Solving Intonation Problems

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2 Solving Intonation Problems a Haze Guitars Guide by Gerry Hayes Solving Intonation Problems by Gerry Hayes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You can share this material for non-commercial purposes as long as it is appropriately attributed and shared with the same license. No derivatives (remix, transformation, or building-upon) are permitted. More here Ver 1.1 All trademarks are the property of their respective owners including: Telecaster, Music Man, Earvana, Buzz Feiten System, True Temperament Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

3 Problems setting guitar or bass intonation INTONATION IS TRICKY Ok, so you ve tried setting your intonation and you ve hit some problems. That s ok. Intonation is tricky. There are a lot of factors that all add up to give you good intonation and there s plenty of stuff to consider if you re having hassles. Many of the solutions presented here are things you might not think of when you hit a problem with your intonation. Any one of them or a combination may just get you to Intonation Nirvana (or as close as it s possible to get). Good hunting. 1

4 Part 1 Revision: How to set intonation A RECAP I m making the assumption that you already know how to set or alter the intonation on your guitar or bass. For this reason, I m not going to go into too much detail, but it s probably useful to touch on the high level steps. 1. Pick the open string and verify it s in tune. 2. Fret at the 12th fret and pick this note. Compare it to the open string is it flat or sharp? The Haze Guitars site has a series describing how to set intonation on the most common types of bridge. If you d like more information on your particular instrument, you could do worse than starting there. The fundamental steps for setting information are: 3. If the 12th fret note is flat, move the saddle forward a little. 4. If the 12th fret note is sharp, move the saddle back a little 5. Retune the open string and go back to step 1. You can see a handy illustration on the next page. 2

6 Part 2 The Basics TUNER PLAYING POSITION It s probably a safe bet that you ll be using an electronic tuner. The days of setting intonation by ear seem to be long past. Make sure you ve a decent tuner. When you ve got Peterson selling a strobe tuning app, with 0.1 cent accuracy for ios and Android that costs about USD10, there s no excuse. There are other apps and, of course, good hardware tuners too. Just use something decent. Clip-on tuners aren't great for this job. Their accuracy is often lower and, more importantly, they sometimes have problems sensing the fretted notes. Make sure you re checking intonation in the playing position. The guitar should be orientated as it would normally be if you were playing it. You can check your intonation with the guitar strapped over your shoulder if you want but it s more comfortable to sit down and rest it in your lap. Don t lie it on a bench or a neck-rest to check intonation or tuning because the neck will actually shift a little in this position enough to throw your accuracy out. Playing position only. Feel free to pop it on the counter to actually make the adjustments but back to playing position for measuring. 4

7 Part 3 Strings FRESH STRINGS STRETCHED STRINGS Fresh strings of your usual brand and gauge. Unless your usual brand is Honest Dave s Cheapo-Budget Strings. Cheap strings usually mean crappy strings, and crappy strings equal tuning and intonation woes. You don t need to buy artisanal, hand-wound, platinum-plated strings or anything just don t use strings that cost a buck a set. Have you changed string gauge since your last setup? Recheck intonation if you have different gauges means different sizes, means different tensions, means different compensation/intonation. Even different manufacturers (and string wrapping methods) can thrown out your intonation so re-check if you change brands. So, fresh strings installed and properly stretched. Stretching takes the slack out of the string and is important even for doublelocked guitars (and if you are locking, stretch before you lock the nut). Give each string a good pull away from the board around the 5th-7th fret, retune, stretch again, retune, and repeat until stretching doesn t cause the open note to flatten. If you re new to stretching you might find you break a top string occasionally but you ll get the feel of it pretty quickly. By the way, you re not so much stretching the string as removing slack in wraps and anchor-points. 5

8 TUNING If you drop down a tone for all your songs, tune there and set intonation. No point setting it for concert tuning if you never play there. If you play a lot of tunings, pick your most common and set-up your guitar with that one in mind. 6

