Nylon 7 string custom build questions

[s2y]

I have a BR back and sides and the builder has done a classical 7 before and it sounded good (in the hands of a classical player, which I am not). Anyway, I don't have fingernails. We discussed this and he suggested spruce, which is probably a good idea. My main instrument tends to be bass and my bass strings seemed to like ripping off my nails when I tried playing classical last time.

Thoughts? I could possibly look at some sort of finger picks. I'm open to suggestions. I'm definitely not looking to play it with a standard pick and do sweep arpegios.