Intonation spring too short...

[dinomike77]

I'm a Tele guy who just set up a USA Billy Corgan Signature Strat for my brother. He's a little bit bugged that the intonation spring on the high e string doesn't quite make contact with the saddle. The intonation is spot-on and I'm hesitant to go messing it up as the short spring doesn't seem to be having any negative effect on the guitar's set-up.

Anyone else experience this issue? Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

[E5RSY]

Why does he care? Does it rattle audibly, or something?

[dsutton24]

Take the spring off, stretch it a bit, and put it back together.

[jefrs]

The saddle will move when strings are changed.

Are you sure intonation is right? - stock spring loose would place the saddle a very long way forwards of the normal position. Did you use a strobe tuner? Compare to another strat. Buy new springs?

[dinomike77]

The intonation is correct, according to my Planet Waves chromatic tuner. Not the fanciest, but it gets the job done and the guitar sounds right to my ears.

I did note, by going through the different OEM springs available from Angela Instruments, that Fender has a few different lengths for these springs. Maybe the longer option would have been more appropriate before it left the factory.

Regardless, the best suggestion here seems to be giving the spring a little stretch. It's not much of a gap and that should suffice to snug it up to the saddle. Seems so simple, I feel a little foolish for not thinking of it myself.

Thanks to dsutton for the common-sense approach.

[nogin007]

You can take a spring off a ball point pen.

[Axis29]

You can also try stretching the spring while it's still on the intonation screw, but it's kinda tricky. I've done it a time or two with both Teles and Strats. It's a quick fix for a rattling spring. I usually find a small screw driver and a pick or a paper clip... tug form a spring wind or two from one end while holding the other end in place.

But, the better solution is to pull the spring off and stretch it out gently.

[jefrs]

If the saddle spring is the correct length then the saddle is either a lot further forward than normal (which begs that question) or the bridge plate is too far back itself.

If the spring has compressed then whilst stretching it may work for now, the spring has lost its elasticity, the metal is shot, and it bound to compress again. Springs is cheap.

You do need a strobe tuner for intonation because the normal chromatic type, fine for regular tuning, is simply is not up to the job. You need that less than 0.1 cent accuracy (not to be confused with resolution) of a strobe for intonation. Plus you need to check at 15, 17, 10, etc, not just 12th fret. This will always be a compromise. Me I prefer to get the intonation of the lower part of the fretboard right at the expense of the upper register because that is where it is played most

[dinomike77]

Turns out that fender used 2 short springs for the E and A strings and longer springs for the rest. I pulled the G and e springs, saw that they were different lengths, swapped 'em and case closed. Thanks to all for the help.

[AJBaker]

My CP60 strat also had one or two springs that were too short. I just put two together, and got another spring as well.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by dinomike77

Turns out that fender used 2 short springs for the E and A strings and longer springs for the rest. I pulled the G and e springs, saw that they were different lengths, swapped 'em and case closed. Thanks to all for the help.

There you go.

Sometimes the spring is too short because someone mashed it or cut it short.

But yeah, check to see if they haven't be installed in the wrong places first.