Lots of great advice here. First I am inclined to agree with progrmr that most strats are not designed to be a "shredder" that I can deal with. The shim looks like it may work, I was hoping to avoid doing this as it requires me to remove the neck of my guitar and it may never play the same. I would love to take it to a professional but I am currently living in Germany until next year and the local guitar shop is run by a man who knows VERY little about guitars. I went in last week for some picks, I was standing at the counter looking at the Dunlop picks behind his head and (in German so no language barrier) said, " I would like 6 .38mm and 12 .60mm Dunlop picks." He looked at me like I was crazy. Anyhow I would not leave my instruments in his care after that. What I am thinking the best course of action is, is to play with the crazy action a few months until I save enough to buy a better guitar. (LP Studio?)