Guitar intonation kit?

Creed_Clicks

Does such a thing exist? One that contains the correct types of tools needed to intonate a guitar? 30 years of playing and I never learned how to do it, and it's bloody high time. I'd only be looking to intonate, nothing more than that. Anything else, I'll use a pro for, such as shimming or any of that caper, filing things that need to be filed etc.

grungebob

You need a tuner. That’s it. 

Tune the string to required pitch for the open (not fretted) note . 

Check the pitch is the same for the 12th fret harmonic and 12th fretted. If it’s sharp you need to move the saddle back (away from the nut) and if flat move it forwards (towards the nut). 

Repeat for each string. 

That’s it really. 

fretmeister

Tuner and a screwdriver / allen key depending on which method holds your saddles in place.

That's it.

earwighoney

Creed_Clicks said:

Does such a thing exist? One that contains the correct types of tools needed to intonate a guitar? 30 years of playing and I never learned how to do it, and it's bloody high time. I'd only be looking to intonate, nothing more than that. Anything else, I'll use a pro for, such as shimming or any of that caper, filing things that need to be filed etc.

The above, unless you are trying to intonate an acoustic guitar.

That's a job best left to a pro!

Creed_Clicks

I meant more the tools needed? e.g. to fix the truss rod. Is this something I should learn how to do? Or leave it to the pros!?

earwighoney

Creed_Clicks said:

I meant more the tools needed? e.g. to fix the truss rod. Is this something I should learn how to do? Or leave it to the pros!?

The truss rod isn't much to do with intonation, but to address the relief.

It's an easy enough thing to do once you know.

Creed_Clicks

I had planned on going to a course before pandemic hit

Sassafras

About 20 different screwdrivers and allen keys.

fretfinder

Creed_Clicks said:

I meant more the tools needed? e.g. to fix the truss rod. Is this something I should learn how to do? Or leave it to the pros!?

Truss rod spanner/Allen key for the truss rod, screwdriver/Allen key/finger and thumb for the intonation and action height. I’d suggest you learn how to do the truss rod, action height and intonation, it’s good fun learning and very satisfying when you know what you’re doing to be able to set up the guitar just how you like it. There’s loads of videos on YouTube about it, or books if you’re that way inclined. Dan Erlewine’s repair book is a great place to start. Good luck and enjoy.

Cols

You don’t really need a formal course for this.  I’d recommend reading  “How to make your electric guitar play great” by Dan Erlewine.  It’ll tell you all you need to know and more about guitar setup, including how to set intonation and adjust the truss rod.

earwighoney

Creed_Clicks said:

I had planned on going to a course before pandemic hit

Seriously, you don't need to do a course.

Watch a few YT videos on a guy setting up relief, and one on intonation.

Creed_Clicks

Thanks all!

ICBM

You don't even need a tuner. (Assuming you have some other means, eg a tuning fork, for setting the top E first.)

The way I do it is to tune each pair of strings perfectly to each other by harmonics, then use one as the reference for the other. It's quicker and more accurate than any other method once you get the hang of it.

Tune the E and B, G and D, and A and E to a perfect interval using the 5th and 7th fret harmonics.

Then compare the 19th-fret harmonic on the lower string to the 14th fret note on the upper string to intonate the upper string, and the 12th-fret harmonic on the upper string to the 17th-fret note on the lower string to intonate the lower string. You can leave both notes ringing at the same time so you can hear the 'beating' between the frequencies, and when you get familiar with it you can tell roughly how far out it is.

Move the saddle backwards (away from the neck) if the fretted note is sharp, and forwards (towards the neck) if it's flat - if you have trouble remembering that, it's the direction which initially makes the problem worse. You may need to detune the string a bit if you're moving the saddle backwards.

The reason this works even though equal temperament isn't quite the same as tuning perfectly to harmonics is because you're just using one string as the reference for the other, and the errors in both directions cancel out.

I then always check by playing open chords above the 12th fret, and see if any of the fretted notes sound out compared to the open strings, which will catch any mistakes.

