Nylon can be made to work, but it even more of a pain in the proverbial than gut. It is stronger than most neck woods and will leave an indentation; some like that, it marks where the fret goes. Others dislike it for the same reason, get it wrong and you are stuck. The knots are prickly, and burning them makes noxious smoke which you really shouldnt inhale.
Nylon is probably longer lasting than gut, but not forever, I have had nylon frets break. I switched to gut a long time ago and far prefer it. The first fret is particularly challenging as you have so little room above it to use in stretching the knot tighter; I always found pliers necesary on the first fret; leave the ends long enough that you can grip away from the knot, then wrap a length around the jaws, you dont want to be squashing the nylon to get a grip anywhere near the knot. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
