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Post subject: Intonation
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:34 am
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I have a 52 Vintage Tele love the guitar but need to improve the intonation but do not want compromise on tone. Any suggestions?


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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:38 am
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What kind of bridge/saddles? I've been working on a "partscaster" lately and have been pleasantly surprised by how well the Wilkinson compensated three staggered saddle bridge intonates--I was expecting a nightmare of compromises. This is the one I am working on:
http://www.allparts.com/store/guitar-br ... roduct.asp


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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:48 am
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I have the standard brass 3 saddle, I was considering the alternative 6 saddle that came from Fender. or any suggestions.........


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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:00 pm
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adjusting intonation shouldn't affect the tone of the guitar. changing the saddle metal will. i'd stick with the brass if i were you. adjusting intonation is relatively simple, but a bit time consuming.
give me a little info on how you're trying to adjust it and i can offer some help.

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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:14 pm
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Remember you are talking about a Telecaster,
and the two string per saddle design will
limit how exact the intonation can be.
Individual saddles or compensated saddles
will improve your chances.


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Post subject: Switch to a 6 sadle bridge.
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:01 pm
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I got one for my project Tele, and it intonates great, and stays in tune so well, it's probably your best bet.


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Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:58 am
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I think one of the best improvements for a 3-saddle Tele bridge, and as long as you can operate a screwdriver, anyone can do this mod on their guitar is compensated saddles like the ones found here:
http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Nuts,_s ... -5071.html

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_ta ... _Tele.html

Makes intonating a 3-saddle Tele bridge a bit easier, yet still has all the features a 3-saddle bridge has to offer...

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Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:59 pm
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I found an article at music123.com a few years ago titled saddle up your telecaster ( i think that was it ) I printed it out and filed it at work. I was talking to my head engineer and found out he had a 52 reissue and was complaining about getting it in tune. I gave him a copy and he says it helped him a lot. vintage tele's don't always tune and play well with electronic tuners unless you try these tricks. I'm building 2 partscasters and i have wilkinson compensated bridges for both. I picked them up on ebay less than 20 for a gold one and about 25 for the chrome. you can just change out the saddles and keep the bidge plate. easy Earvana makes a compensated nut for teles also. I've seen tele's with both. I just checked for the atricle can't find it online. I will bring it home and scan it if you would like to read it.


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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:51 pm
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I just picked up a set of these off of ebay for around $25 excluding shipping
http://www.allparts.com/store/joe-barde ... roduct.asp

They certainly fixed the intonation problems of the thinline they went on.


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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 12:05 am
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I posted this earlier but I'll post it here as well and hopefully this helps. It's helped me. when intonating a 3 saddle bridge I use the Jerry Donahue method and to me it works great. Now it's not perfect but I figure if Jerry uses it it can't be all that bad.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/ch ... e_up_your/

Let me know what you think.
Hope this helps.


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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:53 pm
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Unless by some strange miracle, you will never get your Tele to intonate with the stock vintage 2 string barrel saddles.

You need the compensated saddles, and even then, you may never get it 100%.

Callaham makes some great compensated saddles and gives a very informative description of how the different metals affect tone.


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:27 pm
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I had my Telecaster setup by my Fender dealer, when I bought the guitar. It has the uncompensated brass saddles and stays in tune. So I didn't know I needed Wilkinson compensated saddles. A good setup my save you some work.

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:52 pm
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I have the 3 brass wilkinson compensated saddles as featured on this bridge.

http://www.guitar-spares.com/index.html?lang=en-uk&target=d503.html

They keep that nice tone only brass provides and improve the intonation. They dont get it spot on but it is a lot better. Also you can just buy the saddles and fit them not the whole bridge. Their as cheap as chips £6 ($8.42) for mine delivered. Well worth trying at that price.

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:13 pm
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qblue wrote:
I had my Telecaster setup by my Fender dealer, when I bought the guitar. It has the uncompensated brass saddles and stays in tune. So I didn't know I needed Wilkinson compensated saddles. A good setup my save you some work.


Keep in mind, that the saddles really have nothing to do (well they can if they are bad) with staying in tune.

If when using an electronic tuner, you play an open string, and it is perfectly in tune, then when you play that same string across the 12th fret, it should should show the same perfect tuning.

Even with individual saddles, it is sometimes hard to get it exact, but with two strings across one barrel saddle, it is almost impossible unless they are "compensated", which usually means the hole through the saddle is drilled at an angle so that the barrel does not hit both strings at the same place. Although there are a couple other different ways to do this.


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:27 pm
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Its impossible to acheive perfect intonation on a regular guitar with regular frets. Theres a whole science behind frets and what we experience is a poor cousin to the perfectly intoning fretboard. Just for arguments sake download a trial copy of strobosoft and see what happens when you play with your open strings at concert pitch and then at the 2nd fret. Unless your using fanned frets or a compensated nut your going to be miles away regardless of saddle position. Saddle adjustment only really governs intonation from the 4/5th fret up. Its the reason some open chords sound great and others sound horrible.

If you fancy a good bedtime read this bloke knows loads about it and explains it far better than I.

http://www.lucytune.com/index.html

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