9 Part 4 Setup SETUP This is a biggie. If the rest of your setup isn t right, your intonation will never be. Anything that alters how a string stretches when fretted will affect intonation so your action, relief, and nut slots all need to be right for your style before you even consider setting intonation. So, this means action not too high and relief not too much. I ve emphasised too because you shouldn t obsess with getting super slinky action and super straight necks if it isn t right for your playing style. However, too high an action means the strings can stretch too far when fretted. Same goes for excessive relief (neck bow). If you want to know everything you might ever need about relief and truss rods, off you go and download my book, Truss Rods Made Easy (it s free!). And, ahem, if you d like a super-simple, super-friendly guide to great setups, you can grab a copy of my Sketchy Setups guide. It s a really easy, hand-drawn, route to great setups. It only costs $5 and I think you ll find it useful. 7

10 NUT Yeah, I know I touched on nuts briefly in the last point but it s important enough to discuss in more detail. If the nut slots are too high, fretted notes particularly those around the first five frets or so will sound sharp because they re stretching too far. See image on following page for an illustration. Because of the need for properly gauged nut files, nut setup is one of the jobs that might be best left to your local repair person (unless you can cadge a set of nut files, of course). Also, an ideal nut will have the string bearing off a point exactly at the front edge of it (see image below). If your nut slots are badly cut or worn, the string might bear off a point that s actually further back towards the centre of the nut (effectively lengthening the string). 8

12 FRET CONDITION PICKUP HEIGHT A properly crowned fret will have a nice, rounded apex and a fretted string will bear off the exact centre. This is how the world should be (see image on previous page). A lot of people err too close to the strings with their pickup height. The magnets in most pickups can pull on vibrating strings and do all manner of odd things. As a fret wears, however, the top gets flattened and the point the string bears off actually moves closer to the bridge. Check for fret wear and get it sorted. If you re having trouble getting an accurate intonation or tuner reading, try lowering the pickups. Definitely try this if your tuner reading jumps erratically and won t settle. If you do lose a little output, you can always turn up your amp (as if you needed an excuse). 10

13 Part 5 Style MATCH YOUR PLAYING STYLE UNLESS IT S WRONG When setting your intonation try to match how you normally play. By this, I mean, if you would normally hammer your guitar, don t baby it when setting intonation. Picking and fretting intensity affects intonation so try to duplicate your normal style. Of course, if your normal playing style is causing problems, you might need to consider your technique. For example, some players have a tendency to squeeze too hard when they fret a note, maybe pushing the string right to the fretboard, and causing it to sound sharp. You particularly need to be aware of this if you play high or jumbo frets and even more so if you have a scalloped fingerboard. Sometimes, you might need to consider whether the issue lies in your fingers rather than the guitar. 11

14 TUNE TO THE ATTACK When you play a note, it often peaks or spikes before settling back to its sustained frequency. Effectively, the attack is a little sharper than the decay. Unless you re playing exclusively droning, sustained notes, you ll usually want to intonate to the attack portion of the note. 12

15 Part 6 Saddle Travel NOT ENOUGH TRAVEL Sometimes there just isn t enough travel on your saddle. By this, I mean, the saddle won t move sufficiently far in a particular direction to get to the point where it intonates properly. This happens most often on Gibson tun-o-matic bridges. Reversing the troublesome saddle can sometimes help. Reversing the saddle changes the point at which the string leaves (or bears off ) the saddle. See why this is in the image on the right. 13

16 GIBSON SADDLE TRAVEL FENDER SADDLE TRAVEL The Gibson ABR-1 bridge is the most common culprit for this because it s narrow. If you check, you ll probably find that two or three saddles are already reversed from the factory. It s possible to flip these or others if they can t travel back or forwards enough for good intonation. The Nashville-style bridge tends to cause fewer problems which is lucky as it s harder to reverse saddles on it. Instructions and photographs were shown with the series of posts accompanying this guide. Check em out. From time to time, you ll hit a Strat or Tele where one saddle, generally the bottom string, won t move back far enough to intonate. First step is generally to remove the adjustment screw and snip the spring in half before putting it back again. This will get you an extra millimeter or so, before the spring compresses fully. Next step is to remove the spring completely for a little bit more travel. It s very rare that you ll need more than that. Go through all the other sections in this guide to see if you can claw back enough intonation. Then, you should talk to your trusty luthier or repair person as it may indicate bigger problems. 14

