setting up my strat

[Maurice]

Hi All
I have finally finished my strat assembly. I have gone so far as setting the action, bridge adjustment and now want to set the intonation. Being a newbie I am some what confused about where the saddles should be placed at the start of the procedure and could the someone tell the steps in the right order of how to proceed, the videos I have seen really don't show the actual order of the steps. I would really appreciate some help. thanks

 

[BigSteve22]

Actually it depends on whether you are using a plain or wound third, "G", string. But if you start with something like this, you'll at least be in the ball park.

This shows a compensated, non-adjustable bridge, (which is really just an approximation of where the real intonation points are), but the general shape will remain pretty much the same.

I use a wound G, and the shape follows the diagram closely. (Note, that because of the design, my entire entire bridge is angled slightly closer on the treble side, but the general shape remains the same.)

Just work slowly, take your time, let things settle in as you go.

And BTW, nice Strat!

 

[BigSteve22]

As for the actual intonation process, I generally start with the low E. Using a good tuner, tune the open string to pitch, then check the note at the 12th fret. If the 12th fret note is sharp, turn the intonation screw clockwise to move the saddle further from the nut, and thereby lengthen the string and lower the note. If the note is flat, turn the intonation screw counter-clockwise, moving the saddle closer to the nut, to shorten the string and raise the note. Re-tune the open string, and check it again. When you're satisfied, move on to the next string and repeat the process.

On the first run through, pretty close is really close enough, because by the time you get to the last string, the changes in tension are going to put the first strings out of intonation again. So, repeat the entire process. At this point, I will usually let the the neck tension "settle in" over night, because wood moves under tension. Start the process over again the next day.

Remember, guitar tuning is a set of compromises. Your finger changes string tension when you press it to a fret. Because of the differences in string height above the fretboard as you move down the neck, (the plane of the strings is angled, higher at the 22nd fret than at the 1st), your finger is going to change string tension to varying degrees, depending on where you are in the scale. And because a properly relieved neck will have a slight bow, the distance between the string and the fret varies non-linearly. The overall setup will dictate how close you can get, and some get pretty damned close, but no guitar is ever tuned/intonated perfectly. Keep working until you're satisfied.

My final testing consists of playing various chords in the upper register, and comparing them to the same chords played in the open positions. It's very important that you use chords, and not just individual notes, because chords make the dissonance between slightly out of tune notes more readily discernible. Then I play open chords at the 12 position, using both open and upper register notes together. The entire process will take me several days to complete. And then, a month or so down the road, I'll end up doing it again because something or other has changed!

The process can be a little tedious and time consuming, but the rewards are great. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

 

[TBurst Std]

Someone sticky that post.
Excellent job explaining the process.

 

[Maurice]

Hey Steve thanks for the input, starting to make sense now. I was reading an article by Dan Erlewine regarding intonation and he was talking about setting up the treble saddles at 25 1/2" from the back of the nut, so if I set the high E saddle at lets says 25 9/16" and set the other saddles according to your diagram would be a good starting point for saddle position?
thanks again this really helps
Regards
Maurice

 

[Maurice]

Hey Steve forgot to mention G string not wound, also are you setting the intonation with a perfectly straight neck or do you have any relief in it? If straight to intonate do you apply some relief afterwards? If so would this mess up the intonation?
Regards
Maurice

 

[BigSteve22]

Hey Steve thanks for the input, starting to make sense now. I was reading an article by Dan Erlewine regarding intonation and he was talking about setting up the treble saddles at 25 1/2" from the back of the nut, so if I set the high E saddle at lets says 25 9/16" and set the other saddles according to your diagram would be a good starting point for saddle position?

Never actually measured. My starting point is more like: High E all the way forward, low E all the way back, the rest just sorta stair stepped like the diagram. You could start with the saddles in any location you wanted, mimicking the pattern of a compensated fixed bridge just save some fiddling around.

...are you setting the intonation with a perfectly straight neck or do you have any relief in it? If straight to intonate do you apply some relief afterwards? If so would this mess up the intonation?

I set the action first, including a relief of bout .008" at the 7th fret. (Just my personal preference.) If you don't set the relief before you start, you're not getting an accurate indication of the tension changes caused by fingering the strings. Just remember that the neck is going to move as the tension changes. (Think of it as changing strings on a guitar with a very low action. If you remove all the strings first, the first re-installed strings are going to buzz until you get enough tension pulling against the back bow induced by the truss rod.) So, after setting the initial intonation, recheck the relief to make sure it's still where you want it.

