Re: Does intonation bother you?

[sookwinder]

on a similar note  ....  I was reading some months ago about keyboard tuners from the 16th & 17th century.

When a performance was toi be held for the king/queen, the piano /harpsichord/celeste tuner would determine what type of music was to be played and tune the keyboards accordingly ... meloncholy music had particular sad "detune"  while "happy" music (major keys) had another.  If someone was singing, then a different tuning of 3rds 5ths or whatever was also done.

This sort of fell out favour when the major keyboard instrumnent started to be the pianoforte and orchestral tunings where developed.

if you were a keyboard tuner in the old days, you certainly had a gig for life...

[jetset]

Right - it was around Bach's time when the even-tempered tuning became necessary, (that's the "Well-Tempered Clavier").  Music began to stray from being primarily in a certain key or mode, and you had to start tuning all twelve notes evenly so the tuning would work in all keys.  The guitar fretboard is even tempered too, but with the added complexity of the ability to bend notes, and adjust string intonation subtly.  They say tone is in the fingers, but tuning is too.

I had a small argument with the studio engineer once, who said that a note was not on pitch according to the software.  I said, it's in tune to the chord and the song.

Interesting topic.

[-2N3904-]

come on guys  .. we have to be realistic here  ....

assuming "You" are not a guitar tech / luthier and you do not have a work bench already set up to intonate :

2 minutes to scratch your arse and think about intonating
1 minute to get the guitar from the stand/case
2 minutes to find a towell/cushion/pillow to place the guitar on.
1 minute to move shit and make room on table/bench/couch for guitar/undercover
1 minute to feel happy about how the guitar is sitting and is stable
1 minute to find correct screw driver
1 minute to decide whether you will change the strings anyway
12 minites to intonate 6 strings  (2 minutes per string)
1 minute to strap the guitar on and check harmonics acousticly
1 minute to plug into amp and turn on and play the riff to SOTW
1 minute to put away guitar
1 minute to clear the work bench/table and put away screw driver

total : 25 minutes

I know i dont fuck around like that, i just pick it up put it on my lap and start to intonate/tune it.

[mynameisjonas]

for me it's more like:

1 minute to find screwdriver and plug the guitar into tuner and amp
6 minutes to intonate (that is, if the intonation is way off to begin with), using both tuner and ears
2.5 seconds to put the screwdriver away

[Orang Goreng]

Hmm.

1 minute to locate screwdriver and tuner.
10 minutes to correctly intonate EADG and B strings.
3 minutes to try and gain grip on the stripped screw slots in the screw of the high E saddle.
0.1 second to accidentally push the entire floating bridge forward with my screwdriver while getting slightly frustrated with the previous step, essentially undoing all the previous steps.
Some more minutes to manually re-position the bridge, finding the spot where the intonation is sort-of OK.
5 minutes to smoke and decide well enough should be left alone.

Then about 3 minutes to do all those things correctly on my SG .

[fuzzking]

3 minutes of thinking about in which direction to turn the screwdriver.

[sookwinder]

3 minutes of thinking about in which direction to turn the screwdriver.

exactly !!!!!

[ohm-men]

I don't really bother as long as the intonation is about 90-95% correct it's ok for me. In fact at some settings a slightly off intonated JM/Jag sound nice to my ears.
I mostly tune by ear so it's never that correct. I got used to it not sounding 100% intonated.
I listen to a lot of older music and on some recordings you just hear badly tuned guitars and intonations that are off by a mile or so but still sound great. Since everyone has acces to electronic tuners nowadays, intonation got more of an issue, which is fine by me. Although some guitars like a Strat and an SG realy benefit from being intonated close to a 100% imo as their sustain kind off echoes the intonation.

[the older brother]

For all you that's nit-picky about intonation -  I give you:

the true temperament neck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEOY3SqxMc0

Looking at that neck makes me feel drunk.

[fuzzking]

For all you that's nit-picky about intonation -  I give you:

the true temperament neck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEOY3SqxMc0

Looking at that neck makes me feel drunk.

wow - a neck like that would def. bother me more than getting out a screwdriver twice a year.  :-\

[Mad-Mike]

I'm pretty picky about intonation, and often spend hours tweaking my guitars as close to perfect as possible, with very few exceptions (unadjustable bridge saddles, set neck, truss rod, mislocated bridges on acoustics, and the like).  After I set the intonation and setup, I seldom mess with it again for awhile, till I notice that the axe in question is going slightly out of tune on the upper registers again.

[Yagoo]

Intonation has never bothered me, but then I always setup new guitars with a strobe tuner.  I don't set mine to be correct at the 12th fret though, instead I average it out on the 6th & 9th.

[spaceghost]

It bothers me. I am having some intonation issues with my Jaguar.

The neck is straight, and the bridge is on the higher side, I like the high action.

I can't pull the screws back far enough, because the end is at an angle and ends up touching the strings (eesh)

I know i've heard people hacking the ends off or buying shorter screws, but its not looking like your 'normal' Jag bridge after a proper setup.

Plus everything I record with it is F**king sharp.

Is there a saddle height relation i'm missing? any advice at all?

Thanks, D.