-
Hey @escarpato Joe and Phil have answered your questions well. I wanted to share my recent experience in having a guitar set up. It is a Taylor 410CE I have owned and played since 1997. I had played it the way it was set up when I purchased the guitar since that time. Recently I noticed one of the second fret had some “overhang” (sticking out beyond the neck) and was cutting my thumb (I tend to wrap my thumb around the top of the neck). I located a luthier in my area that had great reviews and took my guitar in and pointed out the problem and asked them to please do a set up and if possible to lower the action on the strings (decrease the space between the strings and the fretboard). I picked it up last week and was amazed at the difference the set up made. The guitar sounds much better and with the lower action doesn’t require as much fretting pressure – which results in easier barre chords. The cost of the set up plus new strings was $140 (I live in North Central Ohio). It is worth every penny IMO.
As Joe and Phil have pointed out, finding a luthier you can trust and with who you can develop a clear understanding of the desired outcome is the key to a successful guitar set up job.