Intonation Blues

[Cold_Fever]

I've had my Gibson LP set up by a good guitar tech. New strings, intonation set up properly. Up the neck the tuning stays together.

 

But there are songs that I just cannot play because the intonation is so bad. Even just playing a simple song with open E, A, D chords sounds bad to me. Even with compromised tuning.

 

It seems I need to retune my guitar for every song I play thats uses different types of chords. If I play a song with bar chords up the neck that also has a part with open tuning chords - it just sounds bad, real bad.

 

Is it just me? I dont see other people constantly retuning guitars between songs, and I dont hear dissonent sounds.

 

Heres what I've tried:

 

- heavier gage strings w/wound G (Ernie Ball 011's)

- frets ground down to reduce stretching when string is fretted

- lowest possible action

- nut cut to lower the strings and reduce sharps in first few frets

 

When I tune for open chords, fretted notes sound sharp, all the way up the neck. If I tune to fretted chords, open strings are flat. It seems the nut may be too far from the bridge. If the nut isn't cut right isn't it possible for the open string to be too far from the bridge?

 

I'm thinking of trying a new nut next. I've read of one recommendation to remove a small bit of the fret board so the nut is a little closer to the bridge. Anyone do this?

 

Thanks

[Richard Guy]

If you are convinced that your intonation is dead-nuts-on, then you might want to try the Earvana Nut. It has a small amount of adjustment. It is the style that has the three tiny screws showing. www.earvana.com

[Highway_61]

I comiserate completely. In an earlier post, I write about a Gibson Les Paul I had when I was younger that had intonation problems. I took that guitar to one of the leading techs/luthiers in the Pittsburgh Tri-State area, but the guitar simply would not allow me to actually play the guitar w/o tuning for every song. It almost made me quit playing guitar completely.

Find some comfort in knowing that there are others who have had similar problems (not just with LPs) and that it is not you.

[Cold_Fever]

So, Highway_61 what did you do to get around the issue or correct it. Get a new guitar?

 

I too don't enjoy playing it - it just sounds friggin bad. I spend more time trying to tune out the disonent sound than actually playing. Takes all the fun out of it.

[Richard Guy]

A Customer came to my house with a similar issue with his Carvin Guitar. He uses his arms to do everything since he has issues with his legs and is in a wheel chair, his arms are huge. The guy is very upbeat and is great to be around. Anyway, he comes over with this guitar that is in tune but according to him, plays out of tune. The guitar did not need the neck adjusted, it was fine. I put the guitar on a strap and connected a Peterson490 ST. The guitar's intonation was just about dead-on. I played it a bit and could not hear what the Customer was complaining about. I gave the Guitar to him and right away I could hear that it was not sounding right. It turns out that he was exerting way too much pressure to fret the strings, either single notes, or even worse, cowboy and barre chords. Remember I told you about his upper strength? He is so strong that he did not realize it. He tried a softer touch and his issues were resolved.

[Cold_Fever]

Cowboy chords? Hehe not familiar with those.

 

Yes, pushing down hard on the strings can make notes go sharp as you stretch them more. I am aware of that. The LP has JUMBO frets which accentuate that problem. A couple weeks ago I had the tech take the frets down to minimuze this.

 

Most of my intonation issues are with the G, B, and E strings. I notice almost no pitch changes with increased pressure on those strings.

[fishfartz]

something may be off (original poster)

 

if everything has been checked correctlty (saddle position, neck relief, new strings, etc., etc.,) and you still have those problems you may well need a good properly cut nut.

 

have you switched string guage since you got the guitar? sometimes they cut them for 9s (light guage) strings and have them cut in such a way that even going up to 10s can cause problems.

 

if you have changed size maybe you could put the original size (from the factory) back on until you can check out new nutz