[pjchappy]

OK, I set-up my guitar and intonation awhile ago to the best of my abiliities.  I have a Stratocaster.  Anyways, it sounds off a bit when I do an E chord and sometimes, barre chords on the first fret seem off.  Any suggestions on how to solve this?  The G-string may be the culprit. . .as fretting it on the 1st fret, it sounds off, no matter what I do.

Thanks!

[fredgarvin]

I would recommend taking your question to www.thegearpage.net lots of info available there. Has a nice search function as well. What I do for intonation is use my Boss tuner to tune the open strings then play the 12th fret. Adjust the bridge screw to shorten or lengthen to bring it to pitch. I'm sure there are better methods though.

[Ethan Winer]

it sounds off a bit when I do an E chord and sometimes, barre chords on the first fret seem off.

Setting up the string length adjustments for proper fret intonation is easy, and here are the steps assuming new strings and starting with the guitar basically in tune. You'll do this for each string, one at a time:

1) Play the open string, then the 12th fret harmonic, and you'll hear that the harmonic is a perfect octave.
2) Compare that harmonic to pressing down the string at the 12th fret.
3) Adjust the bridge set screw forward or back until the 12th fret harmonic and 12th fret note are identical.
4) repeat for all 6 strings.

If it's still out of tune after that, it's probably you.

--Ethan

[Daygloworange]

What Ethan and Fred describe, is the standard method that everybody uses, and is the correct way. There aren't any real tricks beyond that. The only thing that I could suggest that you take a look at is the nut. Make sure that the leading edge is sharp. The edge facing the fretboard is the zero edge in determining the string length, sometimes when they've been setup, they angle the nut slot down towards the headstock to lower the friction for tremolo use. In doing so, they sometimes alter the zero edge. That'll elongate the string length slightly.

The other question is whether you tune by ear, or with a tuner? I only use a tuner to get A 440. The other strings are tuned against the A string by ear. You must check not only the octaves, but 4th, 5th Maj, min thirds between strings as well.

The guitar is an equal tempered instrument. It never plays in tune perfectly. Acoustic guitars are the worst, as they often have a straight bridge, with no compensation. Some have a mildly compensated bridge, but they aren't a whole lot better.

Cheers

[pjchappy]

I know how to intonate.  I've always done it just the way Ethan described it.  It turned out it was the G string that was causing the problem (fill in joke here).  I didn't care to fully understand the details, but, a non-wound G w/ a Strat can be off at times.  I finally did a Google search using Stratocaster, intonation and g string, as search terms.  Several sites suggested adjusted the bridge until the g-string is ever so slightly out of tune (flat) on the 12th fret.  I tried it several times. . .until finally, everything sounds perfect on the 1st fret w/ chords and barre chords, etc. . . and on the 12th fret, the pitch sounds great.

Thanks for all your help!!!