Restung my bass and set the intonation,,, what a difference.

badgas

badgas

New member
I put a new set of strings on my low down Sally.
Tuned it up and play for a while.
Retuned, etc,,,,,.
Today I tuned it again and checked the intonation.
E - minus 22 cents.
A - minus 9 cents.
D - Plus 5 cents.
G - minus 17 cents.

Before I check it I knew it was off. So, for a lack of anything better to do, I recorded some scales from open strings up to the end of the fretboard.

Then I set in intonation and is sounded so wonderful, the cheap Dean Razor slut she is.
I recorded the same three minutes of scales from all over the neck.

What a difference.
I also replaces some pots in my bass amp and tightened a few gizmos up.
It's like a new rig.

I doubt any of you guy are as happy about this as I am, but I figured I'd tell ya anyway.
Just to remind some of you, to check your intonation now and then. Fifteen to twenty minutes can make a world of difference in the sound.
 
Word.

I experienced the same thing with my guitar a few months back. I had put thicker guage strings on it two years back, but was too lazy to check the intonation at the time. I figured it was close enough. Well, the thing always sounded a little off.

Finally, I got mad enough at it to sit down and figure out how to set the intonation properly. WOW!!! It sounded SO much better.

Very important step and fairly easy to get close with a chromatic tuner.:D
 
Damn straight. I had the same problem when I switched string gauges on my Strat, I borrowed a friends chromatic tuner, set the intonation, and now I'm the happiest of campers!

I'm going to have to buy a chromatic tuner myself, bleah. ;)

I wonder how many "bad" guitars would sound good with a 1/2 hour investment setting the intonation and the addition of $40 worth of better electronics?
 
I set my intonation with a little Korg chromatic tuner. I've had it for probably 10 years and it was pretty cheap if I remember correctly. However, it sucks as a stage tuner, so I bought a Sabine rack tuner. The Sabine tuner has a "strobe" tuning mode. Strobe mode wasn't very good for regular tuning (at least not to me) but I remember many years ago hearing that the "proper" way to set intonation was to use a strobe tuner.

Is this true? Is it better to set intonation with a strobe tuner? I messed with it for about 5 mins one day but it seemed harder to get the intonation right than using regular chromatic mode. Maybe that's why strobe tuning is better... it's more sensitive?
 
Have you tried using a strobe tuner to set intonation?

I'm curious if there are some secrets or tricks with this method.
 
Same thing with pickups. For years I was running my pickups too far away from the strings. It produces large spikes in transient response which I always had to overcompress to smooth things out.

I went to the Fender site and read how to adjust them. Really evened out the tone.

The intonation thing catches a lot of people. Always have to reset when you change guages.
 
Proper intonation and proper setup itself can make a great difference in the sound of a guitar.

I recently purchased a used mexican fender fat strat off ebay at a great buy it now price. After I received it I figured out why: even after tuning it sounded horrid. Chords sounded flat, the guitar seemed dead.

So I spent the next hour or so adjusting everything. For awhile it seemed hopeless, because I'd adjust one thing then others would be out of whack (didn't have a tuner at the time). Finally I hit the sweet spot with everything and the guitar comes alive. Chords ring out and the guitar resonates like the American standard strat I used to have never did. I bet if the person who sold it could play it now they'd really think twice about selling it. But that's their loss ;)
 
badgas said:
I'm interested in hearing your experiences with the strobe tuner also.
Click to expand...

http://www.sabine.com/sabine-music-accessories/RT-7000.htm

The picture shows it in strobe mode (there's actually more lights). The lights move to the right if the note is too sharp and vice versa for flat. The speed slows down as you get more in tune.

I just played around with it some more and remembered why I don't use it. The problem is it's so sensitive it's hard to get the thing to stop. I guess the trick is you just have to say it's good enough at some point. You could adjust the saddle all day trying to make the strobe stop and just when you think you've got it, it'll start moving again. It could drive a person mad.
 
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