Trying to Fix inotation

[junkyardearl]

I have an old Guild, it's the model shaped after the SG. It has a tune-o-matic type bridge. I was working last night on getting the inotation just right, but it wasn't quite getting there. All the strings are perfect up to the 7th fret, but only half of them are still perfect at the 12th. I'm in a bad position, because as soon as I fix one string, another is off. They aren't too terrible. I'm working with a fairly cheap tuner, the kind that has three LEDs, one to say you're in tune and two red ones that tell you if you're sharp or flat. The strings that are off are just a little sharp, just a little away from turning on the LED, and I think one of them may be exactly where it turns on. Do you think I could fix this buy taking it into a tech? Maybe it's the neck, or is this normal?

~James

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Well...

First off - you need to be doing intonation using fresh strings.

Secondly - you need to be using a good tuner - such as a strobe....

You can, however, use your ears, if you can't hear the difference, who else will know?

Simple intonation involves making sure the fretted twelfth note matches the open harmonic at the twelfth fret.... more elaborate intonation would require a tech's skills....

Bruce

 

[T.J.Hooker]

if you can't hear the difference, who else will know?

Not sure if I agree with that but, I definitely agree with the rest.

Junkyard, I have an old gibson ES-330T. The neck on this baby is straighter than a preachers sunday morning. I had to put a new tunomatic bridge on it. The same bridge that was on it but only 40 years newer. I had to change the bridge because the high E saddle screw was busted and I couldn't find one to match just right. The hole for the saddle screw on the old bridge was to big for any of the newer saddle screws. That is the only difference between the two bridges, except for the little wire that goes over the saddle screws. The old bridge has no wire. No holes for one or nuthin'. Anyway, I can't get the intonation on the G string just right. It's close. But it's off enough to annoy the hell outta me when I'm clean finger pickin'. And unless I want to do some custom work and move the bridge a 16th or so(which is out of the question) I have to live with it. The only other thing I could do is, get a bigger G string. Like an 18 wound or something. But the wound string just doesn't have the clarity. And kinda like Blue Bear said, Wound G or bad intonated G, your audience is unlikely to notice. Sometimes these old guitars are just a little off. Humidity makes a hollowbody guitar move around alot in 40 years. I wouldn't trade the guitar for anything. I usually use it for my own pleasure.


Goodluck,
T.J.Hooker

 

[hockey punk]

to T.J.Hooker , I had an old Epiphone Casino in the late sixties and early seventies , that I stripped the finish off of and used black stain to get it to look like Lennons . Any way this was the same as your ES 330 and I had a guy In Edmonton Canada named Frank Gay , wonderful old guitar builder, move my bridge back just a little , maybe 3/16 . It was more tuneable after that , I have had much better luck with slightly longer scale necks , 25.5 to be exact . If I could have that old Epi with a 25.5 I would be in heaven .