intonation adjustments?

[Cory_Dylan]

i haven't made any adjustments to my guitar since i bought it, except for raise the action. i get it all tuned up, it sounds fine when playing a solo or something. but chording it still sounds out of tune. i'm pretty sure i just need an intonation adjustment. how do i do this? could i do it myself? or should i have someone do it. after hearing the price of that discussed in the pickup lounge that's gonna have to be my last resort. :saeek: plus i need to learn to do this myself anyway. also, is there anything else that needs to be done to fix this problem? maybe some links? all help is appreciated!!!!!

thanks, cory

 

[Zerberus]

Re: intonation adjustments?

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial7.htm

There are TONS of other useful links like this in the Vault

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: intonation adjustments?

After getting your action set to the desired height and the truss rod adjusted to get the neck straight...If you hold down the low E at the first fret and the fret that meets the body, there's should be a tiny gap between the bottom of the string and the 7th fret that's just barely enough to slide a thin pick through.

To fine tune your intonation, you'll need only a tuner with a needle or a good rackmounted tuner. With the guitar tuned to the pitch it'll be played in, start moving up the neck from about the 10th fret to the 18th, making sure all those notes read dead center on your tuner. If any of those notes are flat, move the saddle toward the neck. If those notes read sharp, move the saddle away from the neck.
Anytime you adjust that saddle, make sure all the open notes are in perfect tune again. Do this on all 6 strings till every note on the fretboard reads dead center and your tuner's needle is straight up. It sometimes takes a few hours, but the end result will be a guitar that sounds perfect on all chords and stays in tune like a dream.
If you're using a Floyd, it's more of a pain, but you have to do the same thing.
On a Floyd, make sure your base plate is always level with the guitar's top as you're doing the intonation, so when you're done the base plate is level with the top, the guitar plays perfect, and all those notes read dead center. If you do that, you can dive bomb till your heart's content and the guitar still won't go outta tune.

 

[Cory_Dylan]

Re: intonation adjustments?

hey jones, thanks a lot you explained it a lot better than any website i could find.

what do you mean by "start moving up the neck from about the 10th fret to the 18th, making sure all those notes read dead center on your tuner. If any of those notes are flat, move the saddle toward the neck. If those notes read sharp, move the saddle away from the neck." I don't understand what you mean by this. does it have something to do with the tuner? seriously i'm totally lost on that part.

i mean, C sharp and B flat are the same note right? so if a note is flat, it's also sharp

i'm not even sure what i'm saying. do you?

thanks again

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: intonation adjustments?

What I mean is that the needle on your tuner should be dead center when you're fretting notes on the fretboard. Suppose your guitar's open E is tuned perfect.
If you fret the 14th fret, and the needle is a tad left of center, it's flat.
That would mean that the E saddle has to has to be nudged toward the neck.
Your ear doesn't actually hear that it's flat, but the needle will tell you.
If you do that, like I described on all notes, making sure all 6 are in tune in between steps, the guitar's intonation will be fine tuned and more perfect than a person who just makes sure the 12th fret is = to the open note.

 

[rspst14]

Re: intonation adjustments?

Keep in mind that it's pretty much impossible to get any fretted instrument to play perfectly in tune everywhere on the neck, so you may have to compromise somewhere. Usually, you'll find that the first few frets are a bit sharp. Assuming the nut is cut properly and the guitar's setup is correct, this can be kept to a minimum. I would suggest using the best tuner you can get your hands on for setting intonation. If all you have is a cheap tuner, it might be a good idea to have a tech set the intonation with a strobe tuner. It shouldn't be very expensive if all he's doing is setting intonation.

On a related note, I highly recommend Peterson tuners for this purpose. After hearing the difference between a guitar intonated and tuned with a $15 tuner and that same guitar intonated and tuned with a Peterson VS-1, I could never go back to using a cheap tuner. The VS-1, VS-2, and Strobostomp are all excellent choices if you don't mind dropping over $100 on a tuner. Without a doubt, my VS-1 was the best gear purchase I ever made.

Ryan

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: intonation adjustments?

The only suggestion I could add to Gearjoneser's post is that once you've got it in tune lying on it's back on your work bench, then move your guitar to the vertical playing position and check the intonation one more time to see if it still plays in tune. If not, adjust the intonation a little more with the guitar held in a vertical playing position. Lew