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Joined:
April 2009
Posts: 10
Location: PA | Hello all.
I am the original owner of this '89 Ovation Elite 1868. It is fabulous, and has been babied. But I recently noticed an intonation issue. It's the G string. Fretted notes are flat. It's fine down toward the nut, but as you go higher up the neck, the variance gets worse. By the 9th fret it sounds pretty bad - very obvious even to someone without decent pitch. All the other strings are fine.
The bridge is not lifting. There is no distortion in the guitar's top. I use light guage strings (.011), which is all I've used for the past 20 yrs. I mention this because a frequent solution is "use heavier strings". I do not want to use heavier strings.
I wish I knew of a way to adjust the intonation, but I can't see how to do it. The saddle itself is in pretty good shape... there are some minor grooves worn in, from the strings. I'm not opposed to trying a new saddle, but I'm not sure if it will help.
In case it matters, I use 1 shim under the saddle. I tried 2 once but the action was too high. But that was long before this intonation problem began.
Let me know if you need more info. I am grateful for your help. Thanks! |
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Joined:
August 2007
Posts: 494
Location: Location Location Location | Fret wear can cause intonation problems. You may just need to have the frets dressed. |
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Joined:
April 2009
Posts: 39
| If you haven't recently altered the nut or saddle and this is something that's just being noticed of late, chances are it's nothing more than a defective string. Sometimes, the windings are slightly inconsistent along the length of the string or there's a defect somewhere which results in intonation problems. Slap on a new G string (on the guitar, not yourself) and let us know if that makes a difference. |
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intonation problem on Ovation Elite
