As someone else described the sharper curvature raises the likelihood of fretting out. Have you read Fender's descriptions on their Classic Players Strats? They come out and say "easier bending" because of the 12" radius.

But it's a common luthiers trick to dress the frets closer to a 9.5 to make the vintage necks easier to play.

Good. Cos I must admit, since you first asked the question earlier on the thread I've been scratching my head how to explain an issue of three dimensional geometry in this two dimensional medium. Dumb of me, but I just couldn't think how do draw a diagram or explain it in words! D'oh!

Thank you, firstrat!

Cheers - C

I am the original author of this topic. Although the discussion seems to have gone in a completely different directions, I wanted to update any interested parties with the results.

I took my guitar to a new technician that I had heard about and his work was outstadning. He made a minor truss rod adjustment, polished and leveled the frets, adjusted the saddles and completely blocked the tremolo (at my request). It now plays like a new guitar and with the tremolo flush against the body, I find that the tone is improved.

I had essentially retired the guitar, but after this work, I really enjoy playing it again. The lesson I learned (and I guess it should be obvious) is that all techs are not equal. The previous set up work that I had done, while it solved some problems, introduced new ones. This new guy is a real gem and I will continue to use his services.

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2008 American Standard Tele
1987 American Series Strat
198x G&L (for slide)
Super Champ XD
Roland Cube