Does my guitar need a prof. setup?
 

Hey guys,
I need an advice on what to do with my acoustic. So my guitar was never prof. setup and at first I didn't notice any problems with her (this is my first acoustic), but now that I have tried other acoustic guitars I realize that there must be something wrong with my guitar. I thought I just was not used to this type of guitar and that's why I was struggling to play on it. Can anyone tell me if there is a problem with my guitar from these photoa?
https://ibb.co/DMZws2X
https://ibb.co/zhpKWqC
https://ibb.co/b33j3By
https://ibb.co/pnqPFBp

Looks to have a fairly high action . Take it to someone that knows what they are doing .

That is a pretty horrid string height, definitely have someone look it over

Steve

Alright, thank you for your help.

That’s why we love this place
I sure if you gave a general location folks could recommend a good person to bring it to.

Once set properly set up you will notice a big difference.

Yes, that needs a setup, they ALL need a setup.
It'll probably be the best (give or take) 75 bucks you've ever spent

+ 1>.........

Yep ! High action and bowed neck. Depending on the brand and quality level, could be easily adjusted or not. So, need an expert.

When you get more experienced as a player, you will witness that many brand new guitars, even from reknowned makers, are not well set or not set for your playing.

I agree with all of the comments, that poor puppy needs some love. Might be easy, might be a difficult decision and fix. My real comment is on the idea of "professional setup". I'm a firm believer that an awful lot of competent guitarists can do an awful lot of setup work with a little experience and thoughtfulness. Right up to adjusting truss rods, setting action, dressing fret ends, even doing full fret dresses, crowning and polishing. A few files and some inexpensive supplies, thought and common sense will get you through all of that list of common setup requirements. People think it's hard, there are secrets, no one to teach me, when in reality it's within reach of a lot of people. All of which is not to say that professionals can't do it for you! But I love it when I read "found this old Harmony XYZ in the skip last week, reglued some braces, reset the neck, dressed the frets and boy it's a player" because a person took on the job themselves. To me it's embracing a fuller world of guitardom.

I'd certainly like to believe that as well. However, the number of botched done-it-myself adjustments and repairs that have been brought to me for fixing has taught me that it isn't that commonly achieved. "Know thyself". And your limitations.

I have no doubt that you have indeed fixed many botch-ups, Charles, but for every botch-up that comes into your shop there are a thousand DIY successes which by definition you never see or hear about.

You are probably right. I'd least I'd like to think so. :)

Does my guitar need a prof. setup?
 

It sure ain't gonna hurt.

I think I'm competent enough to do my own setup, but the guy I take it to does a lot more setups than I'll ever do and has the experience that goes with that. My guitar always comes back better than it went in.

Next time you take one in, do your very best setup on it first and ask him what he/she thinks you did well, and what you did wrong.

That's wonderful advice, giving the task its best shot and then getting professional review and touchup, provided OP has basic shop and tool skills, and tools.

Caution: Mr. Tauber has a good point, don't make a mess first. OP could at least measure relief, review fret level quality. Without knowing how comfortable OP is around tools and shop practices, I am not suggesting doing more than measuring and observing.

Perhaps the professional help is a two-step process, inspect, send OP off to do some work, and return to analyze and finish up. That might be more costly than turning the whole topic over to the professional immediately, but OP would learn something.