When I made the transition from a 2” classical to a steel-string, I did a lot of research on nut widths. I tried steel-strings with every width from 1-7/8” to 1-11/16”. For me, I found that 1-3/4” nut worked best. I was having a custom luthier built guitar made and he would have made it to whichever width I wanted. I tried all of them, and settled on 1-3/4”. I know that the 1-11/16” you found difficult is only 1/16” narrower than the one I preferred, but that little bit made all the difference.
Coincidentally, about five years later, after playing the 1-3/4” nut for that time, when I inherited a nice guitar with a 1-11/16” nut, I found I could play it without trouble. However, had I acquired it before playing the 1-3/4” guitar for that time, I couldn’t have done as well.
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-Raf
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