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Post subject: open, mid, overtone intonation results in sharp notes?
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:14 pm
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I'm having problems setting up my new Squire USB HSS Strat guitar.

Before I begin, let me say I'm an electric guitar newbie so any advice or help will be appreciated.

Below I'll explain the setup steps I've taken out of necessity (because my Squier was way off tonally when new).

New stings, adjusted the truss rod, set the string heights and lowered the pickups flush with the pick guard so as not to influence the intonation. Also, adjusted the action and setup the tremolo springs and floating bridge. All of this was done to the Fender setup spec from this website.

Setting the intonation (using fender fuse on screen tuner with Mustang I amp) so the open string, overtone and fretted note are all the same by adjusting the bridge/string length screws. These even end up in the proper staggered 3 and 3 pattern.

Unfortunately, fretted notes near the nut are all noticeably sharp ... distressingly so, compared to dead on tuned, open strings so, chords sound awful! Especially noticeable on the G string which is way off when I play/fret an A note on it. It sounds very sour. But the open G is dead on?

Played open, all strings still sound perfectly in tune.

Any guess what would cause such a thing?

Is the factory glued nut to high or are the frets just in the wrong location on the Indonesian neck???

I've now, completely done all of the above, three times with new strings (just to make sure) each time and with identical results, too.

No such problems on my Fender steel acoustic 6-string which tunes, plays and sounds great.


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Post subject: Re: open, mid, overtone intonation results in sharp notes?
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:58 am
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You're describing exactly why a guitar is always only relatively in tune... :wink:

You might want to check the nut height, it's often high in factory Squiers. Capo on the third fret, then measure the gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the first fret - feeler gauges come in handy here. One recommendation for what you should get is .010" (0,25mm) for the low E, .006" (0,15mm) for the high E, the middle strings gradually between those measures.

Another thing that makes the problem worse is big frets combined with heavy fingers pressing the strings very hard to the fretboard - you sorta bend the string out of tune. Try to play with a gentle touch in the beginning - there's plenty time to adapt a SRV approach later. :lol:


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Post subject: Re: open, mid, overtone intonation results in sharp notes?
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:10 pm
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:wink: Thanks for the spec on the nut height!

As it turns out, my Indonesian built Squier USB HSS strat's nut was set perfectly! So, that wasn't my problem. Knowing this I decided to go back and start over once again.

Following the 'rough intonation' setup from Fender and measuring for the high E string length seems to have been a better starting point.

Also, fine tuning the string heights by buzz/no buzz also contributed to more accurate intonation.

Finally, your suggestion of not pressing as hard on the strings also brings the notes closer.

Currently, the intonation that I've achieved makes fretted notes only about 5 cents sharp which is much better than before ... as I recall fretting the A on the G string used to be 35 cents sharp!

I can live with 5 cents sharp ... at least for now!

Any idea what my next move should be?

Thanks, again!


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Post subject: Re: open, mid, overtone intonation results in sharp notes?
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:24 am
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:53 am
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digeratti wrote:
Thanks

You're very welcome.
digeratti wrote:
Any idea what my next move should be?

Enjoy the guitar and play on. Oh, play loud. :lol:


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