So after much thought and distress, I finally have seem to come to a conclusion of buying the new American Standard Stratocaster in Olympic White/ Maple fretboard. I put it on hold today to sort out the money and make sure it wasn't purely impulsive lol.

I absolutely love the feel and sound this particular one makes. It came out of the box brand spanking new with great action and set up too. Unfortunately I have a minor issue with the glossed up fretboard of these MIAs as they seem to cause a lot more friction when sliding and bending thus making it more difficult. Is this something I just have to get used to (which I'm willing to do) or will it go away over time. Better yet, is there any quick fixes? The only thing I can think of is maybe sanding off the finish but I kinda like how it looks too. Help is greatly appreciated!

If you mean what I think you mean, than it doesn't really go away but it gets less glossy.

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"Many people enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thinking." -John F. Kennedy

I think the glossed maple neck/fretboard is the best fender has to offer. The rosewood fingerboard is known as a faster playing neck, but in 10 years, that maple neck will show wear where you play, which I think is pretty cool!
Thats a great color/neck combo, elegant, classy, and white is always in style.
Jason

Unfortunately, you can't have it both ways. If you like the gloss, you'll have to adjust to the drag. If you want to alleviate the drag, rub the fretboard down with 0000 steel wool. It will give the fingerboard a satin finish yet the steel wool will not wear through the finish as if it were sanded. It will also speed up the frets too without wearing them down either. And if for any reason, you want to restore the gloss, it can be buffed back out.

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You dig?

There is no quick fix. Trust me, if you don't like it now you will hate it later. I've been playing 25 years and have only found three Strats with maple necks that weren't sticky to me.

Never buy a guitar that has a neck you are unhappy with. You can change a lot of things, many of them cheaply, but the neck is something you have to have right from the beginning.

Thanks for all the replies!

Regarding rscornutt, it's not a huge issue for me, just an annoyance. The neck feels great actually to me its just the fretboard. The back is a nice satin finish and the rolled fingerboard edges and fretwork is beautiful. It was even set up beautifully out of the box. Not to mention this was the best sounding one there of all the ones I tried.

Regarding Martian's reply, I figured it would come down to me picking one over another. I'll probably play it for a couple of weeks and see if it feels any better to me over time. If not I'll most likely try out the 0000 steel wool. Question about rubbing it down with the steel wool: The layer of finish on the fretboard is moderately thick. If I were to rub it down, I'm only trying to just merely take off the very upper layer in all its glossy glory right? In other words, I don't have to grind it down very far or anything?

You are correct on all points. Don't forget to rub with the grain.

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Quick reply But what do you mean by with the grain?

edit: Wait, do you mean rubbing in only 1 direction with the steel wool?

Literally, following the grain lines in the wood: Up and down the board, rubbing from the nut to the highest fret and back rather than rubbing from high E to low E and back, sideways between each fret.

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You dig?

Oh, okay. Good thing you mentioned that cause going sideways in between frets was exactly what I was going to do. lol. Up and down the neck it is then. Thanks.

You got it!

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You need advice on how to fix or do something Martians the man. Martian its getting to the point where I am wondering if anyones going to stump you lol.

Thank you for your faith in me!

I don't look at this as any kind of competition though. What I've learned spans over 40 years of 'in the trenches', in NYC environs (you know what this can be like). And although only a fool proclaims (s)he knows everything, 40+ years surely has to account for something. I'm happy to share what I do know if it can benefit the next guy or gal.

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You dig?

the 0000 steel wool does the neck some justice. I am dealing with this problem as well, when i bought the strat i thought it was no big deal but now a year later I find myself sanding it down. My personal choice is to get the neck sanded down to bare wood and smooth it up just a little bit, if it gets too smooth I find it gets tacky again. Call me crazy but the finish is THICK on these MIA strats. I went so far as to use 600 grit sand paper and it still wouldn't remove it all!

Yeah, the finishes on the fingerboard is a little on the thick side. I think I'm going to try to deal with it through the summer because when it gets cooler and dryer here it should be fine. The heat causes my hands to sweat and stick to the fingerboard . I'll probably end up trying out the 0000 in the future when I'm more over the whole new guitar feeling. I'm definitely not ballsy enough to try anything courser than that though.