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Posts: 274
Location: Maryland, USA | I'm having a problem with the LP guitar I've been rebuilding. Everything is ready, however, when I play on a fretted note, the note is about half a note sharper than it is meant to be on the fretboard. Changing the height of the string on the bridge does nothing, neither does changing the height of the bridge itself.
Any suggestions/ideas? |
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Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | change the length of the string on the tunamatic bridge |
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January 2003
Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | Measure the distance from the nut to the 12th fret, the bridge should be aproximately twice that distance from the nut. If it's off by more that about 1/4 an inch than the bridge is in the wrong position for that neck. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Yep. Intonation is off. You have to adjust your string length. |
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Posts: 274
Location: Maryland, USA | I've changed the length of the string on the bridge, moved it until I could not shorten or lengthen it any more. The problem is still there.
I'll check on the distance from the nut to the bridge, but I believe it is correct.
I'll get back to you when I measure it. |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | what scale length are you using? Did you install the frets and nut? Is thebridge compensated? |
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Location: NJ | I once played with a guy that decided he needed a new nut on his guitar before we jammed that night. he istalled it 1/4 inch from the beginning of the fingerboard. EVERYTHING we played was out of tune that night and it drove me crazy. We were auditioning a chick singer that night and she never returned. well guess what neither did I, I kept telling him why his guitar was out of tune and he never listened to me.....
many years later.... he is now a lawyer. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Did he move to Boise, Idaho??? |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | check the harmonic at the 12th fret vs the open string. |
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Location: NJ | nope still in jersey working for the "man" |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Back in seventh grade, when I had dreams of being the next Big Thing in the guitar world, but had no cash to actually buy a guitar, I entertained the fantasy of building my own. I was in shop class at the time, and I figured how hard can this be?
I drew up plans (what I wouldn't give to have those back now!) of a pretty cool looking triangular shaped solid body. I worked out in my mind how to attach the neck to the body (mainly from a careful examination of a friend's Telecaster...God how I envied him!) and even found some cheapo pickups in a pulp-paper music catalog that I figured to be able to afford on a paper-route budget.
But I was stumped by the prospect of cutting the frets into the fingerboard. It seemed to me then (and still does) that that is an operation that requires extreme precision. The slightest variation (either too close or two far from the nut, or worse, off of parallel to the nut) would result in an incurably defective neck.
Eventually, I abandoned my guitar building ideas. Probably a good thing, because a few years later I bought my first Ovation and the rest is history. But this thread got me wondering about the whole subject of fretboard intonation again. Just how critical is fret spacing?
Cheers!
Jeff |
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June 2005
Posts: 274
Location: Maryland, USA | I figured out the problem.
Bridge needs to be moved back,I already found the right spot.
I'll fill up the holes and drill in new ones. |
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Location: NJ | you're welcome |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | No, I'm not the lawyer Al was talking about. My nuts are in the right place. |
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Location: Cicero, NY | Maybe I'm over-analyzing this but it's an LP, right? Could it be you're just low on gas?
I had a grill once that, well, never mind... |
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December 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Midwest | I used one of these once on a Les Paul many years ago. It worked. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/closeup/PTTP070--Main
It's called a compensating bridge, just in case you don't want to drill new holes. I'm guessing LP meant Les Paul copy.
I should add the model I used had adjustable bridge saddles. |
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June 2005
Posts: 274
Location: Maryland, USA | I was able to fix the intonation without adding new holes for a bridge, however the action had to be set extremely high. I'm very unhappy with this setup, so I may try the compensating bridge Dutchman suggested.
Thanks for all the help guys. |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Your welcome. |
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Fix Inonation on fret board??
