[zontar]

I have Tusq, bone, nylon and brass/bone nuts on my guitars & basses--I'd have to say over all it is between bone & Tusq.
They don't wear as much--and metal can get nicks or burrs that slice into strings.

 

[zontar]

A friend of mine made a nut for a Les Paul out of Vanadium--he bought a screwdriver with a square shaft, and ruined some files trying to make it--but he did it.
He loves it--but I don't think he'll ever make a second one.

 

[zontar]

I think a decent piece of Stainless Steel would be adequate. I like where we're going with this. My father-in-law is a gunsmith. I think I just figured out my Christmas present.

He had heard about the density or something like that about vanadium--so he wanted to try it--but as I indicated--he won't be doing it again.
Stainless steel? maybe.

 

[zontar]

I like whatever the guitar came with. I mean after all. I bought the guitar for how it sounded. Why would I change anything.

The nut can wear out.
I have replace one--and it was because the slots got too deep on a couple of strings--and it didn't play well

 

[zontar]

If you're replacing the nut because its sub par then probably there's a lot of stuff on the guitar thats sub par. By the time you replace all that sup par crap you could've just bought a better guitar.
If I'm playing the guitar and enjoying it then nothing wrong with keeping it the way it is. I've never owned a guitar where I thought changing the nut is going to give me a much better guitar.

Well I had one where replacing the nut made a difference.
I've only ever replaced one--it was cheap plastic.
I did replace other stuff as well--including the pickups--but for what I paid I now have a guitar I play, instead of letting it sit in its case.
And for what I paid for all of it I could have bought a new guitar--but a cheap one that I probably would have replaced stuff on any way to make it as good as what I have now.
And I don't care about resale (I would probably get more money out of it if I put the old pickups back in & sold it that way & sold the new ones separately.-but I know I'll never get the money back)--but the point was to have a guitar I would use.
And that worked.