Adjusting Guitar Intonation

The Art of Adjusting Guitar Intonation

Adjusting guitar intonation involves making adjustments to the guitar to make it play all the notes in tune. There can be a lot of reasons for a guitar going out of tune. Hence, guitar enthusiasts develop the practice of setting the intonation of their guitar regularly simply to make it sound better. The process of adjusting the intonation of guitar is pretty simple but it is a bit difficult in case of acoustic guitars. This type of adjustment would require patience, skill and the guidance of a reliable intonation manual.

Compared to the acoustic guitars, it is easier to set the intonation of the electric guitars. This is because adjustable saddles are present in most electric guitars that can be used for this purpose. Adjusting guitar intonation is one of the most basic things that one needs to do for setting up the guitar. This would not require the great skills of a guitar tech and can be done by any person who has passion for the instrument and knowledge of its components. But how would you know whether your electric guitar needs intonation or not? Well, there are some steps one needs to follow in order to check out the guitar's intonation.

Start with a guitar tuner and fresh set of batteries. Tune the guitar with the tuner, and check each individual string for the same 12th fret harmonic tune. If each string is able to maintain the same harmonic tune, then it is perfectly tuned. On the other hand if the strings fail to keep the exact tune, then it is definitely not properly tuned. Often it is seen that the string length is more than it is needed; in that case the string's length can be shortened by adjusting the screw that is located on the saddle. The adjustment of the saddle should be done in the reverse order if you wish to lengthen the string. For most beginners it might seem to be an intimidating task. But with practice and patience one can expect to master the skill of adjusting the guitar intonation.