Acoustic Guitar Set Up and Adjusting Guitar Intonation
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Adjusting guitar intonation means that you have to make changes to your guitar hardware so that all of the notes fingered on the fret board are in tune. With electric guitars it is quite easy to get it right as long as you use the correct method. With acoustic guitar set up you have to use a lot of trial and error. This is how to set up a guitar with intonation problems.
The first thing to do is to check that the intonation on your guitar needs correcting. In order to set the intonation you have to make changes to the bridge. On an acoustic guitar there is very little that you can actually do. The intonation is set when the guitar is made. The only reasons for intonation to go out on acoustics involve somebody else changing the height of the bridge or the fact that the neck has too much curvature.
In the case of bridge height you have to establish if the bridge needs to go higher or lower. You will probably find that somebody has reduced the height of the bridge to get a better action, but has gone too far. If this is the case the strings will probably rattle all over the fret board as well. To correct this you will need to increase the height of the bridge using shims or a new bridge. It is really a bit of trial and error.
If you think that the neck is curved too much then you should sight down the neck and look to see how the fret board curves. There should be a very slight concave bow in the fret board along its length. Make sure that you sight along the frets and not just the binding. The binding may not be cut straight and this will distort your sighting. If the fret board appears to curve too much then this could be the problem.
There may be another other sign that the neck has too much of a concave bow, for example, you will find that you have to press the strings very hard to reach the frets. It is this extra stretching of the strings that causes the intonation problems. There are 2 ways to try and solve this problem. You may need to use both. The easiest way is to try reducing the gauge of the strings. Lighter gauge strings put less force on the neck and so the neck will tend to go back to its natural straight position. The only other way to deal with neck over curving is to adjust the truss rod. In this case slacken off the strings and then insert the correct size hex spanner into the truss rod adjuster. This will be found at the bottom of the neck just under the sound hole or at the top of the neck where the neck joins the head stock. Turn the hex spanner to tighten the truss rod. This will then put a force against that bowing the neck. Make adjustments slowly and check the affect each time by retightening the strings.
Only make adjustments to your truss rod if you are confident in what you are doing with your acoustic guitar set up. Over tightening a truss rod can cause it to snap and this would result in a hefty repair bill.
This is just a taster as far as setting up a guitar and setting guitar intonation is concerned. Some of the techniques are better shown in picture and audio format and so further information and details can be found on the setting up a guitar web site produced by the author Tim Vincent. http://www.settingupaguitar.co.uk
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Tagged with: Acoustic • Adjusting • Guitar • Intonation
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