Took my beloved Telecaster to the guitar guy to see if he could lower the action a bit - it's been feeling like the strings were a millimeter or two too high. I've had it 17 years and have never had it adjusted in any way. So, I figured it was time.

He took one look at it, said "Yeah, I can lower the action a bit. But what you really need are new frets - you've worn about 40% off the frets that are on here now." Points to the sad, low, flattened 5^th and 7^thfrets. Three nerve-wracking days later (which I spent reading about what's involved in a re-fret - yipes!):

Ooohhh... shiny !

He also cleaned the fingerboard while he had it. There was 17 years of grime stuck between those frets. Yum.

Sure, it cost about 1/2 as much as I paid for the guitar when I bought it in 1993. But, ooo... shiny!