Hey all, I've been having serious intonation issues with the high E and B strings on my MIM strat. I have adjusted it myself and it doesn't help. I have also had it set up by a trusted luthier who has never failed me before, and while he helped a bit, there's still a problem. Would it make sense to buy a whole new bridge? Seems a little drastic, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to fix the problem. Thanks.

Try some new strings before you buy a new bridge.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I have. No help. And I've never changed gauges either. Still using 9's.

Try lowering the pickups.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Again, I've already tried that.

Then try checking if the neck is warped towards the High E and B strings ... I saw an American Standard that way.... the neck is wood after all.

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Member # 85477

"Remember"

U might want to go back to where u got ur guitar and ask them for help??

Which way does the intonation need to go, sharp or flat? Personaly I'd be looking to change tech. Usuall strat intonation troubles are on the low E on 2 point trems. Caused partly I suspect by the trempost that side moving forwards slightly. I've never seen anything similar on a 6 point trem, they just dont act against the bodywoods the same way. How is the nut cut?

Can we have some pictures please?

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No no and no

It needs to be sharper. Here are some pics. I'd put them in the post but theyre too big. Anyways, the nut is stock. I've been thinking of changing to a trem nut though.

MIM's need better nuts. I'm about to go ahead and put brass ones on both of mine.

I'll look into that then. Oh and if the first link to the pics didnt work here are the deep links.


http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040861.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040861.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040865.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040870.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040875.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040882.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040894.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040900.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Tremmy/S ... 040908.jpg

The first link worked for me. One of the pics was pretty dark and another was basically useless but the rest were quite clear. Your pickups need to be raised a little but I don't think that would cause an intonation problem. Your saddles look out of place especially from the G to the high E but I guess that's because you've been adjusting it. Try double checking the intonation on the G string. My guess is it needs to be flatter (ie: longer) but I don't think that will affect intonation on B & E. How much relief do you have adjusted into the neck? Has there been any distress to the bridge recently? Have you recently "blocked" your trem? The bridge looks pretty flat to the body. If you drove a wedge in there too hard you could have done something regrettable.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Ok Mcphail I had a look. The nut end photo's are particularly hard to see accurately. Still I'm no good with a camera either, so your in good company.

The high E does look to be a tad higher cut at the nut. This will not affect 12fret harmonic to 12th fretted note intonation, but will seriously disturb low fret chording. Is that where your noticing the problem?

Other than that I can only surmise its one of 3 things.
1 the saddle has somehow gone past the point of being flat at the 12th and has moved into sharp. Not something I've ever seen but theoreticaly possible.

2 the trem isnt square to the centerline of the neck

3 the neck isnt square to the centerline of the guitar. This is kind of a real longshot as the majority of the guitars centerline is on the neck. If the neck is slightly misaligned to the low E side, that could cause it, but it would have to be real bad. You'd notice it by the low E string hanging off the edge of the fretboard on the upper frets.

Other than that its hard to tell without getting hands on with the guitar.

It may be worth trying another tech.

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No no and no

From what I can tell the trem isn't exactly square to the neck. I'll be taking it to a new tech sometime this week and see what he thinks. Thanks to all who helped out, it's very much appreciated.

Dont be shy with him mate. Mention some of the comments made by myself and others to him. He'll likely tell you exactly whats going on and increase your know how in the proccess.

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No no and no