New nut? or adjusted nut.

[Pbassred]

The starting point is a Chinese casino that hasn't been played much.  One of my problems is the I haven't played years so I decided to start from scratch - including a lot of open chords that I didn't have much time for back then. I can do intonation, truss rods etc, but I have no idea if my nut is the right height.  Do I even bother to have a plastic nut adjusted, or should I start with just having it changed?

[Dad3353]

What, if anything, is wrong with the instrument..? The nut of a guitar, be it plastic, bone or brass, does not change over time, played or unplayed, so, unless there's a specific symptom, there's no need to even consider changing, nor adjusting, it. I have many guitars and basses, and some get played rarely (including a Samick '335'...) and have never had cause to suspect the nut, of any of them (disclaimer : Our Eldest is a luthier, builds his own guitars, so we do know something about set-up issues...).
A good thorough clean, a decent set of new strings, and a few weeks of playing, in many styles, will soon show up any major issues; what, if any, issues show up will determine what, if anything, could be done to improve things. Until then, it's just vain speculation. 

[ezbass]

If your Casino is anything like mine, the nut should be OK, awful, sideways break angle notwithstanding (why Gibson, why?). 

[tele-strat owner]

MMM Interesting read, from my reading and observations getting everything in play and checking nut against strings and first fret measuring with feeler gauge's first step, nut files for adjustment second. I have also seen "scratch" starts where new nuts were sized from ground level so to speak. Me I would opt for measurements and files first. But I generally try and make it easy on me.