A Guide to Guitar Intonation
An essential part of correct guitar setup is the intonation. After all, if the intonation on your guitar is amiss, your guitar will sound out of tune, even if you have tuned it perfectly!
So, what exactly is guitar intonation? How do you adjust your guitar’s intonation? Is it easy to do? How can you get started with guitar intonation adjustment? Let’s take a look at this vital piece of guitar knowledge:
What is Guitar Intonation, and What Does it Mean?
Guitar intonation refers to how in-tune your guitar along its entire fretboard.
If your guitar has good intonation, it is in tune along its entire fretboard, while a guitar that is out of tune in even just a few areas of its fretboard has bad intonation. This is after you tune it to your preferred tuning, so make sure you learn how to tune your guitar first.
Did you know that a guitar’s intonation can change over time? Being made of wood, the guitar’s fretboard will warp over time. So, it’s no surprise that this gradual change in shape leads to an ongoing subtle change in your guitar’s sound.
However, some guitars are made of low-quality wood or are even constructed poorly. This can mean their intonation changes more quickly than usual or the guitar even has poor intonation from the get-go. It can be difficult to get such a guitar’s intonation up to scratch.
How to Check Your Guitar Intonation
The first step in adjusting intonation is to tune your guitar.
Tune every string as accurately as possible, so that you can compare the tuning of the open string versus the 12th fret natural harmonic. Starting with the E strong, touch your guitar string directly above its 12th fret on the low E string.
When you check the tuning of the 12th fret harmonic, it should be perfectly in tune but if your 12th fret note is sharp or flat, this is the sign that your intonation is out - the more out of tune, the worse your intonation is.
If the fretted 12th fret is in-tune, this does not necessarily mean the entire guitar has good intonation, but that that one string is correct. So, you must check the intonation on every string.
How to Adjust Your Guitar Intonation
If your guitar’s intonation is indeed out, it’s time to adjust it.
Guitar intonation adjustment basically just entails increasing or decreasing the length of a guitar string. Although there are a variety of guitar types out there, we're mainly focusing on electric guitar intonation for this guide.
If the fretted 12th fret note is sharp, you will need to increase the length of your guitar string - this will lower its pitch. You need to gradually increase the length of this string until the fretted note’s pitch matches the pitch of the 12th fret harmonic.
If the note is flat, you’ll need to adjust your saddle towards the neck, while a sharp note will need to be adjusted towards the bridge. One easy way to remember this is the rule; flat forwards, sharp back.
Using the correct sized screwdriver, make small ¼ turns until you know how much the saddle needs to move to affect the tuner. You’ll probably need several complete rotations before you find the precise position of the perfect intonation.
Now, you need to repeat this procedure for every string - it may be tedious, but intonating your guitar will make it sing again!
Best Practices for Guitar Intonation
Now that your guitar’s pitch-perfect, you’ll probably want to keep it this way, right? So, let’s take a look at some advice for preserving your guitar’s intonation:
Loosen the Strings
When you’re adjusting your bridge saddle to increase a string’s length, you’ll notice that the tension in that string increases as you adjust the saddle. The string could then break or damage your saddle. So, de-tune that string before you make an adjustment.
However, if you’re adjusting your bridge to decrease the length of the string, don’t worry about de-tuning the string - the tension will decrease by itself as you adjust the saddle instead.
Protect Your Guitar
Since being in poor condition can make setting intonation on your guitar challenging, it’s important to preserve your guitar. For example, you can use a rag to protect your guitar’s body whenever you use a screwdriver. Doing this shields your guitar from those accidental scratches that are all too easy to make.
Check Your Guitar Action
Another thing you should do before you start adjusting intonation is to check your guitar’s action height. When the action is too high, this will throw your intonation out. So be sure to check your guitar action before you start anything else.
Replace Strings Often
The strings are probably one of your first suspects when your guitar is sounding odd.
Besides simply becoming loose or going out of tune, your strings do indeed gradually wear down too. And, if your strings are excessively worn, the way they make contact with your fret will start to change. This then leads to problems with intonation.
So, if your strings are very old, why not try out a new set and see if your intonation improves? Check out our guide to changing guitar strings if you are unsure what to do.
Improve Your Guitar Playing
If your guitar sounds off, it’s true that learning guitar intonation adjustment can make your guitar sound much better and also make it easier to learn on and play. But having your guitar in good playing condition will not improve your playing alone. You also need good guitar lessons to help you get the basics down.
So, why not book in with Bryan for guitar lessons today?
