Since 1983, Canada-based Graph Tech Guitar Labs has been busy manufatcuring important guitar parts, including nuts and saddles. Today, they claim to make more of these than any other company in the world. To show off their wares, Graph Tech has booked legendary King Of The Surf Guitar Dick Dale to appear at their booth at the upcoming Winter NAMM 2007 in Los Angeles.

What are nuts and saddles? The nut is the part of the guitar neck that the strings rest on - right in between the head (where the tuning pegs are) and the neck itself. The saddle is the piece that the string lays in at the opposite end of the guitar, near the bridge.

These slots where the strings lie introduce friction to the guitar string. Some friction is necessary, but too much can wear on the string and cause it to break sooner than it might. This breakage happens faster with playing styles that use a lot of bending and aggressive picking.

Which brings us to Dick Dale. His trademark stacatto style puts a serious hurt on strings at the nut and saddle and Graph Tech is looking forward to the torture tests at their NAMM booth.

One thing many guitarists learn when trying to lengthen the life of their strings is to apply a bit of graphite, a solid lubricant, to the slots the strings lie in. (This can be done with a common pencil or tiny drops of locksmith's graphite formula.) Bends and tremolo bar excesses will reduce stress on the strings and result in fewer broken strings.

Of course addressing nut and saddle friction is Graph Tech's main business, leading them to produce an entire line of special-material guitar accessories, including replacement parts for high-perfromance upgrades on guitars.

Nuts and saddles aren't just about damage control: they affect tone and sustain. As Graph Tech CEO Dave Dunwoodie puts it: “It’s incredible what a simpleset of String Saver™ saddles or FerraGlides can do for an electric guitar or what a new TUSQ® saddle and nut can do on an acoustic.”

Graph Tech will appear at booth #5920 at Winter NAMM 2007.