A question on tuning and intonation.


If I tune each open strings to exactly match


EADGBE with 0 percent off (according to tuner) showing a perfect straight vertical line.


When fretting at the 12th fret, every string will be a bit sharper by 18/22 percent limits but still within the EADGBE note at one octave higher.


Fretting the last fret aka fret 21, esp the lower E, it's still within C# but about 40/50 percent higher on it's way to become a D.


Should I be concerned? Or as long as it's still within the C# limit, i should just ignore it.


I read online about intonation adjustment and I just try it on the lower E string, it seems there's no way you could ever get the open string, 12th fret to be 100 percent within the tuner's pin to point exactly at a straight line (no off by xx percentage)

If I want to balance it out, it seems I should not tune the open strings to exactly vertical, but let it be lower by 10/20 percent so that at higher frets the percentage will be lowered closer to the correct notes.

How do you tune your open strings ?

Exactly vertical bar on the tuner ? Or a bit lower, or a bit higher (risking notes at higher up the neck going out of tune)

Yea I was playing with the saddle position back/forth. I didn't touch the action though.

The lower E string is E as mentioned by the tuner, but it's a bit sharper by 25-30 percent, and the last fret up the neck is C# which is sharp by almost 50 percent, so I moved the saddle away from the neck. Manage to get the best result , reduce to about 30 percent, unable to reduce more even after I move the saddle maximum furthest away, it still stuck at 30 percent for the last C# note, and the fretted note at 12th fret is sharper by 15/20 percent, no way to match the harmonic and open string note exactly.


I think my tuner is crap. Sabine nextune 12z sucks, even though it's a chromatic tuner.

Do i need a strob based tuner ?


Finally I just rely on my ear, and the relative notes I played all sound right at the highest frets used when I play a scale.

After I blocked the bridge again (strat vintage tremolo bridge) it became even more stable and the sharps went down about 5 percent more, closer to the 12th fret harmonics.

Still, all the notes are within the legal note ranges in the tuner, just that it is not a perfect pitch, but a bit off by 20-30 percent but still have not legally become the next ascending notes.

This post has been edited by bman: Apr 19 2008, 05:10 AM

The 12th fret is accurate, still within the note area but these chromatic tuners tend to show how many percentage it is to the next note. Once you hit over 50 percent you're sliding into the next note.

Well I guess this is one of the issues, I am using strings that are at least 3 weeks old and had their nickel plating stripped deliberately to get back the smooth feel so I could slide again.


I haven't tried any other tuners yet, I might try the one built into my zoom g1 and another one which I downloaded off the net (aptuner)

That is a tolerable difference. Try 20-30 percent.

Forgot to add, my strat's action is unusually high and it's now stringed with 10s and not 9s which it came stock with.

Then again, the low E, even after I moved the saddle all the way back, the 12 fretted note is still over 5 cent sharp.


Maybe it's time I set the action on this baby before I intonate it.

Oh well, wait until the next string change when I switch back to 9s.