Losing Your Nut

Are you losing your nut?? I mean... like the '56 Tele I used to have. The nut slots were worn so low, that the strings barely cleared the first fret. The thing was BARELY playable. What caused this? Was it too much filing? Actually... no... probably just wear and tear from being played a lot. Nuts get worn, and then the strings 'fret out' at the first fret. Bone nuts sound better, but graphite is supposedly better for electric guitars (and might wear a bit better too). Once things have progressed to the point of a bone nut wearing down it's slots, you either have to put something under the nut to raise it up again, or start with a new nut. If you own a vintage '53 Tele, worth 35K, collectors will not like this. You will pay the price for playing that old tele. Keith Richards doesn't care (yes, I can speak for him on this one)... he plays his guitars, they are not totally original, and there are newer parts in those guitars that are constantly being replaced. If you want to buy a '53 Tele and play it, you are either Keith Richards, Bill Gates, or a liberated individual. The way to check if your nut is ok is to fret any string at the third fret... you should then be able to get a piece of paper between the first fret and the string fretted. Another way to check this is to go to your luthier and say "set it up again Fred, with a set of '11's".