Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on September 19, 2010 at 11:39pm

Fretted or fretless?
How high is the action?
Looking at the picture, which side is the lowest string ... hard to tell with the blurriness.

Matt

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jamie Kerns on September 19, 2010 at 11:47pm

fretted, action is about 3/16, the left side is the lowest.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark on September 20, 2010 at 12:31am

Looks weird to me. That bridge seems to be at quite an extreme angle. Also, as you suggest, I'd normally expect the bridge to have to be shifted furthest back on the lowest tuned string - which is the opposite of what you seem to have if I understand your explanation correctly.

However the test is whether the intonation is OK when you play - if it sounds OK then it is OK.

What is it tuned to?

Choosing light gauge strings isn't necessarily what I'd expect with a short scale length - generally I think you'd want heavier strings for a shorter scale (assuming you're going for the same tuning as a longer scale instrument)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on September 20, 2010 at 1:03am

well, I would say partly because the action is kinda high for fretting ( for my taste and IMHO).
I would also double check the scale measurements for the bridge and 12 the fret. If all is well and it sounds good, I don't see a problem.

If anything is off and it's fretted, other than work with nut and bridge height, you can really do much.


Matt

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by YeahDoIt on September 20, 2010 at 1:27am

20 3/4 scale is short. Do you have frets? You might try over again. Set the bridge perpendicular to strings, then tune to pitch, then adjust bridge for intonation.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bluesdog on September 20, 2010 at 7:45am

Nope that's not normal.

Have you tried another string? Sometimes a string (even when brand new) can have a slight dent in it or be thinner somewhere along the length of it's scale causing intonation problems when setting up the instrument.

I had this problem with a Stratocaster and a fresh set of string's, one (the high e) needed to be set so far back the saddle ended up against the bridgeplate. I replaced with a new one and the problem was gone.

Frans

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on September 20, 2010 at 7:53am

How are you checking intonation, at the 12th fret for a perfect octave with a tuner?

Where are you measuring your action? The old rule is dime at one, nickel at 12 or whatever.

If you can bring your action down any it will surely help the intonation.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ben on September 20, 2010 at 8:37am

Hey Jamie,
You're checking your intonation, so that's a start! I actually had this happen to me on a long scale 3-stringer (30"), just not nearly as extreme as yours. I did not have ridiculously high action and I was in tune at the octave as well as at each fret (well, as "in tune" as an equal-tempered instrument will get). I have since parted it out, but it played well at the time. If you're happy with how it sounds, don't worry about it.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jamie Kerns on September 20, 2010 at 4:42pm

I appreciate everyone's help, I did try at first a few times to set it back to zero sort of speak and re-adjust again I was put right back into the same position. Then I lowered the action it came up a bit but not much. so then I went back to the original height and put a low 6th string on just to see if the thicker gauge would put some light on the situation, it did bring it up a lot enough to where it wasn't so Rad, it was still angled at the same direction just not at a kill pitch. So I was thinking could I maybe go with .042 .032 .025 instead . what I mean is instead of using the B,G, and D(low) from a standard pack of strings which are what I have set up now. Couldn't I use the G,D, and A? theory being that the G string as my high would increase gauge thickness on the high about .009 which may be enough to get it out of that funky angle and at least look normal. Don't know, what do you all think????

Ben said:

Hey Jamie,
You're checking your intonation, so that's a start! I actually had this happen to me on a long scale 3-stringer (30"), just not nearly as extreme as yours. I did not have ridiculously high action and I was in tune at the octave as well as at each fret (well, as "in tune" as an equal-tempered instrument will get). I have since parted it out, but it played well at the time. If you're happy with how it sounds, don't worry about it.

• ▶ Reply