17 Part 7 Capo USING A CAPO Two things to consider: Scale Length First up, a capo effectively shortens the scale length of your guitar so it has the potential to do funny things to your intonation. For most players (or for a couple of songs in a set), it s not an issue. If you feel it s a problem, check your intonation with the capo on and see how it is. Remember that your fret positions are all transposed now though if you ve a capo at the third fret, your octave position is now the 15th fret and that s where you ll check intonation instead of the 12th. If it s far enough out that it s causing you problems, you might have to consider some compromises: Live with it Set your intonation so that it s sort of mid-way between each of your most common two capo/no-capo settings. By this I mean that un-capoed might be very slightly flat and capoed might be very slightly sharp. If you re lucky, you ll have a happy middle ground where neither is out enough to be noticed. Dedicate a guitar to that capo position and set intonation based on that. 15

18 Inadvertent Sharpening Similar to a player that frets too hard, a capo often applies a lot of tension to the strings. This can sharpen the tuning of some or all the strings. To be honest, if this is the case, you ll probably know it and will be re-tuning as needed when you capo (and thereby negating the sharpening) but bear it in mind. If it s causing grief, an adjustable capo might be worth a try. 16

19 Part 8 Compensated Nuts COMPENSATED NUTS For some players, compensated nuts can help to get their intonation that last mile. On a compensated nut, the point at which the string leaves the nut is moved slightly. The Earvana nut, or the Music Man nut, slightly alters the length of each open string. Many people find this to be beneficial. For my money, though, the Buzz Feiten system seems a little more musical and in-tune. On a Fieten nut, the bearing point is also moved slightly closer to the first fret shortening each string just a tiny amount. The big difference in the Feiten system is that guitar is then intonated based on some sweetened tunings devised by Feiten. The precise amount of 'compensation' on a Feiten nut depends on a number of factors and retro-fitting one is a bit involved. It s one for the pros, I m afraid. You might have a go fitting an Earvana nut yourself although, to do a good job, you'll need gauged nut files to properly set each slot. Again, it might be best left to someone with the tools and experience 17

20 If you re at the end of your intonation tether, try to find an Earvana or Feiten-equipped instrument to see if it might be for you. For someone still straining at that last sliver of intonation horror, it might be just what the doctor ordered. Oh, and one last thing. The Buzz Feiten system means a minor change in how you actually tune your guitar. It s not rocket-science but it puts some players off. Earvana and Music Man are tuned as normal. Bear in mind, the success of compensated nuts also depends on all of the factors above. Don't be surprised, for instance, if you take your guitar for a Feiten nut installation and find the installer telling you that your frets need to be re-crowned. 18

21 Part 9 Compensated Frets MOVING THE FRETS The fret positions on your guitar or bass are precisely calculated using actual mathematics. The scale-length is accurately divided up into the right number of divisions and a fret is popped in the exact position of each. This is called equal temperament. Now, these are some seriously muddy and complicated waters to wade into and considering the pros and cons of various different temperament (ways of dividing up the fretboard) solutions could fill a book of its own a long and dull book. Hurrah for mathematics. However, as we ve learned, there are many factors that impact intonation and the scale length is just one of them. The problem is that you can t realistically account for all the variables. That doesn t stop people trying, though and altering fret positions from the standard, mathematically correct, model is an attempt to kick another few intonation issues to touch Let s just consider one of the more popular (relatively speaking) solutions True Temperament. The theory: change the fret position, individually, for every note on the fingerboard. An illustration might help. 19

22 So you ve got frets that are curved into a variety of crazy shapes to sweeten each individual note. True Temperament offers a few different temperament patterns, depending on what you ll primarily play. Different patterns offer differing degrees of accuracy or in-tune-ness. As you progress up the accuracy scale, there are limitations, however that accuracy is good for certain keys but may be less intune in others. While it never gets to be terribly dissonant, it s a trade-off, and you should think about your common keys if you re considering True Temperament. 20

