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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on November 20, 2015 at 6:24am

A few tips. First, watch a video or two on Youtube about setting the intonation of a guitar.

Next, forget about how you may play the guitar, finger or slide style. You mentioned that this process is to satisfy a store's desire for a well-intonated guitar (or more). Most important in all this, is getting the intonation right, with a string height suitable for both styles of playing by a potential customer at the store.

I haven't seen the guitar in question. So I will assume it is not an adjustable bridge like seen on electric guitars (Stratocaster, for example). Many CBG builders use bolts or other straight-edges items as a bridge, and let them float on the box top (float, meaning the string pressure keeps it in place without glue or screws to make it's position permanent.

An important thing to remember...the overall string height (nut action at 1st fret and string height at the12th fret) will play a major role on how much each string will stretch out of tune when playing fingerstyle. There are videos on Youtube that explain and how to deal with this.

Intonation basics: Step one, tune guitar with bridge set at exactly your scale length (2x the distance from fretboard edge of nut to center of12th fret). Step two, test harmonics at 12th fret on all strings (see YT video on how that works). Make notes on result. If harmonics show "in tune", which they should, then go to next step. Step three, fret each string, one at a time, and see if in tune. If not, make notes on if sharp or flat.

If the bridge is a straight piece of something like a bolt, you should focus on the outer strings (example: in GDg tuning, the G and g strings).

If the G string (ha ha, insert funny comment on women's undergarments here) is sharp, that side of the bridge must be moved further from the nut. If flat, move that end of bridge a little closer. Equally, adjust the other g string with the same regard. Make small adjustments (1/8"-3/16" at a time).

Then re-tune the guitar to pitch (GDg). Then repeat the harmonic and 12th fret tuning check, until the intonation as complete.

As I suggested, watching a video will really give a better insight to the process, and why it's done.

Best of luck.

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 20, 2015 at 9:48am

Thanks Scott. I watched a video Justin Johnson did on how to set intonation. I have a semi-floating bridge. I say semi because I have a piezo rod under the bridge with a hole going through the box for the wire. As an inexperienced builder, I drilled the hole before setting intonation. Making note of that for future builds....but to fix what I have, I'll have to slot the hole and maybe build a wider bridge to cover the slot if I have to move far enough that it becomes exposed. No big deal there. I saw one video that says about 1 mm or about .040" action for the first fret and 2 mm or about .080" at the 12th fret. Seem correct to you?

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on November 20, 2015 at 10:19am

1mm is alright for the 1st fret action, but .5mm (.020") is even better. For the 12th fret, factories typically set their action from 3/32" to 7/32 ( they get it close, but expect that serious players will either do a set up themselves to suit their playing styles, or get a pro to do it for them). I believe anywhere from 2-3mm for the 12th is good enough for the girls I go with.

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 22, 2015 at 3:35am

Lol. Thanks Scott!

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on November 20, 2015 at 12:13pm

Years ago I was a lead guitarist in a few rock bands. I'd play the slide parts for all the James Gang, Thorogood and all the southern rock songs we played. My guitar's action was set to 'breath'. If you blew on the neck it'd play a song. Playing slide takes a very light touch and a lot of practice. It can be done. I played in a souther rock group with two other lead guitarists. One hand action set like mine. The other guy's was slightly higher. All three of us played slide parts. it's really what you want in the end. Low string action is great for hammer ons, vibrato and bending. Strings up to high tend to be slightly out of tune when pressed back down to the neck. Your audience wont know it's out of tune. They will know it sounds bad. One thing about really low action. You have to be careful on how hard you pick or strum. Strings need room to vibrate. So if you want to be a more dynamic player, like Hendrix or SRV setting your stings very slightly higher will allow you to slam your strings. Get that extra distortion when needed.  

My advice would be to set the strings where it's comfortable for you to play. Then learn to play slide on em. Best of both worlds. 

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on November 22, 2015 at 4:00am

I created this beginner video a while back. It is pretty basic, but may answer some of your questions.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/string-action

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 23, 2015 at 4:58am

I'll watch this later. Thanks Dan!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 23, 2015 at 7:58am

I have found that setting my string height at 3/32nds" above the frets works good for me to fret with pulling the string sharp or good enough for slide.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 23, 2015 at 8:52am

StewMac sells some risers that slip over the nut and raises you strings for slide, then remove for regular play. Of course that means loosing your strings and tuning every time you put it in place or remove.

This why many people have a dedicated slide guitar and a dedicated fretted guitar.

Of course if you have a fretless, you don't have to worry about any of that.

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 25, 2015 at 3:32am

Thanks everyone!

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