hi from a newbie (to the forum that is...been playing for a while).
I just got a new epiphone dot studio, and it's pretty cool. but the intonation on the first few frets is pretty sharp, it gets better until you get to the 5th fret and then its fine. I read elsewhere that the bridge is too close on this model, and I measured against my acoustic guitar, and sho 'nuf...it's about an inch shorter than a standard scale. the worst string is the G, especially on the 2nd fret, which makes a D chord sound terrible. the set of strings I got happens to have the G as a non-wound string. would a wound G be better?
is there anything I can do? lighter/heavier strings? should I bring it back to the store and get them to do something? I really really like this guitar, especially for the money, so I'm hoping for a relatively painless fix.
thanks!
Have you backed off the saddles yet? I think the Dot's have adjustable saddles...
A friend of mine had an Ibanez Artcore that just wouldn't intonate. We adjusted all the saddles and the high-e string was consistently off. We thought it might be a nut issue. He ended up just using it for rhythm.
Definitely check the saddles. If you can't get it to intonate bring it back and the shop that sold it to you should set it up. If they won't, return it for cash and go elsewhere.
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
thanks for the response. yeah I've moved the saddle all the way up and back on the G string and there's no noticeable change. I read about one guy buying a wider bridge so there's more adjustment room for the saddles. maybe that would do the trick?
It's not the bridge. The nut is probably not cut deeply enough. When you press a string to a fret near the nut, it stretches the string a bit, increasing the tension and the note goes sharp. You need to get the nut set up properly.
-=tension & release=-
oh ok, thanks! I'll check that out. I've got some little files that I can use to try to fix it if I'm feeling brave. it does look like a cheapo nut, which is not surprising.
thanks again. I'll let you know how it goes.
The guideline for nut height is this: Fret a string gently at the fifth fret so the string just touches the fourth fret (kind of like backwards fretting). Now look back at the clearance between the string and the first fret. It should be as small as possible without actually touching the first fret. A just-visible gap is fine -- about the thickness of the high e string. On many new guitars -- even pricey ones, this gap is almost as wide as the thickness of the low E. Even half the thickness of the low E is too large.
Be sure you have the right size files for the job. The mini files available at Home Depot are too big. A trick to create a cheapo set of nut files is to use a set of blade (feeler) gauges. For each desired gauge, use a file to rough up one edge of that gauge blade. This turns the blade into a low tech saw, which should work on a nut fairly well. Or you could order a set of net files from http://www.stew-mac.com ... and order a couple decent nuts while your at it :wink:
-=tension & release=-
That's a nice tip about making nut files from feeler gauges! Thanks!
Strings themselves also work for smoothing (and slightly enlarging) nut slots.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
If you just bought the guitar I would seriously bring it back and ask for it to be setup by a local tech... the guitar should play properly when you get it regardless of the price. Probably take them 10 minutes.
Might want to think about that prior to hacking away yourself.
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
