[eddie_bowers]

I think too much relief is your main problem here (your going to have to touch the truss rod). When you have too much relief and your playing in the middle of the neck and your bridge is low (which is has to be to get decent action because of the large amount of relief) you are creating a situation where the high frets are up hill of the middle frets so the strings don't have enough clearance.

Adjusting the truss rod is really no big deal. Just go slow and take measurements as you go. You have a good book already for reference on how to do this. From that picture however, your first turn could be a half a turn without going to far.

Let us know how it goes.

-Eddie