Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi,

Is corian useable for nuts & saddles? I was offered a sheet, but I have never had my hands on the stuff. Is it as hard as bone, tusq, micarta, ect?

Thanks!

Yes!
Cuts well with a decent fine tablesaw blade (Freud Diablo).
Hard enough, but not as 'strong' as bone, so thin sticks tend to break.
It's very cheap as well, so especially good for those 'practice' nuts and saddles, tieblock trim on classicals, etc. It can be a bit 'too white' but I think it is made in an off-white color as well. It does seem to stain (accidentally) so could probably be toned down a bit with stain.
Sometimes you can get sink cutouts from kitchen counter shops, for free- or close to it.
I'll leave the debate on 'sound quality' vs bone to others.
Cheers
John

Yes and cheap enough if not free at places to use as learn to make nuts and saddles. Not saying you in particular, but for those starting to practice with. Not feel bad if mess piece up.

There are definitely colour options:

http://www.coriansamples.com

And the cheap sample pieces are big enough to make a lot of nuts from one. It comes in a colour pretty much indistinguishable from bone.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I got this for $40 at a bay city plywood. Not that I wanted it for nuts. If i want to make my own nuts I'll get some sterile dog bones from Petsmart. I like MOP nuts from Resue Pearl they're pretty nice.

I use it for saddles and like it for the reasons above. But, it does dent slightly under the strings, and can chip if the corner radius is too tight there.

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David Malicky

I don't like it. I think it's to soft and doesn't sound as good as bone. I prefer unbleached bone which is harder then bleached bone. For synthetic I like the TUSQ nuts and bridge saddles.

MOP if you want hard. And good looking.

Sondre,

Corian is in fairly common use for ukuleles. Of course they use nylon strings and have much less tension then metal strings. Very easy to work with and I have not seen much wear on the nuts or saddles.

Philip

_________________
aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

Sure you can use corian and as mentioned it's a great way to practice shaping nuts and saddles.

But.... for a finished/completed guitar (steel string) why not just use bone? Bone is harder, will last longer in terms of string wear, and works very well in terms of filing, sanding, buffing, etc. It's cheap too if not free if you get to know your local butcher.

I won't go so far as to say that it sounds different or ..... the "B" word.... but I can understand why some think that it does.

My local butcher charged me $5 for two very nice Cow femurs and after I stopped in one day and showed him one of my guitars he now gives me the stuff for free. Processing can be a pain but the critters in your area will love you for chaining/wiring some fresh bone to a tree in your back yard for a month or so and letting the food chain pre-process and degrease your bone.... After letting nature clean it up for a while soak it in white gas for a month more before cutting into useful sized pieces.