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Re: OT Re: Phiew.... guitar intonation - hard work!
Ian Petersen wrote:
> Andy,
>
> My electrics don't have the intonation problem that
> the compensated nut is reckoned to fix
>
>
> Just out of interest, did you check that your nut is actually in the
> theoretically 'correct' position with relation to the frets? As
> previously noted, some manufacturers install their nuts (!) a gnats
> whisker closer to the first fret than the correct scale length. Your
> guitars may very well already be 'compensated'.
Nope, they aren't.
...and the Hofner SG has a Zero fret
>
> > What all my guitars tend to have, however, is an obsessively
>> set up nut height :-)
>
> However obsessively set up your nut is, the string still needs to
> stretch to reach the fret or it wouldn't be able to vibrate.
When you buy a new guitar, it's very unlikely to have a perfectly
set up nut. So there's a lot of extra tension when the first fret
is fingered.
Bringing the nut down a bit lessens that tension, to the extent
that on my guitars the intonation is spot on.
(checked with tuner)
I always ask as many useful questions as the guy can stand when
I get anything fixed, so consequently I found out how to
set up the nut myself.
Anyone wants to know, ask me off list.
>
> None of the guitars on which I have installed compensated nuts *needed*
> the compensation as such. They played, intonated and tuned just fine
> before. But they sound 'different' after compensation - and to my ears
> 'sweeter'. Whether they sound 'better' is obviously a matter of taste ...
Well, if you like it better, then I reckon it really is better...it's your
instrument.
Sometimes I change the (non-comp) nuts on my guitars, they also get better
:-)
andy
>
> Ian
>
>