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Borrowing my buddy's guitar to try out before buying.

I put new strings on it (first time doing it on an electric so I may have fucked up somehow). I can't get the intonation right on the first couple of frets. This mainly applies to the two thickest strings. The first string has pretty decent intonation. On the sixth string, the G is very sharp, while the 12th fret is almost in tune.

I'm buying an action gauge, and a strobe tuner. I want to learn how to fix this kind of problem. Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

Borrowing my buddy's guitar to try out before buying. I put new strings on it (first time doing it on an electric so I may have fucked up somehow). I can't get the intonation right on the first couple of frets. This mainly applies to the two thickest strings. The first string has pretty decent intonation. On the sixth string, the G is very sharp, while the 12th fret is almost in tune. I'm buying an action gauge, and a strobe tuner. I want to learn how to fix this kind of problem. Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

(post is archived)

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

If you can correctly intonate it with a capo on the first fret, it strongly suggests that the nut is at fault.

As an aside, I wouldn't bother with a strobe tuner. The purpose of intonation is so it plays in tune no matter what fret is pressed, and a regular tuner will tell you if it is or not. OTOH, I have a clip on snark tuner that doesn't seem terribly accurate, I just get it close with that and use relative tuning to get the strings in tune with each other. There's a windows tuner called that seems to work better than any hardware tuner I've ever had, even the old ones that you needed to plug a cable into.

[–] • 1 pt

Adjust the nut, tune, repeat

[–] • 0 pt

By 'nut', do you mean 'bridge'????

[–] • 0 pt

Appropriately titled video(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHJvvIrJnig)

[–] • 0 pt

I think this is the video I used when I had to do the same thing with mine, once you've done it, you won't forget. I would also add that upgrading to a bridge with rollers really made a big difference. They're not that expensive, and I didn't even remove the strings to do it. Also, when I put the new bridge on, I did it with the adjustment screws pointing away from the neck to make them easier to adjust. Not sure if mine was just retarded, but when I bought it the screws were under the strings making it a complete pain in the ass to adjust.

[–] • 0 pt

Lengthen the distance - adjust for the thicker strings. You can make the adjustments down on the bridge.