Changing strings and Intonation

I've changed the strings on my guitars a few times in the past 18 months. Tonight I changed the strings on the Strat _and_ set up the intonation. While the DGBe strings all seemed to drop into place without much trouble, the A string seems to not want to get into place and the lower E string doesn't want to get into place at all although I've been close. I'm afraid I'm going to unscrew the end and have to try again. I'm leaving it alone for now but it does sound a bit better :) Maybe after I've played a few songs the strings will be stretched a bit and will fall into place.

I picked up a British "Classic Guitar" DIY magazine while we were in Florida and it has several interesting sections including the process for building a guitar from scratch. Quite an interesting book I've found.

Anyway, just showing off a little :mrgreen:

Carl

Yeah; let it settle in. Same guage strings? You might get some good tips in the Tele Technical section.

I haven't done very much setup work but the lower pair had always given me the most problems.

They're smaller this time (9-42) than the last set but the same as when I got the Strat. When I changed them six months ago, I didn't have any 9-42 but I had a couple of sets of 10's so used them instead.

I did pull on them a bit. I'll play with it for a few days and try again Monday or Tuesday.

Carl

What guitar is it on? What strings are you using? Are they the same? Did you change anything else?

However, first thing I would try is lowering the bass side of the pickups, especially on a Strat. (I use a steel precision ruler to check my string heighths, so I can reproduce my settings if anything moves accidentally.)

If you're working with a strat with a whammy, going lighter will mess with the intonation for sure. You have to make sure the bridge is steady-like a couple 16ths over the body. If you put lighter strings it's probably flush with the body.

Doing this is kind of involved. Basically you need to set the tremolo block, then loosen the screws until it's in the right place. After that, intonation should be back to the normal process.

'Tele - Technical' is better place for this thread as there's actual luthiers that post there.

*if you used lighter strings you'll probably have to slightly lower (or raise?) the action on the two bass strings to get the intonation correct. Height, length, diameter (even density) of a string will affect intonation.

I usually set my A string bridge piece saddle just barely ahead of the E string
On Strats the low E and high E saddles should be close to about the same position.
Of course I have my STrats trem blocked with a piece of wood because I use the whammy just about never. When I do need it, i just bend behind the nut.

It's just not worth it to me to have the whammy alive. Not that you can't have a pretty darn stable guitar even with the whammy, I just prefer it blocked.

I am g oing to think that you have the pickup too close to the strings on the bass side. Thiswill cause the magnetic field to prevent the string from vibrating at a constant frequency....adn you will never get the intonation set properly.
FWIW, with all variables ((neck relief, nut refulation, bridge radius) correct., The pattern of correct intonation for a set of strings with a plain G string will be...from the high E to the low E....up, back, back, up, back, back....with the high E being closest to the 12th fret and the low E being the fartherest saddle from the 12th fret. Any other pattern indicates a 'non-standard' set of strings or other problems withthe set-up. Wtih a wound G, the G saddle will move forward...ahead of the D saddle. The G saddle will be second closest tothe 12th fret with a wound G.
I see a lot of Strats with low Ea dn A strign saddles in odd positions....and every tiem the pickup is so close to the strings that correct intonation is impossible. To check this out, fret the low E in the upper frets...above the 12th fret. Hit a note, hold it, and listen. IF hte note 'warble's or varies in pitch, that magnet is 'whacking' the string's vibrational pattern. BAck the pickups away, and you will hear a solid frequency when the magnets are far enough away to allow free and accurate string movement. ou will also notice that hte strign will be more articulate and sustain longer.