Tuning Issues on an American Standard Tele

[dixonator]

Hi guys,

wonder if anyone can help ? I just picked up a 2009 American STD Tele.
Its a great guitar and looks and sounds great, however, I think I have a problem with the guitar being in tune with itself.

Its a strange one and I havent encountered it before. I have tuned the guitar and it stays in tune fine according to the tuner plus the intonation is fine at the 12th fret.

However it just sounds slightly out of tune with itself when I strum chords or play double stops, but it doesnt seem to do it all the time. There seems to be no reason for it other than I am imagining it ! The fingerboard is maple which is a new thing for me as well and its a very resonant guitar even unplugged.

Any thoughts or suggestions greatly appreciated as I really like the guitar but keep hearing it as 'out of tune' despite my tuner telling me otherwise.

Thanks for the help,

Dave

[ataylor8287]

That is odd. Is there a particular position that it occurs in?

[jefrs]

I have an AmSer07, no problems.

But. I have done a full and complete setup.

There are two places where intonation is set, the first and most important is the nut.

No new guitar has the nut slots fully cut because they don't know what strings you will fit. And a lot of folks just leave it like that, near-enough.
But it causes off-notes across frets 1-7.

There are a lot of nut filing threads on here...

However when you are setting intonation you must use a good strobe tuner. Do one string at a time and check the note at 10, 12 and 15, not just the octave. Do not try to do intonation with brand new strings, nor old dead ones.

The order I do a setup is nut, truss rod, bridge saddles. And then go over it again. And again.
The nut sets intonation and action across frets 1-7
The truss rod sets action over 5-14
The saddles set action across frets 12-22 and overall intonation.

Note that raising a saddle will sharpen the note similar but not the same as shortening the string length with the saddle, it will make the upper register pull sharp. You can make a 3-saddle bridge compensate by this.

[jguitarman]

I'm wondering if you used to play a guitar with smaller frets and now you own a guitar with medium or jumbo frets. The difference is that with the taller frets you might be using too much pressure and causing the notes/chords to go sharp. Try your chords and double stops with just enough pressure to get the notes to ring and see if it still sounds out of tune.

[Mark Davis]

Originally Posted by jguitarman

I'm wondering if you used to play a guitar with smaller frets and now you own a guitar with medium or jumbo frets. The difference is that with the taller frets you might be using too much pressure and causing the notes/chords to go sharp. Try your chords and double stops with just enough pressure to get the notes to ring and see if it still sounds out of tune.

+1

Thats almost always it.

Big frets thin strings if you press too hard it goes sharp. Acoustic players that switch to electric have this problem alot.

Let someone else play it see if it still sounds out of tune if not then you will have to modify your playing style a little.

[AndyLowry]

Does your tuner support well-tempered tuning? If not, then changing keys will have a noticeable effect on chords. Pitch-perfect tuning to E won't work for other keys.

[StratBluesRock]

The problem could even lie in the strings themselves, try going up a gauge (it'll sound better, too).

[AndrewG]

AndyLowry above pretty much figured it out-don't rely on an electronic tuner to tell you the truth! No guitar will play 100% in tune with itself in every key, and the tuning will always need a bit of a tweak; in my case the bottom E gets flattened a touch, as well as the B and top E, just to sweeten things.

The only time I use an electronic tuner is during an initial setup on a new guitar. Otherwise I just use an A440 fork and my ears.

[Old Bill]

I have to agree with Mark Davis. Let someone else play it and listen carefully. Good luck.

[old goat]

Before you go filing nuts try lubing the nuts slots with a little graphite (pencil lead or lock graphite are a lot cheaper than guitar-specific products) and the saddles with a tiny dab of mineral oil.

[jefrs]

With the nut intonation it is not a binding issue but a pulling sharp issue.

When you fret the first few frets the string is pulled sharp. Hence things like Earvana nuts, but you can get near enough with a properly cut nut. Most nuts including the one on an AmStd are not cut low enough from new to stop the strings pulling sharp as precisely as described by the OP.

Filing the nut does take a bit of practice and skill but it is an easy enough task. The problem is either finding a good luthier (not all shops have a good one) or stumping up the money for the tools and learning how-to diy (again not for everyone). Imo this guitar just needs a good setup (incl nut).

Dixonator - whereabouts in the UK?

[dixonator]

Originally Posted by jguitarman

I'm wondering if you used to play a guitar with smaller frets and now you own a guitar with medium or jumbo frets. The difference is that with the taller frets you might be using too much pressure and causing the notes/chords to go sharp. Try your chords and double stops with just enough pressure to get the notes to ring and see if it still sounds out of tune.

Thanks for all the info guys.....I think the problem is the taller frets and me applying too much pressure. My tech has advised going up to 11s....this should stop me pressing too hard and should sound 'fatter' as well.....

Cheers,

Dave

[jefrs]

Originally Posted by old goat

Before you go filing nuts try lubing the nuts slots with a little graphite (pencil lead or lock graphite are a lot cheaper than guitar-specific products) and the saddles with a tiny dab of mineral oil.

Good point +1

With a bone nut there is a bit of animal fat left in them, more so in unbleached bone, this is a natural lubricant. Plastic nuts, and that includes synthetic bone, might benefit from the 6B pencil graphite.

The tiny drop of 3-in-1 from a wire (guitar string cut-off) or needle is often forgotten. Metal to metal needs this, stops corrosion on the saddle too.

[Mark Davis]

Originally Posted by dixonator

Thanks for all the info guys.....I think the problem is the taller frets and me applying too much pressure. My tech has advised going up to 11s....this should stop me pressing too hard and should sound 'fatter' as well.....

Cheers,

Dave

Ya that will help.

Try this and see what happens.

Tune your plain strings GBE to perfect tune when open.

Then press down lightly until the G string just makes contact with the 2nd fret watch the tuner it should be A now do it again this time press down as hard as you can and see if it goes sharper than A.