Adrian other than fret level which we already discovered is no easy procedure with a scalloped board, theres nothing i can think of. Not one thing. It could just be something thats synonymous with scalloped boards and you have to bite the bullet and have your action slightly higher. To what degree are you bending? I never go much past a whole tone, maybe a little sharper every now and again. If the relief is right (i set mine to .006 a tad straighter than fender recommends) all i can think it is is that the frets arent uniformly matching in radius. The radius of the board would be set by the frets and not the board itself. With that in mind the plek system could be worth its price. I'd ring charlie chandler and ask his opinion. I could be entirely wrong in my hypothesis.

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I used to be a proponent of the "flat neck, low action" school, but lately I've let my necks take a little more relief and hoisted the action up a bit. I've never measured and, consequently, have no idea where my action preference is in relation to factory specs; however, I would say that it is moderate. I don't want it so low as to buzz under hard strumming nor do I want it so high that bends are hard to achieve. In fact, I'm not particularly specific as long as the guitar plays well. Strangely, the action on my LP is significantly lower than that on my Telecaster -- I'm not sure if Fender guitars are the best instruments to carry an insanely low action.

Niki

I never bend much more than a whole tone. I shall try using a little less neck relief, I infer that you have found that beneficial. Do you mean 0.006"? Mine is currnetly nearer the Fnder recomended 0.010" (for my 9.5" radius neck), or 0.03mm in the language of my fealer gauges, I'll try 0.02mm.

I'm really getting used to the scallops, and I love the tone and sustain of the YJM, although I've never bean much of a Malmsteen fan (not that he isn't technically brilliant), it's fantastic for bending and vibrato.

And yes I'll give Charlie a ring!

Adrian truth be told i would not make a single adjustment to that guitar until you have spoke to charlie about the plek. This is a good site with many helpfull people with lots of knowledge. But its not as good as a typical guy who can handle your guitar and spend a bit of time listening to you play to assess your requirements. I play extremely lightly which is why i can get away with a low action. I just cant play hard and make it sound good. Some can not me though.

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I think you're right there! Fretboard radius could be a reason if string bending is taken into account, choking-off etc. But even without that being taken into consideration there may be other reasons, Gibson's, for example seem to take low actions well. Mahogany and humbuckers tend to be less trebley, I wonder if that to some extent masks slight fret buzz, maybe the shorter scale length or lower string tension has an effect?

I've certainly heard it said that putting big frets on strats makes buzz more audible, perhaps doing that enhances the higher, treble end, audible frequencies/harmonics through the PUs?

I have a nice hard-tail Ibanez RGA321F (boo, hiss!!). maple capped mahogany, humbuckers etc. Now THAT goes low! I like it, but I like like strats more......

'Ask the tech to use 11s and set it low. That works for this picker, but then, 'am not a power-chorder or aggressive digger.

A Mosrite guitar can tolerate an insanely low action, as can a fretless Jazz Bass.

I'm still experimenting with mine. It's at about medium right now, and I'm thinking of raising it to be about medium high.

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Not a typo. I use a capo to measure releif. I didn't state that, but it's the standard (and correct) way to do it. I specified the capo for the action because it's not as standard, but it's what Dan Erlewine suggests in his books and I tend to agree with his logic.
So my action tends to bit higher than what it would appear if you did a direct comparison with the Fender method.
All this doesn't matter much as long as your consistant.

And BTW, I do initial setup by feel, but then document everything so if anything changes, or I feel like experimenting, I can get it all back quickly.

I have no idea how high my action is. Probably a bit higher now that I changed the nut. But always been pretty low. Like, almost touching the frets low.

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One of God's own prototypes. Too weird to live, too rare to die.