tell me about it Col, i had an Ibanez JEM 90th, with chrome/mirrors cratchplate, kept it clean for about 3 days, then i realized i had spent more time cleaning the scratchplate than playing the guitar!
I've thought about the reason for having the locking nut and the only explanation I can come up with is you can't chrome a plastic nut... They may have thought an unchromed nut looked out of place?