- Excellent quality and consistency
- Self-lubricating nuts to prevent tuning problems
- Easy to install
- Easy to modify height of the nut
- Can't think any cons!
- These should be standard with any guitar, and they have been! :)
Hello there, in this article, I’ll give you a quick SX SST62 Stratocaster demo of a Graphtech nut upgrade. I have always wanted a Strat but could never afford an original, so I looked around for something to choose without busting the bank.
Table of Contents
SX SST62 is a lovely 60s Stratocaster clone at a very affordable price tag. You may be surprised that it’s so well built in terms of the foundation that it features all the unique attributes of a 60s-style S-type guitar. Surely, the stock parts may not be the best, but it works fine for the price! If you want to know more about the SX SS62 Stratocaster in Lake Placid Blue colour and read my review, please visit the individual article that I published here.
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After I tested a lot of Strat copies from different brands such as Cort, Squier, Jay Turser and Stagg, I decided to get an SX one because, apart from the hardware, it was the closest copy of a ’60s Strat. So I got one and did my first instalment of upgrades. 
The first thing to do is to get rid of the plastic nut and restring it with my favourite set of strings by Elixir 12102 (Nanoweb 11-49). My choice was a Graphtech nut, TUSQ model! 
SX SS62 Stratocaster – Nut Upgrade
PS: Tuned down a half step! This sounds much better, and the tension is much more comfortable 🙂 If you are interested in the modifications that I applied to my SX SS62 Stratocaster and also read my full review, please have a look at my “SX SST62 Electric Guitar Review True 60’s Stratocaster Clone” review! 
To be honest with you, I didn’t have much in-depth interest in how a nut change should be done properly. During my service in the musical instrument business, I had easy access to all kinds of parts and components, so I went ahead and ordered this nut without thinking about it too much! 🙂 Later on, we installed it even without gluing it down in the nut slot. After a while, I started bending thicker strings up and down, and ended up with a nut that constantly moved! So, we glued it.
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On top of that, the factory height of the nut slots and the nut was almost identical to the original plastic nut, so even though it was slightly higher, we left it untouched. I don’t remember having any problems by simply using this as a plug-and-play nut. But it’s recommended that you check the nut height properly for maximum playability, especially on the first couple of frets.
Graph Tech TUSQ Upgrade – Worth It?
In comparison to the plastic nuts that you may come across on affordable instruments, it’s absolutely worth the upgrade! The acoustic timbre of the guitar immediately changed after we upgraded the nut. I used to think the tuning stability issues were always caused by bad tuning pegs. As you may have also noticed, there used to be a strong trend regarding “upgrading” the stock tuning pegs with locking ones, so that the tuning problems would go away.
But later on, I learnt by experience that it’s almost always not the tuning pegs, but the nut! 🙂 Most of the time, a tuning peg’s job is to bring the string to a pitch and hold it at that tension; that’s it. Unless your tuning pegs can’t be turned to tighten the strings and/or can’t hold any tension, your tuning issues are always caused by the nut.
Of course, a nicely cut and crafted guitar nut, whether it’s made of bone or self-lubricating materials such as TUSQ, will perform pretty much the same. However, being able to use self-lubricating ones is definitely a step up from the plastic, cheap guitar nuts. So, next time you think about buying new guitar tuning pegs just because you have encountered some tuning stability problems, try to inspect your guitar nut first. Maybe you had better stick to a nut upgrade! 
Pricing & Availability
Fortunately, Graph Tech products, along with their infamous self-lubricating guitar nuts, are widely available across the globe, virtually on every big music store online. Thomann usually stocks a big portion of the Graph Tech catalogue all the time in their stock!
Check out Graph Tech products on Thomann here
You may also want to check out Reverb, as there are authorised dealers of Graph Tech across many countries within the EU as well as outside the EU.
Check out Graph Tech products on Reverb here
Last but not least, don’t forget to check out Amazon, as you may easily find their products on many Amazon stores.
Check out Graph Tech products on Amazon here
I hope you enjoy this brief comparison! Thanks for visiting my blog, and I will hopefully see you in the next piece of content here!
