I've been considering the parts that are really important to do with sound and tuning lately too. I have a strat-copy at home in pieces with plans to just, make it a lot nicer. Pretty much replacing everything hardware wise, but I was wondering, like others, about the nut.
Nuts are made out of:
Bone
Resin
Graphite Compound
I feel like I should get the old one replaced as its just, old and shitty, but is there any clue (apart from price) that any are better than the other?
As far as pickups go, I've heard good things about Wilkinson pickups - a set of "vintage" strat style pickups are half the price of genuine Fender ones. But I kind of feel like they're just there to keep poor tone chasers happy, like they want a Fender sound at half the price. Cue Wilko. But a lot of magazines/critics have good things to say about Vintage guitars.