Just in case anyone cares, I want to share my bemusing (to me, anyway) solution to this problem...In short changing the string gauge from .009's to .010's did the trick.
With .009's installed and tuned to pitch, I could seem to get enough neck relief even when the truss rod was completely slackened (which I thought was strange)...but regardless, that is why I made a decision to try the shim.
Although I'm not sure how much more force is exerted with .010's, increasing the string gauge made it now so that I had to lessen the relief by tightening the truss rod. After letting the neck settle a bit, I adjusted the radius of the saddles and bridge posts to an action of 1.6mm on the bass side and 1.2mm on the treble side @ the 12th fret
The guitar now plays great with no dead notes...However, I have never witnessed such behavior where the neck requires(?) a specific string gauge. Although I prefer to play with .009's, it doesn't look like it is possible with this instrument.
Has anyone else experienced something similar?
Cheers,
Brent