HAL9000

One thing I learned is to slacken the string off quite a bit when adjusting a saddle. I had an issue once where the pressure of the string pushing down meant that turning the screw stripped the thread instead of shifting the saddle, (Admittedly on a cheap guitar which probably didn’t have the highest quality hardware.)

As others have already said, all you really need is an accurate tuner and the right screwdriver/Allen key.

crunchman

HAL9000 said:

One thing I learned is to slacken the string off quite a bit when adjusting a saddle. I had an issue once where the pressure of the string pushing down meant that turning the screw stripped the thread instead of shifting the saddle, (Admittedly on a cheap guitar which probably didn’t have the highest quality hardware.)

As others have already said, all you really need is an accurate tuner and the right screwdriver/Allen key.

True for intonation, but it's worth learning how to do the truss rod.  If your relief is wrong, it will affect how much pressure you have to put on the fretted note, which will increase the tension of the string, and change the pitch.  I'd get the relief how I like it first before doing intonation.

viz

This might be splitting hairs but ’d avoid the 5th / 7th harmonics method or tuning the strings perfect 4ths apart, because the guitar is an equal temperament instrument (the frets are logarithmically evenly spaced), so it can sound odd if you tune the strings differently from the frets, especially around the major 3rd between G and B. 

I’d:

- clean and graphite the nut

- put fresh strings on - make sure they’re not overwound round the pegs. 

- yank the strings about a bit / allow them to settle.

- roughly tune up and ensure the action is spot on

- correct the intonation for each string

- tune the G string to a tuner, your ear, or the record or pitch you’re wanting to play to

- tune all other strings to G by fretting them (ie 3rd fret on top E string, 8th fret on B string, etc)

You’ll be amazed at how your guitar sounds. 

Creed_Clicks

I need to get some allen keys and screwdrivers

Cols

Creed_Clicks said:

I need to get some allen keys and screwdrivers

I’d recommend an Ibanez guitar tool.  It contains just about everything you need for basic maintenance.  A set of feeler gauges is the only additional requirement, which you could make from guitar string offcuts.

 https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Ibanez-MTZ11-Multi-Tool-Red/20J9?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5dHs6cSM8AIV0uR3Ch10vQgnEAAYASAAEgKvBPD_BwE

LastMantra

I've noticed kits on amazon but don't know if they're any good. I wouldn't have thought so considering how cheap they are. 
Try and get decent quality tools that fit well or you'll end up chewing things up.

digitalscream

earwighoney said:

Creed_Clicks said:

I meant more the tools needed? e.g. to fix the truss rod. Is this something I should learn how to do? Or leave it to the pros!?

The truss rod isn't much to do with intonation, but to address the relief.

It's an easy enough thing to do once you know.

Anything that causes a variation in the length of the string (fretted or unfretted) will change the intonation to a degree. A poorly-set-up truss rod can make correct intonation impossible - if the action is too high in the middle of the neck, then the string will be longer when fretted than it is for open notes. It's therefore bent far enough to change the pitch, thus wrecking the measurement you're using to set the intonation.

Same goes for the nut height - a badly-cut nut will have the same effect in the lower frets.

The end result of this is that you'll be able to intonate one section of the neck perfectly, but then it'll get progressively worse as you move further away from that area.

For my money, the best approach is to check that the truss rod is set correctly, then check that the nut's cut properly, then set the saddle heights, then set the intonation, then tweak the saddle height to taste - because all of these things affect the length of the string when open or fretted, and thus affect the intonation.

ICBM

viz said:

This might be splitting hairs but ’d avoid the 5th / 7th harmonics method or tuning the strings perfect 4ths apart, because the guitar is an equal temperament instrument (the frets are logarithmically evenly spaced), so it can sound odd if you tune the strings differently from the frets, especially around the major 3rd between G and B.

The equal temperament issue doesn't matter when you're setting intonation as described above because the error is the same on both sides of the equation so cancels out. You're just using one string as a frequency reference for the other, not tuning them as you would normally - essentially you're referencing it to itself by 'recording' its frequency in the other string.