My final YouTube video for 2025 covers the CAD design and making via CNC of the bakelite string spacer on Brian May’s Red Special guitar. It is relatively well known that the Red Special is fitted with a zero fret and for this reason it doesn’t have a traditional nut. I made a video in April 2024 which covered the reasons why zero frets suffer wear (particularly on guitars fitted with a tremolo system) and I demonstrated removing and replacing it with stainless steel fretwire on my Burns Red Special replica. However, I didn’t discuss the advantages of a zero fret and string spacer so I cover those before moving on to how I design the object then making one from bakelite and a similar alternative material (phenolic resin sheet branded as “tufnol” or “paxolin”) which is easier to source and work.
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