Service manual

Sinclair Community College | ETD 110 Guitar Service Manual

Bridge and Intonation cont:

Poor intonation is when your strings sound out of tune as you

play up or down fret board. The best way to adjust the intonation of

your guitar is to adjust the scale length of each string. Before we talk

about adjusting intonation with the bridge, we must first define scale

length. Scale length on a guitar refers to the distance between the

edge of the nut and the top of each saddle piece. The most common

scale length on most Fender is 25.5 inches. Gibson and others are

24.75”. You can check the

intonation by playing a fretted

note on the 12th fret and then a

harmonic on the 12th fret. These

notes should sound exactly the

same. If the note sounds sharp or

flat, the intonation will need to be

adjusted. At the bottom of each

saddle is a screw that adjusts the

saddle closer or farther away

from the fret board. No matter what type of bridge you have, the

saddles can most often be adjusted the same way. The screw will

need to be tightened or turned clockwise if the fretted note sounds

sharp. The saddle pieces will move away from the fret board the

tighter the screw is turned. If the fretted note sounds flat, you will

need to loosen or turn the screw counterclockwise to move the

saddle toward the fret board. You may then check the intonation

again, but remember to always adjust in small increments.

Another way of checking intonation is through computer

software. Here is a link for a free download of a

frequency analyzer.

You simply plug your guitar into the computer and the software

allows you to check the frequency of your strings to determine if

your intonation is set up correctly.