So sorry to hear about your boot problems!
I was able to be fitted for Harlicks without going to California. They have a pretty good sheet for cueing you about where to measure, so if you have a dealer to work with, it should be fine. Since then, I’ve measured several other local skaters for Harlicks and so far, all of us are very happy with our boots. I’m on my third pair (I usually get about 5 years out of a pair and they are still usable as teaching skates or pond skates at that point) and expect to stick with them for as long as I am skating. Each time I make a few subtle changes that improve the fit and performance, which is great.
The custom insoles/foot beds are expensive, but for me they are worth every penny at twice the price. My foot sits so much more solidly on the sole of the boot than in my previous Jackson’s and Riedells. Without the custom insole, my foot never felt laterally stable (in spite of using Superfeet insoles in the previous skates) and now I stand on a surface with a perfectly matched contour.
You may fit in the Harlick X-Line, which has the narrower heel/wider forefoot, or maybe you need something more custom than that. There are so many variables—arch height, instep height, foot rigidity, foot volume, calf muscle attachment point and bulk...heel and ball width are just the starting point of a good fit.
Comments about boots...a little rambling but possibly useful?
My understanding is that Risport has a similar shape to the X-Line, so a few of our local skaters have tried them and seem reasonably happy.
My experience with Riedell is they were built like canoes, long and slim. Too wide in the heel and a little pinchy at the toes for me. Jacksons were just too wide overall, but that was the older last from 2004. The newer models seem narrower, but skaters with wider feet can order the wider size so we have a lot of skaters in various Jackson boots in a wide.
I agree that the new Fusion heels seem higher than the old LCL heels. The LCL soles are an ongoing maintenance project (part of my mission as the skate tech is to keep the skates in usable condition as long as possible so we can pass them down to another user—saves extra expense for families and keeps more kids out of junky skates that are torture devices). I don’t understand why they would use such a water-absorbent material on a skate sole. At first I was kind of glad to see the low-maintenance PVC soles appear, but they are finicky for mounting [easy to crack the sole if the pilot hole is a tiny bit small, and then the next size of drill bit strips out too easily] and the finish rubs off on the leatherette part of the boot and is very difficult to remove. I have observed that the heels look higher, but haven’t seen the pitching forward problem, but maybe the skaters in question were just able to adapt. I got new blades in January that have a slightly lower rear stanchion and have found that they work better for me than what I was on previously, so I have experienced how much difference a small change in ramp angle can make. I was just lucky that it was for the better.
Good luck with your boot quest, it’s a daunting but noble mission. Worth the effort.