Intonation setting (and tuner)

[deeaa]

Hey,

I bought a Korg Pitchblack tuner today - pretty nice a tuner indeed, especially for the price. Very cool a gadget.

Anyhow, that got me to checking the intonation on my axes and prompted me to put forth a question, how do you guys set your intonation?

Is it open/12th fret/12th harmonic comparison?
Do you use a tuner or tuner/ear or just ear?

The way I do it is I first get it close enough both visually - I use the same set of 9 to 52 (custom, 9, 11, 17, 32, 40, 52) on all my axes...I always end up getting the bridge like this:

\
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i.e. there are always two separate almost straight lines for low and high strings - which makes sense there being a huge difference between my G and D....and with the 12th fret method...

THEN what I do is I play the top 3 strings open and in open D and make sure both are in tune exactly. Then I play a straight A and make sure those notes and the open strings are all in tune.

And lastly I check the G chord is pretty much exactly in tune.

By this way it still gets to be very well intonated at open/12th but I get the basic rock chords and such to ring with really pleasant harmonies too.

Does any of you have any preferences to setting the intonation using chords as well or something?

[Robert]

I use the 2nd and the 14th fret.

http://www.dolphinstreet.com/tips_tricks/

1. Start by tuning your guitar as normal.
2. Starting on the first string, press down your finger on the 2nd fret. Now, if the note is not perfectly in tune, use your tuner and tune the string so it's perfectly in tune (for me, a green light indicates when it's right on).
3. Next, press down your finger at the 14th fret and see if the note is sharp or flat.
4. If it is flat, turn the saddle screws clockwise so that the bridge saddle moves towards the pickups. This will make the overall string length slightly shorter.
5. If the note is sharp, do the opposite - turn them counter-clockwise. Make the bridge saddle move away from the pickups, making the string length longer.
6. Adjust until the note is right on both when fretting the string on the 2nd fret and when you fret the string at the 14th fret.
7. Repeat for all strings.

[marnold]

Second fret is good for making sure that your nut's not cut too high. That's been my favorite thing about getting Floyd-equipped guitars--I don't immediately need to get the nut slots adjusted.

I usually check mine at the 12th and 24th frets for intonation. I've found that checking the harmonic is next to worthless for telling if the guitar is actually intonated. Mind you, I don't have a strobe tuner.

[Monkus]

Great info guys, as a newbie to electric setups, this helps me a lot...thanks !

[deeaa]

I use the 2nd and the 14th fret.

http://www.dolphinstreet.com/tips_tricks/

1. Start by tuning your guitar as normal.
2. Starting on the first string, press down your finger on the 2nd fret. Now, if the note is not perfectly in tune, use your tuner and tune the string so it's perfectly in tune (for me, a green light indicates when it's right on).
3. Next, press down your finger at the 14th fret and see if the note is sharp or flat.
4. If it is flat, turn the saddle screws clockwise so that the bridge saddle moves towards the pickups. This will make the overall string length slightly shorter.
5. If the note is sharp, do the opposite - turn them counter-clockwise. Make the bridge saddle move away from the pickups, making the string length longer.
6. Adjust until the note is right on both when fretting the string on the 2nd fret and when you fret the string at the 14th fret.
7. Repeat for all strings.

2nd and 14th, yep I've seen that used as well. It's very close to what I do too...I just use also 3rd...Low E, A and high E are intonated to 3rd, while D and G and B strings I intonate to 2nd fret...I'm really particular about it too, I want the open D chord to ring out nearly perfectly without any wobble even when using 6 strings. I find it makes a big difference in open-chord rock music sound like AC/DC stuff...need very little overdrive when the harmonics are just right and it sounds just massive.