Guitar Setup 

Guitar Setup

Guitar Lesson

I recently took my guitar to a tech and he set it up and it sounded much
better. I checked the intonation with my peterson strobe tuner and it was
"off" a little so I "fixed" it. I'm not sure if it sounded better or not
but it didn't seem to have a huge effect. I think the worse ones were just a
few cents off.

Now the strange thing is that usually with my tuner it would jump all crazy
and I could never get a steady pitch from my guitar(even if it was zero it
would "jump" around like it wasn't getting a big enough signal... its always
done this with about 1-2 years use and I never had it do anything else).

Now today I use it to tune my guitar and I get almost perfect pitches.
i.e.. when I tune to A it goes to A and doesn't move or jump around. (if
I'm flat. it will scroll down ofcousre but when I adjust it it will stop
scrolling instead of acting crazy).

Then I check the intonation and notice the higher pitched strings are all
flat... I have to do a lot of adjusting on the high E. some
on the G and a little on the D.

But when I play my guitar it sounds like shit. The same why it sounded
before I took it to the tech.

Play open string and tune up to pitch.
Check harmonic just to make sure.
Fret 12th fret like I would normally play it(not pretty to hard).
if its flat then I shorten saddle piece(or whatever its called).. I repeat
this process until when I fret the 12 fret it is in pitch with the open
string(or atleast within a cent or two).

Right now my guitar is "intonated" by that method and when I check. all the
notes at the 12 fret are within a cent or 2 from there open string note.
This was the method that I read about in several books and on the net to
intonate a guitar.

I am using strings that I haven't changed in a while but I don't see
why it would make a huge difference(sure the strings might sound "dull" or
something but they should still hold pitch and can be intonated properly?
When I intonate I might sure not to apply pressure to the neck so that I
don't increase the tension and stuff. I make sure the guitar is in normal
playing position too.

My Peterson V-SAM and the batteries are good(actually I just used an adapter
today to make sure it wasn't the batteries).

Anyone have any idea about whats going on? The neck is in good shape and
isn't warped and I'm using sperzel tunners. BTW. my guitar is a fender
strat ;)

I'll try some new strings later and see if thats the problem. My guess is
that its not because I've been through this before and its always the same
thing. I'm always having to adjust the intonation even though I locked down
the floating bridge(so it shouldn't be moving).



Make sure you are not setting up intonation with the Peterson set to GTR.
GTR is only for tuning. It has offsets for guitar when in GTR mode.



If the nut is standard (read. not Feiten or Earvana. etc.) you might benefit
from intonating by comparing the 5th and 17th frets. If you play a lot of
"cowboy chords" or open strings. this method will probably not be of as much
help. Intonation on most guitars is really a game of averages. Some tones
are a little sharp. some tones a bit flat. It's the nature of the beast.
One of the reasons for using reverb is that it helps to sweeten chords by
"masking" differences between the overtone series of each string.



He more than likely also adjusted the pickup height. I raze and lower mine
all the time for different "chunkiness". But if you get it too close to the
strings. your octave fret will sound off.



Tuning a guitar and setting the intonation is a compromise anyway.


You need to know when your tuner lies to you. Oh. yeah they do lie. I
suspect you're justifying the sustained open string with the attack of the
fretted note. If your guitar is properly set up all notes should be able to
be played in tune.


I restrung the guitar and intonated it using the 5th freth 17th fret idea.
It sounds better. Still not great but more like I think it should. I also
increased the height of the pu's... looked a little to far away IMO.