Earvana intonated guitar nuts

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I have one of these on one of my guitars, and it plays NOTICABLY more in tune than all the others. I'm going to put them on all my guitars.
www.earvana.com/

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

I've had one on my G&L ASAT for 3 or 4 years and it's the most in tune a 6-stringer is gonna get without the Buzzy Feiten mod and a lot less destructive to the guitar.When I first got it,I kept thinking something was out and each time I would check the tuner,it was right on so it took a little while to get used to how in tune it was.And very much like the cabinet drop compensated tuning head on Excel keyless steels,once you get used to it - it ruins it for all the other guitars because they all sound hopelessly out of tune. -MJ-

John Floyd · From: R.I.P.

The Compensated nut isn't new. Microfrets had an adjustable nut on their guitars and basses back in the 70's. I played a Microfrets Thundermaster Bass for 26 years and it was the most in tune bass I have ever owned. You could throw it in a 5X8 trailer , drive for a 1000 miles and it would still be in tune when I took it out of the case.

Just didn't have a good tone, compared to a Solid body instrument

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Tom Olson · From: Spokane, WA

Michael J. -- not to get off the subject, but could you elaborate a bit on the Excel compensated tuner? I have not heard of that. What is it? How does it work? Thanks.

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Hi Mike, Mike and John, happy holidays to y'all.

This is a great thread. I am building a custom 6 string mandolin and the intonation issue is much stronger for this than a guitar.
So I think I will get of for the new project.

Stephen Gambrell · From: Over there

Hasn't Stelling been using something similar on their banjos since they started out? And, after all these years, I still don't see how correcting intonation at the nut, is gonna help a fretted note.
But that's just me.

Jon Light (deceased) · From: Saugerties, NY

I have not studied on this but my assumptions are that due to the necessary height of the nut (necessary to establish clearance over all the frets when a string is fretted) fretting the strings at the first few frets causes greater stretch to the strings than when fretting higher up the neck. Due to different tensions on different strings and due to the differences between wound and unwound strings, you have discrepancies in intonation. The unwound third string is the worst.
I'm barely a guitarist but I have always been frustrated by my Squier Tele and last year I improvised a compensated nut and it makes a world of difference.

John Floyd · From: R.I.P.

Jon
You are right.
I set up a 52 Tele re-issue for an ex-Marine and really worked at it to get it right. When I gave it to the guy he said "The Intonation is all F***ed up on this guitar." He was playing an A Chord at the 5th Fret and some of the strings were bent up half way to the next string. I told him to go home and play in front of a mirror and develop his fingering technique. Don't know if he took my advice or not. He had the finesse of a bull in a China Shop with his playing, never saw him after that, didn't care to pick with him anymore.

If you play a guitar hard it will fight you, and if you choose to fight it, it will win.

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Chris Lasher · From: Blacksburg, VA

From what material are the Earvana nuts made?

Also, what instruments are you all using to tune your guitars, or are you tuning by ear?

John: Out of curiosity, did you consider whether the string guage you selected to set up this customer's guitar with would be possibly too light for the customer?

John Floyd · From: R.I.P.

Chris
He wasn't a customer and I didn't select the strings. I was playing bass for the guy at the time and trying to do him a favor.
He was a big bull of a man and he furnished the strings, Just didn't know his own strength. A friend let this guy play his guitar once at a jam session and claimed the guy actually warped or twisted his guitar neck.

I gave him the best advice I could which was go home and stand in front of a mirror playing his guitar and he would see what he was doing wrong. He didn't want to believe me when I told him.

[This message was edited by John Floyd on 21 December 2003 at 02:00 PM.]

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

Tom -
Not to stray too far of the Earvana topic but to answer your question about Excel steels - The whole keyless tuning head block is mounted on a pivot similar to a Strat tremolo block except instead of floating on a balance between strings and springs,it's spring loaded against a stop.By using secondary bellcranks and pullrods,any pedal can be linked to pull the tuning head away from its' stop by almost microscopic,yet tunable degrees - in effect sharping the whole guitar anywhere from zero to a few cents.There is no percievable loading of the pedals which work like butter BTW thanks to raise assist springs and the guitar can be fine tuned to be so in tune it's scary. I won't go back.
-MJ-

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Steve, I can't tell you how or why the thing works, but it does. You can really hear the difference.

Tom Olson · From: Spokane, WA

Michael -- thanks for the info. Sounds interesting. Does this feature come standard on all Excell PSG's or is it an option?

Regarding the intonated nut, it seems like it would only work in the open position. That is, if you capoed the guitar, the effect of the nut would be lost. But, I guess some improvement is better than none at all.

[This message was edited by Tom Olson on 23 December 2003 at 12:32 PM.]

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

On the Excel gadget- I don't see how such a device could be made to work on a keyed guitar because the whole keyhead must rock back and forth albeit infinitesimally - plus I don't think it could work unless all the strings were attached to the same fulcrum plane like a keyless. But yes it is standard on the 25.5" scale keyless Excel "Superb" models and it does work great.

As far as the Earvana nut only working in open position - that's also what I mistakenly thought of such devices ever since the early 70s Micro-Frets gadget. But I was missing the point - it's not about tweaking the string length to achieve intonation - you do that at the bridge - it's about tweaking the string TENSION thru tweaking the string length from the other end of the string.This relates to how sharp a string goes(or doesn't go)when it's pushed down to a fret compared to a neighboring string of a different diameter.As long as you have a well balanced choice of string gauges to start with,these string-to-string tension differentials can be effectively zeroed out with the Earvana nut and similar devices. Indeed it DOES effect intonation throughout the fingerboard - open,fretted,capoed or whatever. -MJ-

Ron Randall · From: Dallas, Texas, USA

Most interesting.

Ever notice that many guitarists have a capo at the first or second fret almost all the time? The capo will take out the strectch going down to the fret.
I will not help with the stretch from fret contact on down toward the fretboard.

Some folks build a zero fret guitar that takes out the first part of the stretch.

FWIW A good luthier can build/sand/file a custom nut that uses the Earvana concept, to change string length at the nut.

Thanks for the info.

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