Golden Gate F-3303 Slide Guitar Conversion – Extension Nut

The Golden Gate F-3303 is intended for extending the nut on resonator guitars that are ordinarily set up for fretting. In other words, this is a device that allows the player of a round neck resonator to set up the instrument for square neck-style lap playing. With this extension nut, the player can change back and forth from having the instrument set up for fretting (or a combination of fretting and slide playing) or alternately for steel bar playing. The buyer needs to realize that although the extender simply fits non-obtrusively over the top of the guitar's regular nut, you must slacken the strings in order to make the switch. In other words, it's not something that you're going to be able to do in between songs at a gig. However, the Golden Gate is very sturdy, seems to fit a wide variety of string gauges, and changes the guitar's intonation set up very little. Do note, though, that because changing the angle of the strings from bridge to nut also changes the length of the scale ever so slightly, tuning the open strings perfectly in tune means that the frets will not mark 100% precisely where the touched notes need to be played. Since so much of slide playing relies on the ear and not on precise visual placement of the bar directly over the frets, it is not a problem. This device is ideal for the players who plan to do, say, some Delta blues with a combination of fretting and use of an over-the-finger slide (normal, short nut setup), and then maybe work on Bluegrass lap-style resonator playing in the future. It's not for someone who is going to change set up hour by hour or day by day. The only way you could probably do that would be to own two instruments. If you don't need to make quick, frequent setup changes and don't want to own two resonator guitars, the Golden Gate F-3303 does the trick! At less than $10 compared with the price of a second resonator guitar, it's a no brainer.

Cool and it works with significant modifications. It is way too big, I’m not sure what guitar this fits? It is too so wide for an Epi Les Paul, SG or a Strat? High and low E strings hang over the sides of the fretboard. Wasn’t worth sending back so I filed it down and filed in seats for the correct string pattern on an SG? Hmm. Not sure I’d put that much work into it again, but it sounds good and works with the mods…

I have a Simon and Patrick S&P 6, from 1999, and I wanted to see if I enjoyed playing lap style guitar. I play Hindustani (North Indian Classical music) and eventually am thinking of getting a mohan veena (a type of modified lap steel guitar). I viewed this as a way to try out playing lap style playing before getting a more expensive instrument.The first nut extension I tried was from a local music shop, and it looked like it was made in a mold. I've seen a similar model on Amazon, but I cannot say for sure whether it's the exact same one I found locally.This is overall a better nut than the molded kind. I found, comparing the two, there is a slight bit more sustain with this than the molded nut. I'm not sure if that's due to the material, or the fact that one may be making more/less contact with the nut or the fingerboard, or some other reason.I'm pretty impressed that such a simple and elegant part really helped out my guitar.

I have several of these at all times available for rapid transit to high slide mode. This one provides a differentheight than the one I get from my local music shop and in many instances is more useful.Sure, it is possible to play slide with normal string height. If your name is Eric Trucks. But for us mere mortals, it is helpful to raise the action and this does the trick. Takes about one minute plus a bit of tuning time. Perfect cheap product to take your guitar playing to new heights!

In extension nuts, the competition is between this Golden Gate Accordion Accessory F-3303 and the Grover Perfect Guitar Nut GP-1103 (search Amazon). This is a quick review to show what you get -- I will add listening tests later if there is more you should know.The Golden Gate Accordion nut extender is a simple piece of bent metal. The description says it is brass, but it is attracted to a magnet and it looks like steel to me. What looked in the photo like grooves through the metal are actually shallow indentations cut into the surface. Installation is easy — just loosen the strings, slide the Accordion Accessory over your existing nut, and presto — you have a lap steel guitar you can play with a slide or tone bar. However, the strings will probably be too high for you to fret the guitar.The following is a list of positive and negative features, especially compared with the competition:PROS:1. this product came very quickly.2. it is easy to install and very sturdy.3. It will probably fit more guitars than the Grover Perfect Nut.CONS:1. there are sharp edges on my GG Accordion Accessory nut that could damage my guitar. These must be fixed.2. the string grooves are narrow and shallow and do not hold the strings well -- the low E slot may need to be filed to keep the string from slipping off.3. The GG Accordion nut rests in front and back of the existing nut. That means that your intonation across the neck will no longer match the underlying frets. By comparison, The Grover Perfect Nut fits tightly over your guitar’s nut and mostly preserves the intonation. That may not matter if you play slide mostly by ear.OVERALLThis nut may work for you, but you should compare it with the Grover Perfect Nut before buying.HELPFUL TIPS:1. I suggest that you round off the sharp edges wherever the Accordion Accessory will contact your guitar, if you don’t want to leave a mark. I did that and wrapped the edges with bluetape to protect my neck and peg head. It will only take a minute.2. If you are unsure of the fit, you can measure your guitar: the Accordion Accessory is about 1.9 in wide (about 1.66 in between the E strings) — if the Accordion Accessory is a little wider than your nut, you can probably live with that, but you may not want the strings to extend far outside the edges of your neck.Have fun with your guitar!