuts in the 1 3/4" width, which is what I'm upgrading to for wider string spacing so...

BTW "Broken Enough" is a really cool recording. You nailed the guitars on that one IMO and I like the Bowiesque room on the vocals. It's an exciting track. The mp3 compression probably doesn't do the drums justice I'm guessing.

Rivers · Post by **Rivers** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:42 pm

Thanks Kenny.

Yeah I was never happy with the drum sound either...
but the Gtrs were fun.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:18 pm

Hey Kenny, I LOVE Bill Lawrence PU's. I have 280's and 290's on my Strat and Mustang...BEAUTIFUL tone, and worth the several months' wait for them to be made...

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:36 pm

inverseroom wrote:Hey Kenny, I LOVE Bill Lawrence PU's. I have 280's and 290's on my Strat and Mustang...BEAUTIFUL tone, and worth the several months' wait for them to be made...

Yeah, I waited about 2 months for mine. Whew. You would absolutely love the 200 in the neck position. Major Mojo in that pickup. The 298 is really sweet at the bridge but I'm still waiting for him to make me a Q-Filter for the 298.

I'd love to hear what your Mustang sounds like with the Lawrence pickups. Any particular tune on your site that sports your Mustang? Believe it or not I was actually on your site earlier today listening to your clips from "Second Person". Really fun stuff.

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Buzz Feiten or Earvana?

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