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Ever tuned your guitar to perfection, played your melodic heart-felt solo to the best of your ability but for some reason it sounds out of tune and absolutely pap?

There are two possible reasons for this; either your guitar’s intonation is out or you’re rubbish at playing the guitar. If you suspect it’s the latter reason then, as they say in Newport ‘go home son your mum’s got cake’.

Alternately if it is your intonation, here are a few tips on how to sort it:

Firstly fit your guitar with new strings and tune the offending string with a decent quality tuner, then play the string on the 12th fret and see what the tuner says.

If the string is in tune played openly but sharp when played on the 12th fret, the saddle needs moving away from the neck effectively lengthening the string (usually done by turning saddle adjustment screw clockwise).

If the string is in tune played openly but flat when played on the 12th fret, the saddle needs moving towards the neck effectively shortening the string (usually done by turning the saddle adjustment screw anti clockwise)

Once you’ve got the strings to play in tune openly and on the 12th fret, you’re there!

Check out this video of Intonation Adjustment

Other Intonation Related Blogs:

Scotts Guitar Blog Writes this – Making a Repro 1959 0-15 Martin Bridge

The Practice Room Writes This Blog – Guitar without frets is like girl without beard