Appreciate all the words. I've built lots of wheels over the past 5 years or so...but I've always swore by brass nips. Especially after a friend of mine was having some wheel troubles, and when I tried to fix them the Al nips crumbled and broke apart in the spoke wrench.

But, as some have said here, I do know that there are riders who get quite a bit out of Al nips. If they didn't, it's unlikely that so many VERY expensive wheels would use them. The warranty issues would be out of control.

I'll look into some of these suggestions again, particularly the ones regarding my line of inquiry into chemically protecting the Al with a good thread prep.