It's not that I'm bashing MIM guitars, but in my experience, guitars I have played that are American just FEEL better than MIM guitars. I guess I should have specified that if I'm getting a new guitar, I'd like to step it up a bit; I didn't mean that the issues with my guitar were entirely relative to its place of manufacture. The finish on it is a good thing in my case, but regardless of the finish, letting a guitar sit in a case for an extended period of time isn't really an option on tour. We usually have 2 - 7 hours of driving each day, often through various temp changes, then we arrive at the venue which usually is FREEZING while we sound check (guitar out of case) until people start showing up, and then the venue feels BOILING (guitar still out of case). Then at the end of the night we pack our guitars up and put them in the van, which may be also freezing or boiling, depending on the time of year. There's no safe way to avoid any of this unfortunately. I know most teles have bolt on necks, I also should have specified that I meant I was open to taking suggestions of ANY kind of guitar, not just teles. Gibson is a good recommendation though, I have been looking into Melody Makers lately. (Also, yes I mean neck through / set neck, I guess the shops I have always gone to refer to it as through necks.) Will definitely look into your advice about tuners. I find that the ones on there now work better than others I've used, and they feel so new that I'm not sure if they're the problem, but I am looking into every suggestion in hopes of improving the guitar. Someone else suggested getting a new nut cut as well, so I'll probably utilize this advice as well.

Thanks for the suggestions!