Do you set intonation with guitar laying flat or in playing position ?

ICBM

stratman3142 said:

Even if there were a slight change in pitch, would that be enough to have a significant effect where the bridge saddles need to be?

It's not the change in pitch, it's the change in relief and hence action height, which affects how much the string has to be 'bent' down to the frets and hence the pitch rise, and is what you're compensating for with the intonation adjustment.

It may not be that significant but it is definitely measurable with a good tuner, so you may as well do it right.

Clarky

stratman3142 said:

I've always done it in playing position but not thought about it be before.
Even if there were a slight change in pitch, would that be enough to have a significant effect where the bridge saddles need to be?

I have Floyd Rose bridges..
if you tune the guitar in the playing position and then lay it flat you'll see the tuning move
on a Floyd this means the bridge is moving and therefore so are the saddles

stratman3142

ICBM said:

stratman3142 said:

Even if there were a slight change in pitch, would that be enough to have a significant effect where the bridge saddles need to be?

It's not the change in pitch, it's the change in relief and hence action height, which affects how much the string has to be 'bent' down to the frets and hence the pitch rise, and is what you're compensating for with the intonation adjustment.

It may not be that significant but it is definitely measurable with a good tuner, so you may as well do it right.

I did some measurements of my own using the Ultra-tuner in Amplitube 4. I found it difficult to get very precise measurements, but there appear to be small measurable effects. It's a bit academic because I always set things up in playing position and, as you say, 'you may as well do it right' to remove any possible doubt.

flying_pie

One approach would be to consider that it's not relevant if the difference between methods is measurable on a tuner. It would only matter if the difference was at a perceivable threshold for human ears to detect it.

Also it isn't important whether you SET the action in a playing or lying flat position that matters but which position you CHECK it in. I'd wager virtually all of us would do that in the playing position. 

Sassafras

How can you not set intonation in anything other than playing position?
And why would you even want to?

Maynehead

Sassafras said:

How can you not set intonation in anything other than playing position?
And why would you even want to?

Because holding a guitar in your lap + screw drivers = BAD...

stratman3142

flying_pie said:

One approach would be to consider that it's not relevant if the difference between methods is measurable on a tuner. It would only matter if the difference was at a perceivable threshold for human ears to detect it.

It's a fair point but it's about avoiding build up of errors for me. There are a whole bunch of things that affect the tuning of guitars while playing (temperature, drift with time..) that might lead to something that becomes discernible. I'd rather minimise possible sources of error, but maybe I'm a bit OCD about these things. Also, even though I might not hear it, someone else might

maltingsaudio

Clarky said:

stratman3142 said:

I've always done it in playing position but not thought about it be before.
Even if there were a slight change in pitch, would that be enough to have a significant effect where the bridge saddles need to be?

I have Floyd Rose bridges..
if you tune the guitar in the playing position and then lay it flat you'll see the tuning move
on a Floyd this means the bridge is moving and therefore so are the saddles

This ^^^  the effects of gravity on a heavy bridge!

57Deluxe

BOTH - -and when standing up with it...

Maynehead

maltingsaudio said:

Clarky said:

stratman3142 said:

I've always done it in playing position but not thought about it be before.
Even if there were a slight change in pitch, would that be enough to have a significant effect where the bridge saddles need to be?

I have Floyd Rose bridges..
if you tune the guitar in the playing position and then lay it flat you'll see the tuning move
on a Floyd this means the bridge is moving and therefore so are the saddles

This ^^^  the effects of gravity on a heavy bridge!

Did you know, that if you put the arm on, and swivel it so that it's pointing forwards, it precisely counteracts the effect of gravity pulling the neck down, so that you can get perfect intonation with the guitar lying flat?

Sassafras

Maynehead said:

Sassafras said:

How can you not set intonation in anything other than playing position?
And why would you even want to?

Because holding a guitar in your lap + screw drivers = BAD...

Hopefully you wouldn't be adjusting intonation with a compressed air power-driver.