I'm a lead electric guy who uses a pick, even with nylon. No classical technique at all. Using D'Addario EJ44 extra hard nylon strings on a guitar with a 16" radius, I need 4.5mm between the first string and the fretboard edge at the nut in order to play freely without the need to think about anything. Combined with my preferred string spacing of 41.5mm at the nut, a 47.6mm nut width leaves 1.6mm between the sixth string and the fretboard edge.
I actually made one of these nuts, and am using it right now. Can't play the sixth string at all, so I'm using the guitar like a sitar in drop D tuning, using the wound strings as drones and playing only the clear nylon ones. Everything is a modal improvisation in D.
A 49mm nut with offset strings would increase the sixth string gap to 3mm. A 20" radius would allow me to reduce the first string gap to 4mm, increasing the sixth string gap to 3.5mm. This would be quite usable for both classical and steel technique.
I worked all of this stuff out with custom nuts and saddles about a year ago, including string height and neck width at the 12th fret, shared my findings on this forum, and interacted directly with people from Rainsong, Journey, and Emerald, but not Blackbird. I was surprised that no manufacturer wanted to use me as a design consultant, especially since I was willing to do it for free and pay for the first prototype, and I'm an engineer.
Now I'm composing and recording, which means doing the best I can with what I have. I may resume this crossover design project when I'm done recording. Cedar/mahogany/nylon ragas actually sound quite good in this moment.
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