I'm not a luthier, not by any stretch of the imagination, but after looking at the pictures of the work done for Justa Picker, I suspect he got took. The material's not that expensive [at least it wasn't last year] and it works easily with diamond tools. Someone at your local Gem and Mineral Society would probably make a nut and a bridge for you for under a hundred,US. For that matter, jade would look nice and could be even cheaper. It's even denser and developes a very hard surface when worked.