Intonated properly, in tune, but out of tune...

[Scott64]

My friend's strat is in tune perfect open and at the 12th fret, but anywhere else on that string sounds out of tune....any ideas?

[Guildx700~]

To high of action, to high of nut, too much finger pressure, whammy hanging up, not enough springs on the whammy,

but incorrectly tuning the guitar is probably the real problem, you need to tune for tempered intervals, if you tune pure or to just one chord everything else will sound off.

[Marcondo]

I never intonate from the open strings and 12th fret cause just like you experienced if the guitar isnt perfect it will only play intune on those 2 points of reference open & at the 12th fret.

I do all my intonation stuff at the 5th and 17th frets. Just capo the neck at the 5th fret tune the big e to A and intonate it there and at the 17th fret. This way it will compensate for a nut cut too high and also the math error there is from the distance from the nut to the 1st fret.

I learned this trick in 1972 and have been doing it this way ever since.

[brianf]

Originally posted by Marcondo
I never intonate from the open strings and 12th fret cause just like you experienced if the guitar isnt perfect it will only play intune on those 2 points of reference open & at the 12th fret.

I do all my intonation stuff at the 5th and 17th frets. Just capo the neck at the 5th fret tune the big e to A and intonate it there and at the 17th fret. This way it will compensate for a nut cut too high and also the math error there is from the distance from the nut to the 1st fret.

I learned this trick in 1972 and have been doing it this way ever since.

Thanks for the tip.

I'll try it as well.

brianf

[Scott64]

I'll let my friend know all hope is not lost :)

[Guildx700~]

Originally posted by Marcondo
I never intonate from the open strings and 12th fret cause just like you experienced if the guitar isnt perfect it will only play intune on those 2 points of reference open & at the 12th fret.

I do all my intonation stuff at the 5th and 17th frets. Just capo the neck at the 5th fret tune the big e to A and intonate it there and at the 17th fret. This way it will compensate for a nut cut too high and also the math error there is from the distance from the nut to the 1st fret.

I learned this trick in 1972 and have been doing it this way ever since.

I have to disagree, you still have to live with the nut height once you take the capo off, I fail to see how those results would be valid, if the nut is too high it's needs to be adressed BEFORE you attempt intonation.

There's no good reason in the world a reasonably well setup guitar can't be intonated properly if there's enough saddle travel available, and the octave of the open to the 12th fret is the only way to do this properly.

I've setup countless guitars over the years and have yet to find a properly setup guitar that can't be intonated properly using the standard open/12th fret.

[wire_nut]

scott,
i had a strat once that did this. it needed neck adjustment real bad. this may or may not be the case here, but on mine it was. once the neck was adjusted on mine it was fine ever since.
you might also check the pickup height. i hear that single coils can pull the string out of tune if they are too high. again i could be wrong.
good luck,
cold_lump
aka
wire_nut

[mrhappy]

Wirenut may have hit on it. Strats in particular have this problem. If it's mainly the low e string that sounds out this could be it.

The cure is to lower the neck pup until the prob disappears...maybe the middle one a bit too.

[Teleologist]

Sometimes the problem is caused by the stings not vibrating at the fretboard edge of the nut. Often brand new wound strings that are wound far down the posts will kind of arc over the nut, especially the low E. Most of the time all that's needed is a little persuassion to get them to seat right followed by re-intonating the guitar. Another symptom of this problem is running out of adjustment at the saddle.

Bargain strings(and even an occasional set of good ones) can be a problem too. Some of these have inconsistant diameters along their length which causes all kinds of tuning issues...

[Guildx700~]

I would agree about the pup height, except you also would not be able to intonate it properly then.

[trisonic]

This sort of thing can drive you nuts and make you miss the obvious.
I put a new set of strings (high quality brand) on a Strat that I don't use so much. The intonation was way out with the low E beyond adjustment at the bridge. After trying to adjust every parameter I realized that the strings were dud. Duh.

Pete.