 

[stratamania]

The order to do this type of set up is.

Relief, bridge height, nut height, intonation.

Obviously, if not all need to be done, it is still the order to follow and you would just omit a step if an adjustment was not needed.

 

[Rick]

Speaking of dan erlewine you need to own his Guitar player repair guide.  It will cost you less than 5 dollars.  Should be in every players library. Not having it, given the cost, is dumb.

 

[BigSteve22]

Relief, bridge height, nut height, intonation.

Just add: Repeat as necessary. :headbang:

 

[Rick]

Relief, bridge height, nut height, intonation.

Just add: Repeat as necessary. :headbang:

That’s it!

 

[Maurice]

Thanks to all of you for being so helpful, I've got it done, guitar sounds great and am real happy with this build, a few pics below. Starting on a new build in January, another Strat, I will be making a chambered body out of torified bamboo, hope I can handle it. I was lucky to find a retiring luthier (real nice guy) who was selling off some of the necks that he had made in his last couple of years, a flame maple Strat neck, jumbo frets including Vintage Gotoh tuners, a Tele neck made of Honduran mahogany and Indian rosewood, Gotoh vintage tuners and jumbo frets, both are like new only used a few hours on his own guitars, he sold me both for the equivalent of $200.00 USD. He also has a new solid Ziricote Strat neck that he has offered to me for the equivalent of 290.00 USD. He says that they are kinda rare, as I am not familiar with this wood I would really appreciate your opinions on whether it is worth buying. Please let me know your thoughts. Didn't think I could go wrong by buying the maple and mahogany necks but definitely no sure about the ziricote neck, although it is gorgeous pics below
Regards to all
Maurice

 

[stratamania]

Here is some information on Ziricote.

https://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/NeckWoods.aspx#Ziricote

 

[ragamuffin]

That ziricote is gorgeous!

 

[BroccoliRob]

Is zircote poisonous cause now I def wanna eat it. Wash it down with my afternoon Zima, you know what they say "its 9 am somewhere!"

 

[BroccoliRob]

BTW is it weird that i #intinate my low strings based off the 9th fret locale and the high frets off the 12th? I hate having wobbly power chords. If I'm rocking jazz chords who cares its gonna sound weird no matter what, but them power chords need to be razor clean

 

[Cagey]

You can drive yourself nuts. Depending on how much control you have, different fingers have different strengths, so they'll exert different amounts of pressure on the strings when chording, sharping strings differing amounts, especially with taller frets. Then, depending on where your arm is stretched out to up and down the neck, the angle of your wrist will change and again, you'll exert various pressures on the strings from one to another. Stack on that, the hyper-accuracy of tuners these days, and if you worry too much, you'll just never tune your guitar properly again. So... GIVE UP!

See? I not only just saved you a ton of work, now you sound like Jimi Hendrix! You're welcome.

Also, don't eat Ziricote. It's eye candy, not mouth candy. Besides, like my cardiologist says "If it tastes good, SPIT IT OUT!" :icon_biggrin:

 

[BroccoliRob]

Oh it's not driving me nuts, my method working really well actually. The thing thats drivin my nuts right now isn't nuts but is pretzels. Lemme explain, i'm a tall man and love #pretzels so I always thought that calling them "pretzel THINS" was very exclusionary, like they're only for small people. They should just call them Pretzel Normals and Pretzel Rounds (the ones that aren't flat) so I don't feel bad about not having a six pack ab.

 

[BigSteve22]

Oh it's not driving me nuts, my method working really well actually. The thing thats drivin my nuts right now isn't nuts but is pretzels. Lemme explain, i'm a tall man and love #pretzels so I always thought that calling them "pretzel THINS" was very exclusionary, like they're only for small people. They should just call them Pretzel Normals and Pretzel Rounds (the ones that aren't flat) so I don't feel bad about not having a six pack ab.

Man walks into a bar with a steering wheel sticking out of the top of his pants.
Bartender asks: "Hey buddy, what's the steering wheel for?"
Man replies: "I'm not really sure, but it's drive'n me nuts!"
:icon_jokercolor:

 

[BroccoliRob]

Speaking of nuts, what's up with Planters peanuts? Why don't they call em Diggers peanuts? Planting them is easy. the Diggers go home with dirt all over them and their back hurts but all i see in the grocery store is about Planters. Diggers are the real heroes.