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achieving perfect intonation

I have for some time now been building CBGs with a fret scale of 25.5 inches. I also laid out a template for fret spacing by matching it up to my acoustic Fender guitar. The old scale template came off a Samick electric. Same scale length but the spacing between frets is different from the Fender layout. So I went with the Fender layout. My question is how do I check or achieve perfect intonation and will it change due to acoustic qualities of different boxes. I attempted to mark notes as they changed on the neck(done with a brass rod and tuner) marked flats and whole note changes. This layout is really different

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on April 24, 2011 at 2:55am

hey thanks...

actually its diatonic, its dead simple to play.. no ugly notes, you just go for it. there no scales or patterns or any such tedious nonsense to know cos its built into the instrument, it was designed as an educational tool and an instrument for the disabled..

a zero fret can make sliding a little trickier yes, but certainly not impossible, you just need to learn a lighter touch. In my opinion a zero fret is the ticket to sonic nirvana, i havent done a neck without for more than 8 months

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on April 24, 2011 at 3:25am

jumbo zero fret, fretless neck=tolerable slide, especially if you like to do some fingerstyle on your fretless instrument... if you need to never touch the fingerboard and only play the slide, then, build a tall nut....

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Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on April 24, 2011 at 10:35am

Now I didn't say perfect intonation was impossible. With experience, that will come as you learn. It's just more than 1 or 2 variables.

Most of mine are dead on now. Worst case scenario is a few "cents" off ....... no one could ever hear that small a difference.

AFKAM

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on April 24, 2011 at 10:53am

What Wes said. Skootch the nut away from the bridge between 1/16 and 1/32", and leave all the other frets exactly where they belong, and that helps compensate for string stretch when playing at the nut. That plus using a zero fret has made my more recent instruments much closer to the elusive "perfect".

Wes "Moanin' Mule" Yates said:

Imma with Matt on this one. Intonation is not hard to achieve yet you will never achieve perfect intonation. You might get close but will still be off. My B and G strings (I use DGBe strings) are always out a little. But if you think of it, no matter what you do, you will never perfectly achieve exact tonality by sheer nature of the strings, their mass, the gauge, the type, what note is their root... There is a great article that explains this all.

http://www.doolinguitars.com/intonation/intonation1.html

I especially like page 4 where they go into intonation at the nut. Diane (in Chicago) and I both have used this method. Werks Reel Well.

-WY