23 Any other drawbacks? Well, the key thing might be an issue for some. Also, the more accurate the temperament, the farther it will be conventional instruments (those not fitted with True Temperament frets). There may be situations where playing with another guitarist or bassist will give you a slight discrepancy. Expense may be a consideration. I ve never had to re-fret or do any fret-dressing on a True Temperament neck but, if anyone asks, it s going to be considerably more expensive than the same work on a regular neck. Bear in mind, also, that you will be limited to certain string gauges and types, and dropped tunings can be an issue. Lastly, remember that while your fret positions may all be nicely sweetened for great intonation, the True Temperament guitar still has to be set up and intonated in the same way as a regular guitar. It is subject to the same setup, and style, considerations as any other guitar, and all of the information contained in this book may still be relevant in getting your True Temperament instrument properly intonated. For some players, True Temperament could be a godsend but you should research it well (and ideally play one) before making the leap. 21

24 Part 10 If it s still not right CHECK THE REST OF THE NECK IF YOU HAVE TO BE OUT, MAKE IT FLAT We re used to setting intonation at the 12th fret. Check the notes at the 7th and 19th too. See if those notes are consistent with the 12th and with each other (they re not the same note, obviously, but see if they share a similar sharp/flat amount. There are times it might actually be beneficial to to purposely set your regular 12th fret intonation very slightly wrong if that achieves a more consistent picture across the rest of the neck. It might also be useful to consider making sure the intonation is right for the area of the neck you play in most. If you never stray past the ninth fret, make sure one to eight are sounding good and don t worry too much about the rest. Your real-world playing may well be a bit more intense than your setup playing (despite your best efforts to match it). If you re having problems getting good intonation, err on the flat side if you have to err (by that, I mean leave the 12th fret note very slightly flat). Then, when you dig in in rehearsal/gig/recording, there s a chance your playing will sharpen it to where it should be. Obviously, this isn t a first resort but, if you have problems, it might be worth a try. Oh, and an exception here is the 3-saddle Telecaster, where you re often balancing between one string a tiny bit sharp and the other a little flat. Those are a whole different kettle of trade-offs, though. 22

25 Part 11 The last word on intonation THE FINAL STEP? Consider this: The guitar or bass is generally a fretted instrument. Those frets are positioned according to equal temperament tuning divisions. This means, the position of each fret (and therefore, the frequency of each note) is exactly determined by a mathematical formula. You can do this easily on a piano but the frets on a guitar or bass mean each note's frequency is set exactly. On a fretted instrument, it s almost impossible to get every note sounding perfectly in tune to our ears. We can get pretty damn close most of the time but there are very real limitations. This is all well and good but our squishy, human brains don t always perceive things in precise mathematical terms. Sometimes, the mathematically correct note sounds a bit wrong to our ears. A properly tuned piano, for instance, will have some of its strings sweetened. They ll be adjusted a little from the exact mathematical frequency to where they sound more in tune to our ears. As with so many things with guitar, bass, and life, compromise may be called for. Be realistic and remember that while something may sound the tiniest bit out to your perfectly-pitched ear, or strobetuner in the context of a live or studio mix, with the drummer crashing and the singer wailing, it s unlikely a listener will notice. Chilling out may be the final step. 23

26 Thank You THANKS A LOT Hi. I m Gerry. I m the guy who wrote this guide and I really hope you ve gotten something useful from it. This ebook is free but if you ve liked it or found it useful, it d be fantastic if you could tell your friends. A tweet or share including the link would make me a very happy man. If you downloaded this from the Haze Guitars site, you ve probably already signed up for my newsletter. If not, you should check it out. It s got some good info, tips, and thoughts all about these instruments we love. Thanks again (especially if you ve gotten this far). Cheers. I m also on Facebook, and Twitter, and occasionally lurk around Instagram. Follow along if you like this sort of stuff. Gerry 24

II. Tuning & Setup. Figure 1: This is where the guitar s open string s pitches really SOUND. Open 3rd String

II. Tuning & Setup. Figure 1: This is where the guitar s open string s pitches really SOUND. Open 3rd String A. The Grand Staff II. Tuning & Setup I ve lately felt that guitar music really should be written on a Grand Staff, like piano music. In standard tuning, our lowest open string is tuned to the which is