The Cyclocaster project!
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JonatanOTG
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:kewlpics:
Nice! I'm pretty sure you're the only one in your neighbourhood with a guitar like that! :icon_thumright:
Nice! I'm pretty sure you're the only one in your neighbourhood with a guitar like that! :icon_thumright:
Glad you like it. Saddly enough, I'm pretty sure i'm the only one to own a guitar in my neighbourhood.JonatanOTG said:
The damn intonation won't settle. There's something wrong with it. Looks like everything is too sharp, even when the saddles are set the farthest from the neck. The action is too high too. Not enough to be unplayable, yet too high for my tastes. The bridge is allready all down. Pressing the first and the last fret, the space between the frets and the strings is roughly 1 mm, so i guess the truss rod is allready set. I can get one extra 0,5 mm down by filing straight the pickguard (now it touches the bridge on the pickup side). Or maybe i could add a veener in the neck pocket to heighten the neck. Help anyone?
Thanks for the tip AutoBat. I think you're on the right track on this one. I believe the neck angle/bridge height is involved somehow. It's not just about diapason lenght. It's already 648 mm, with 5 mm of tolerance (i don't know if that's the right word) both ways. So i can't understand why low and high e are intonated, in the same position, while d just doesn't. I put a little veener under the neck and set the bridge as low as possible and it got better, yet not right. I've snatched the idea of the veener from my father's Godin, which has a subtle mahogany one under the neck. That guitar plays like a charm. Get the veener out and it becomes just plain awful.AutoBat said:
Cagey
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Ahem. Umm... Ok. I was gone for a while, but now I'm back.
I didn't go back over the thread, but is that a Warmoth body/neck? It sounds like your neck is too short for the body. You need to measure from the front of the nut to the center of the bridge. It should be either 24.75" or 25.5" depending on whether you're using a conversion neck or not. If that's a Jaguar neck, it may be a 24" scale part, in which case it won't work on that body without moving the bridge. Or, if you bought the neck or body out of the showcase without noticing that it's a 7/8 scale part, it won't work, either. Can't mix/match those parts like you can with the rest of them.
Finally, when you fret the string at the 12th fret, don't press down hard on it, just touch the fret enough to make the note. If you have large frets, it's surprisingly easy to get your intonation way off because pressing down hard on those frets can seriously sharp the string.
I didn't go back over the thread, but is that a Warmoth body/neck? It sounds like your neck is too short for the body. You need to measure from the front of the nut to the center of the bridge. It should be either 24.75" or 25.5" depending on whether you're using a conversion neck or not. If that's a Jaguar neck, it may be a 24" scale part, in which case it won't work on that body without moving the bridge. Or, if you bought the neck or body out of the showcase without noticing that it's a 7/8 scale part, it won't work, either. Can't mix/match those parts like you can with the rest of them.
Finally, when you fret the string at the 12th fret, don't press down hard on it, just touch the fret enough to make the note. If you have large frets, it's surprisingly easy to get your intonation way off because pressing down hard on those frets can seriously sharp the string.
:icon_biggrin: Have i ever mentioned you have a lovely sing voice, Cagey? :icon_biggrin:Cagey said:
It's a 25.5 " scale. It was actually a Warmoth Mustang body with no bridge route, and a normal Warmoth Strato neck. I personally drilled the holes and everything else on the body so it would be 25.5 " scale. The measure from the nut to the middle of the bridge is exactly 648 mm, or 25.5 ".
Cagey
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I don't have a singing voice. Decades of smoking and drinking have ruined this choirboy <grin>
I went back and reviewed a bit... you also say the low and high E strings are intonating at the same position, while the D won't come in at all. The low and high E should be at dramatically different lengths, while the D should be somewhat midway between those two. Even if your neck was too short, the bridge was in the wrong position, or the angle of the neck/fretting pressure/string height was causing too much sharping, you shouldn't be able to get the results you're getting. I'm starting to wonder if your tuner is telling you the truth. They've been known to lie. Old batteries, poor design, inadequate pickup, etc. will all conspire to lead you down the rosy path to ruin.
I went back and reviewed a bit... you also say the low and high E strings are intonating at the same position, while the D won't come in at all. The low and high E should be at dramatically different lengths, while the D should be somewhat midway between those two. Even if your neck was too short, the bridge was in the wrong position, or the angle of the neck/fretting pressure/string height was causing too much sharping, you shouldn't be able to get the results you're getting. I'm starting to wonder if your tuner is telling you the truth. They've been known to lie. Old batteries, poor design, inadequate pickup, etc. will all conspire to lead you down the rosy path to ruin.
Cagey
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I just happened to think of something else...
Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know you so I don't know what you know. Anyway, it occurs to me that you may be doing the whole intonation thing wrong. Specifically, you do realize you have to retune the string after you adjust the saddle, right? In other words, you bring the open E to an E, hit the 12th fret harmonic, then fret at the 12th and adjust as necessary. Then, you have to start over. Retune the open string to an E again, then fret at the 12th fret and adjust as necessary. Do this across the board. If you have a vibrato bridge, you may have to adjust the counterbalance springs more than once as well. Also, if you change saddle height, you get to start all over. Everything is inter-related.
Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know you so I don't know what you know. Anyway, it occurs to me that you may be doing the whole intonation thing wrong. Specifically, you do realize you have to retune the string after you adjust the saddle, right? In other words, you bring the open E to an E, hit the 12th fret harmonic, then fret at the 12th and adjust as necessary. Then, you have to start over. Retune the open string to an E again, then fret at the 12th fret and adjust as necessary. Do this across the board. If you have a vibrato bridge, you may have to adjust the counterbalance springs more than once as well. Also, if you change saddle height, you get to start all over. Everything is inter-related.
You know, i do start to wonder about the little bugger too :icon_scratch: this story doesn't make sense at all... The tuner was a gift, it came gratis. Should this tell me something? :toothy12:
Don't worry, i appreciate when somebody tries to explain something to me. It's a kind gesture really. I'm not worried to look dumb or ignorant, i realized a long time ago that often is the only way to truly learn something.
I didn't remember to pluck the harmonic, that's an error.
Don't worry, i appreciate when somebody tries to explain something to me. It's a kind gesture really. I'm not worried to look dumb or ignorant, i realized a long time ago that often is the only way to truly learn something.
I didn't remember to pluck the harmonic, that's an error.
