Holy thread resurrection, Batman! I should give an update on this guitar. I have to admit, I haven't really given it the play time it deserves. I never could put my finger on it, it just wasn't "doing it" for me. That is, until a couple of weeks ago. It finally dawned on me that the action on this guitar was just a bit too high for me. I took down the saddle a little bit, and it absolutely transformed the guitar. 12th fret action on the low E is right about 6/64", and the neck is adjusted with just enough relief to play pretty darn hard without buzzing. A perfect setup. The JF55 is the first guitar I reach for lately. It sounds wonderful, and the playability is now on par with my Taylors. Saddle height is acceptable, though I'd probably like a little more break angle on the saddle. I guess for a 17 year old guitar, it's not that bad.
Having said that, it has been exceedingly wet in Arkansas this whole year, but particularly this fall. Normal yearly rainfall in this area is about 40", and we have had nearly 70" this year. We had a record ~16" of rain in October, and it was also one of the coolest Octobers on record, so there hasn't been any a/c running to take humidity out of the house. It may be possible that the guitar has swelled a little bit, and the action may drop some this winter when the heat is running a lot. I'll monitor it carefully - I have a beautiful new polished bone saddle blank ready to go if I need to raise the action back up a little bit.
