traynor_garnet said:
I've been interested in the Earvana too. How did it cost you and how much was installation?
Do you notice a big improvement?
Thanks
TG
I ordered the nut from the US, I don't remember the exact cost but it ended up around $30CDN to my door, with all shipping & taxes and whatnot. I installed it myself into a project guitar I was working on, new Allparts neck which went very well. I figured I was working from scratch anyway, so might as well try something new to make sure everything's in tune. Make sure you get the right model for your neck's nut width, there are 3-4 different kinds.
There's an installation PDF that goes through the entire process. Read through it 3-100 times, practice without the neck then do it on the neck. Not that hard, the most tedious part is getting the fit of the bottom part just right, and sanding down the sides of the top part perfectly. I went real slow just to get everything right.
Improvements - I put it on a Strat, and compared to my other main guitar (Musicman Silhouette) the Strat sounds better with chords - not just open ones. Notes all around the neck sound more in tune, but I'm not super hyper picky about that sort of stuff though. Going from one guitar to the other the difference is noticeable. You could even say playing the Musicman is grating/annoying but I quickly forget that sort of thing once I get going
Compared to my Les Paul, the difference is less noticeable. Maybe it's the shorter scale length? I use the same strings on all my guitars (Ernie Ball pure nickel) so I know it's not that.
All in all it was fairly cheap, not difficult to install, and made a definite sonic improvement. If you get the nut youself, any repair shop worth their salt should be able to install it in less than an hour, so you should be able to get it installed for <$100.