I notice you said you're picky about action... well... sorry to be the one to tell you this... Action is a double edged sword. Low action equals ease of play but you sacrafice the ability to do big bends and sometimes your overall tone is affected... High action equals clean, resonate tone and the ability to do the big bends cleanly... but you sacrafice the ease of playability... One thing about modern made guitars is that they feature flatter fretboard radius's that allow you to use low action without sacraficing much of the ability to bend... However... don't expect to be able to lay the action dow as low as you can and still bend... If you've ever seen pictures of Stevie Ray Vaughans Number One guitar... you'll notice that the action is set reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally high. Not only because he used heavy strings (.13's most of the time) but because the fretboard radius that he used was the same as a '62 stratocaster... long before the modern day 12" radius fretboards and compound radius's (I don't think radii would be an acceptable word to describe this term??? Who knows...?) He used a 9" radius which without high action would fret out any bend. So what I'm saying is... You have to make a compromise... so many people expect to use low action and get perfect tone and no fret buzz... it doesn't workt hat way. Find the medium between high action and no fret outs... That's the only way to go about it... Unless you want to spend the 200+ USD to get a compound fretboard radius... then you can have the best of both worlds.
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Here's what I normally tell someone who is thinking about doing any kind of work to a cheap guitar... Is it worth it?? I understand how that you love the guitar... I still have my first cheap strat and I still play it from time to time and I like the way it sounds also.... But if you're looking at leveling a fretboard off... you're looking to spend anywhere from 150-200 USD. The labor is what would be the main thing since you're dealing with colored inlays and a satin finished neck... it may be more. But either way you're looking at putting in twice, almost three times, as much as what you spent on the guitar. You can buy a nice mexican Fender stratocaster for just a few more bucks.
I notice you said you're picky about action... well... sorry to be the one to tell you this... Action is a double edged sword. Low action equals ease of play but you sacrafice the ability to do big bends and sometimes your overall tone is affected... High action equals clean, resonate tone and the ability to do the big bends cleanly... but you sacrafice the ease of playability... One thing about modern made guitars is that they feature flatter fretboard radius's that allow you to use low action without sacraficing much of the ability to bend... However... don't expect to be able to lay the action dow as low as you can and still bend... If you've ever seen pictures of Stevie Ray Vaughans Number One guitar... you'll notice that the action is set reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally high. Not only because he used heavy strings (.13's most of the time) but because the fretboard radius that he used was the same as a '62 stratocaster... long before the modern day 12" radius fretboards and compound radius's (I don't think radii would be an acceptable word to describe this term??? Who knows...?) He used a 9" radius which without high action would fret out any bend. So what I'm saying is... You have to make a compromise... so many people expect to use low action and get perfect tone and no fret buzz... it doesn't workt hat way. Find the medium between high action and no fret outs... That's the only way to go about it... Unless you want to spend the 200+ USD to get a compound fretboard radius... then you can have the best of both worlds.
I notice you said you're picky about action... well... sorry to be the one to tell you this... Action is a double edged sword. Low action equals ease of play but you sacrafice the ability to do big bends and sometimes your overall tone is affected... High action equals clean, resonate tone and the ability to do the big bends cleanly... but you sacrafice the ease of playability... One thing about modern made guitars is that they feature flatter fretboard radius's that allow you to use low action without sacraficing much of the ability to bend... However... don't expect to be able to lay the action dow as low as you can and still bend... If you've ever seen pictures of Stevie Ray Vaughans Number One guitar... you'll notice that the action is set reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally high. Not only because he used heavy strings (.13's most of the time) but because the fretboard radius that he used was the same as a '62 stratocaster... long before the modern day 12" radius fretboards and compound radius's (I don't think radii would be an acceptable word to describe this term??? Who knows...?) He used a 9" radius which without high action would fret out any bend. So what I'm saying is... You have to make a compromise... so many people expect to use low action and get perfect tone and no fret buzz... it doesn't workt hat way. Find the medium between high action and no fret outs... That's the only way to go about it... Unless you want to spend the 200+ USD to get a compound fretboard radius... then you can have the best of both worlds.
