Saddle Intonation
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 11:24 am
On each of my guitars I have at least attempted to intonate the saddle by positioning where the strings break. I have used an electric tuner to match the open note with the fretted 12th note. While working on my current project the fretted 6th strings was sharper than I thought it should be based on the saddle and where the other strings ended up. Before I pulled out the file I played a bit using some information I got from another forum.
The electronic tuner often will lock on a partial instead of the fundamental. Where the string in picked can influence which of the partials are the strongest. Based on different body resonances the partials could be pushed off a bit. The suggestion I used was to tune the open string picking at the 12th fret. I was surprised at the difference. Also I recently picked up a Peterson tuner with a mechanical strobe light. With it I could see some of the partials at slightly different frequencies. I was a bit intimidated at first with all of the swirling rings, but I finally got the concept of tuning the large ring (lowest frequency) that would tune. That way I was tuning the fundamental frequency.
It may be the placebo effect, but I also noticed that tuning the guitar with the cheap tuner picking at the 12 fret or using the Peterson instead of the electronic tuner the guitar sounded better in tune as I played.
To close the story, properly tuned the 6th string was much closer to being properly intonated, I could have very well de-intonated the string, it I had completely trusted the electronic tuner.
The electronic tuner often will lock on a partial instead of the fundamental. Where the string in picked can influence which of the partials are the strongest. Based on different body resonances the partials could be pushed off a bit. The suggestion I used was to tune the open string picking at the 12th fret. I was surprised at the difference. Also I recently picked up a Peterson tuner with a mechanical strobe light. With it I could see some of the partials at slightly different frequencies. I was a bit intimidated at first with all of the swirling rings, but I finally got the concept of tuning the large ring (lowest frequency) that would tune. That way I was tuning the fundamental frequency.
It may be the placebo effect, but I also noticed that tuning the guitar with the cheap tuner picking at the 12 fret or using the Peterson instead of the electronic tuner the guitar sounded better in tune as I played.
To close the story, properly tuned the 6th string was much closer to being properly intonated, I could have very well de-intonated the string, it I had completely trusted the electronic tuner.