If the neck is badly bowed, that's nasty...

How high is the saddle? I hear you can lower your string action quite a bit with minor saddle adjustments. 'Twixt that and the truss rod you may get your instrument playable again.

(Myself, I just realized how worn the frets are on my 9-string; anyone know what it generally costs to replace 3 or 4 frets?)

As for a quick clarification, I make no claims of any expertise; I only recently found out that the white thingy on the bridge is called the saddle.

Peace,

-MudWeasel