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MaineGeezer wrote:Maybe I could use your idea of notching and extending the nut, except do it to the saddle. I'm not sure how well it would work on a saddle, but it might be worth a try.

It would probably work OK sound-wise, but I'd be nervous about the angles of the string forces - the net effect would be similar to having a loose saddle.

If the notes on the first fret are even a tiny bit sharp compared with the open string I'd be tempted to start by resculpting the nut, moving the break point in each slot towards the tuners.

The other thing you could try is using round-core rather than hex-core strings - they have more mass for a given gauge so they intonate slightly differently. (It won't help the unwound strings of course.)

give it time
In a few weeks the bridge will rotate a tad from the load
how flat is it ? 3 cents or more
If your saddle is too far front then you may need to rethink a new bridge.

one way to be sure it is the saddle is to capo the 2nd fret and check the intonation at the 14th
this will tell you the fret placement is fine and that your issue is the saddle and this must be addressed
A few cents flat under 3 is usually easy to squeak by with but more may need to be addressed

what is your neck relief? you may be able to raise it that will pull sharp if you can keep the relief under .009

It's a pre-slotted fingerboard from LMI, so I think one can assume the fret placement is correct.

The relief seems about right. I might get away with increasing it just a bit, but then I'd always be bugged because I would always be thinking it should be lower.

I think the correct fix is a new bridge with enough space to move the saddle forward. That won't happen anytime soon.

I checked the error and if I do a 12th fret harmonic on a string with my tuner set to A440, the 12th fret fretted note is correct with the tuner set to A437 or maybe A436.

Well, the intonation error bugged me enough so I did something about it. The normal thing to do would have been to make a new bridge. I started doing that, but disaster struck and ruined new bridge -- a cutter grabbed, as you can see in the 3rd photo.

I moved on to another idea -- Plan B -- which was to fill the old saddle slot and glue a strip to the front of the existing bridge to create enough space to cut a new slot. This worked quite well. The first photo shows the guide I made for the router. The center cutout fit down over the bridge, and the two angled strips guided the router.

The middle photo shows the finished result. I enhanced the photo to make the filler strip and the seam more visible; in practice, they are barely noticeable.

The intonation is now correct, and I was surprised how much difference it made in the sound. I don't have any remarkable pitch discernment, but I can hear a difference in how the guitar sounds -- and it's better. My takeaway from this experience is that it's worth making the effort to get the intonation correct.

like the reslot job you did.

A couple more sound samples, now that the intonation is correct, courtesy of my friend Carter.

I can't resist posting this. Jud Caswell was kind enough to learn Mike Seeger's "Birmingham Tickle," play it on my 4th guitar, and make a recording for me. Though I may be biased :-) I think sounds amazingly good.

The only thing I notice is that the high D (it's tuned to open D) rings out so much that it might be considered annoying. You can see what you think. I'm going to try a different gauge first string and see if that changes anything. Or does it sound okay to you as-is?

Does anybody have any other suggestions for quieting down a particular string or note?