Intonation. Help!

My mexican strat was never properly set up. I've researched and tried all I could, but the intonation is just incorrect and it's frustrating.

I've been playing guitar for a year and adjusted the action and truss rod based on friend's guitars. It's not perfectly calibrated but enough so there's no fret buzz. I've also got the bridge sitting on the body, rather than floating. Lastly, I tried to put the saddles where they belong. I've got the bottom four strings just about where the should be. The high e and b strings are just flat when pressed on the 12th fret and there is nothing I can do. I've loosened each saddle as far forward as possible, but they are both still very flat.

To remedy this, I've tuned the top two strings sharp so when I play around the 7th fret area everything is close to being in tune (but it's painful to hear sometimes...)

So I'm not sure what to do. I do not want to take it to a "professional" at guitar center because I took my acoustic there and got it back with loads of fret buzz. Is there something I'm doing incorrectly? Please help me!

There are some decent clips on youtube.
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You need to get longer screws for your saddles. That oughta do it.

thanks, but I've checked lots of videos on youtube and none address the problem I'm having.

I've thought about longer screws, but isn't that a cheap fix? I've never heard of replacing the stock parts of a guitar to just get it in tune.

Also, this was a handed down guitar. Some of the frets are slightly worn down on the high three strings. Although I only notice fret buzz on specific frets, is there a remedy for this besides replacing the entire neck?

sometimes you get a guitar that is not going to intonate.
I've had two. The were a couple of saddles that came so far forward, they bumped the mounting screw, and would go no further.

I fixed it though.

I got another strat.
and that worked so well, I got a couple three more to be sure.

But I only keep one at a time.

Check your neck, you might just need to adjust the truss rod. I had the reverse problem (couldn't bring it back more) and once I set the neck straight, all was perfect with room to spare. It's worth looking into.

hmm so if I flex the truss rod (straighten the neck) a few turns, fix the action all over again, it may help?

not a few turns!...less than one whole turn in total.

haha yes I know the truss rod isn't something to be tampered with. By turn I meant movement of the allen wrench. It's hard to squeeze that thing in there between the strings!

If you check out http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster.php there is a section on truss rod adjustment (and other useful info).

They way I do it that I press down the 2nd and 16th fret and try to get a gap of about a sheet of paper between the 8th fret and the string. Just turn it a bit at a time and recheck (this way you will also know if you are going in the wrong direction)!

Have you tried lowering the pickups? If they are too close to the strings they can distort intonation.

Sometimes me and my tech cut the spring or remove the spring in the saddle screw completely to allow enough travel to get the saddle to intonate the string. On the strat if the bridge is not adjusted right it will really throw of the rest of the guitar. You need to get it floating right. It could be the tremolo springs need to be adjusted. It sounds they may either be too tight or loose. The back of the bridge should sit about an 1/8 of an inch off the guitar I believe. I would get the bridge floating right first, then set the saddle/string height, and then intonate. Hopefully I understood what you were looking for.

Have you tried lowering the pickups? If they are too close to the strings they can distort intonation.

Right on.


If that doesn't work, I would say that the nut is improperly slotted. I seems that the string is breaking over the edge of the nut at the peghead side instead of the fretboard side. Sometimes you have to carefully dress the slot so it angles downward toward the peghead which will ensure that the string breaks over the edge at the fretboard properly.

If the string is breaking over at the back side of the nut, the string length becomes 1/8" longer than it should be in relation to the frets. That's enough to make it impossible to intonate properly.

Try lowering your pickups first. If that doesn't work, take it to a guitar tech and have him check the nut. You can try fixing it yourself but be warned, if you do it wrong, you can really screw it up and render the guitar unplayable.

Good luck!

If your neck is not aligned "right" in the pocket it may be hard to get the intonation right.

If your neck is not aligned "right" in the pocket it may be hard to get the intonation right.


With all due respect, the neck could be seriously crooked to the point the strings were hanging over the edge of the fretboard on one side and the guitar would still intonate properly. The string length can change a little from nut to bridge without any real adverse effect. But if the the distance from the nut to the first fret is not correct, that throws the entire thing off and the guitar will never tune properly! :smile: