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Setting
up the intonation on your guitar involves making certain adjustments to
your guitar so that it plays in tune all the way up the neck. Adjusting
the intonation on an electric guitar is fairly simple, but when it comes
to an acoustic guitar it is a little bit more complex.
Once you have determined that the intonation on your guitar needs
correcting you will need to adjust the saddles on your guitars bridge.
They only way to adjust the intonation on an acoustic guitar is to
increase and decrease the height of the bridge until the intonation is
as close as possible.
To adjust the position of the saddles on the bridge of your electric
guitar you will need a hex key or screwdriver. Before you adjust the
saddles make certain that the height of the strings on your guitar are
set to your liking. In order to set your guitars intonation you will
need new strings that have been stretched.
The best way to set the intonation on your electric guitar is by using
an electronic chromatic guitar tuner. Korg and Boss both produce
excellent electronic guitar tuners. The basic method is to adjust each
string one at a time until the intonation is correct. For Gibson style
bridges you will need a screwdriver to adjust the saddles. For a Fender
style bridge you will need a hex key. In any case make sure that you use
the correct size as you can easily damage the screw heads.
Begin by plugging your guitar into an electronic guitar tuner, turn the
volume and tone controls on your guitar all the way up and set your
pickup switch to the neck pickup. Now tune up the low E string followed
by the low A string, followed by the D, G, B, and finally the high E
string. Make sure that you tune them accurately. Now play the low E
string at the twelve fret this should sound the same as when you play
the open E string but one octave higher. Make certain that you fret the
note carefully. Do not fret the string to hard or bend the string up or
down, as this will alter the fretted note slightly making it difficult
to judge the intonation. Use a light even amount of pressure when
fretting the note. Remember the idea here is that the open E sting
should sound the same as when you play the E string fretted at the
twelve fret.
If the intonation is not set properly they will not sound the same in
this case you will need to use a screwdriver or hex key depending on the
type of bridge you have. Move the saddle just a bit and then retune the
open low E string. Now play the low E string at the twelve fret. One of
two things will of happened, the two notes will have either become
closer together in pith or moved further apart. If they are closer in
pitch then you are moving the saddles in the correct direct. If the two
notes have become further away in pitch then you will have to turn the
screw in the opposite direction.
Continue to move the saddle in the right direction a little at a time.
After each time you move the saddle remember to retune the string to the
correct pitch. Keep on repeating the process until the open string and
the same string fretted at the twelve fret are identical once they are
the intonation of that string is set and you can move on to the next
string.
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