| Author |
Topic: Intonation Problem |
Keith Grubb
From:
Petaluma, CA, USA
|
Posted 1 Aug 2001 7:26 am |
|
I noticed recently that it seems like my open low strings are in tune with each other but once I get to around the 5th fret they aren't quite in tune. I was tuned to:
B E B E G# B D E and I could tell when I played the low B's and E's that they were in tune. When I played at the 5th fret though I had to do a slight backward slant to get the 8th string in tune with the 6th string. Is this intonation problem caused by the fact that the bridge of the guitar isn't angled like a standard guitar? If I remember corectly the treble strings on a standard guitar are shorter then the bass strings. I don't believe this is the case with my steel guitar. Does anyone else have intonation problems like mine?
Keith |
|
|
 |
C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
|
Posted 1 Aug 2001 9:27 am
|
|
"Backwards slant"?. I have found it to be a forward slant. That is the back of the bar has to flatten the bass strings' pitch a little bit.
I have always attibuted this to bar pressure rather than nut or bridge missalignment. But if I perceived your "backward" slant correctly, I don't know what it might be.
On the two bottom bass strings on my C6 neck and U-12 I have to tune the strings flat in order to have them sound in tune when fretting with the bar.
carl |
|
|
|
Keith Grubb
From:
Petaluma, CA, USA
|
Posted 1 Aug 2001 9:58 am
|
|
Carl,
You're right!!! I actually meant forward slant. I'm away from my guitar currently and pictured the slant one way and called it the opposite. My B sting is 0.072 and the E is 0.058. It's a 22.5 inch scale length. I was thinking the B string was a little light, but I don't think I could thread anything thicker through the tuning peg.
I like playing open and fretted notes on those low strings. So I don't think tuning slightly flat is an option. Do you think I should try going heavier on those bass strings? |
|
|
|
C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
|
Posted 1 Aug 2001 3:10 pm
|
|
Not at all Keith.
This anamoly has been with us a long time. Give you an example:
In Jeff Newman's tuning chart, he actually flats his open bottom string on C6 quite a bit. This is a "C" root note as you know and should be dead on whatever reference his other C's are. I am sure he is doing this to compensate for bar pressure. I have never asked him.
So my suggestion to you is to do what several of us do. We place our bar where it the problem is most acute and tune the bottom coupla strings to be in tune.
Of course this makes them a bit flat of pitch in the open position, but that is about the best I have ever come up with. We simply have to put some pressure on the bar. And the bass strings are more susceptible to this than are the tighter treble strings I believe.
So that is my solution at least.
God bless you,
carl |
|
|
|
Dave Mayes
From:
Oakland, Ca.
|
Posted 1 Aug 2001 4:52 pm
|
|
Are there any intonation problems inherent in the fact that the bridges on steels are straight and don't seem (at least to me)to take into account the difference between the string spacing at the nut and the generally wider string spacing at the bridge?
Would better intonation be achieved with a bridge that was a slight curve - strings 1 and 6 being the shortest distance from nut to bridge and strings 3 and 4 the longest? |
|
|
|
