The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    So i am adjusting the bridge accordingly and the d is a bit sharp and then the a goes flat or sharp when i adjust the bridge and back and forth.so do i just do a happy medium.or am i missing a technique to move the bridge around?Thanks in advance for any comments.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    For an ebony bridge, about all you can do is to get a compromise you can accept. Most people, I think, tend to intonate the e strings and accept whatever results for the other strings. I tend to try to get the A and B correct, and accept the rest, but it does depend on the guitar and the strings. Different strings intonate differently. If you really want every string to intonate perfectly, you'll need to get something like a tune-o-matic, with individually adjustable saddles. This is an age-old problem with few good solutions.

  4. #3
    ACTUALLY I GOT THE E WITH IN ONE BAR AND THE A ABOUT THE SAME EVERYTHING ELSE IS DEAD ON.i PANICK EARLY BUT STILL IT CAN BE ANNOYING.THANKS !!!

  5. #4

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    If you get it dead on at the 12th chances are the guitar will be out in other places that matter even more. It really depends on the guitar and how you play. I personally play in the middle register of the guitar and I want the best intonation from 3-10 frets. At the 20th it does not make a huge difference to me I have not been there too often, maybe never other than the 1st or 2nd string. I can hear 3 cents but that it close. If you get 2 cents basically you go it exact as it is going to be. I mentioned this before but even changing the pressure of your hand and fingers will change the pitch just a bit at any fret. Tunomatic bridges are way overrated for intonation at least to me.

  6. #5
    i am pretty happy from the 1st to the 17th fret at the 5th 7th 1bar some times depending on my touch.Thanks

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by EarlBrother
    ... WITH IN ONE BAR ...
    What's "one bar" mean? I guess that it's a marking or indicator on your tuner and represents the maximum precision of your tuner. But which tuner, or more to the point, how many cents (1/100 of a semitone) is that?

    "One bar" is not a recognized unit of tuning, it's idiosyncratic to your particular tuner model.

  8. #7

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    I think 1 bar is usually about 5 cents, which is the difference most people will start to hear as out-of-tune.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by sgosnell
    FI tend to try to get the A and B correct, and accept the rest, but it does depend on the guitar and the strings.
    Interesting idea to focus on the A rather than the low E, but if you look at this through Pythagoras's eyes I'd expect you get a slightly larger error on the high E if you tune the B that on the B if you tune the E. Do you really find a difference in practice or it something perceptual that you feel is better?

  10. #9
    oh i use a Whats called a super tight from snark clip on.it was in my budget and 'Super Tight' well that must mean busness.HaHa.I can upgrade my tuning system maybe.any suggestions.So it displays a green bar light when supposedly in tune then a red bar when its off and as you get further off more red bars left side for flat and right side for sharp.

  11. #10
    RJVB great point and question.I thought at 70 i still had great hearing but if its more toward 5% off no wonder i can hear it.That makes sense.

  12. #11

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    There’s a video where a guy intonates at 3rd and 15. Re-shapes the saddle. Then he grinds divots into the nut to intonate the opens. This is on a very expensive acoustic but I wouldn’t do it to a plastic ukulele. That video is like watching a horror movie.

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by RJVB
    Interesting idea to focus on the A rather than the low E, but if you look at this through Pythagoras's eyes I'd expect you get a slightly larger error on the high E if you tune the B that on the B if you tune the E. Do you really find a difference in practice or it something perceptual that you feel is better?
    Intonation using a wooden saddle is a compromise. I think the best compromise, especially on the D and G, comes when the A and B are closest to correct, and the E strings are usually still close, sometimes perfect, depending on the guitar and the strings. You can get closer to perfect intonation (still not perfect, but closer) by carefully selecting the string gauges, but that's hard, and I just go with the flow and use standard sets most of the time. The time and money required to try many different gauge combinations is just more than I'm willing to spend. Mostly, for me, close is close enough.

  14. #13

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    For me, with most clip-on tuners, even if every string shows green "in tune" indications, I can still hear that many if not most of the strings are out of tune. 5 cents off sounds really bad, and even a cent or so off can sound sour in chords. It's different for different people, of course. Some can tolerate more than others.

  15. #14

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    Best advice I have heard on tuning is to tune where you play, so if you play a lot of open strings tune to that. I spend most time on 2 to 10 so I tune on the 5th fret

  16. #15

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    I also tune at the 5th fret. That gives me the best intonation in the frets where I play, although the tuning for open strings may be slightly off. I seldom play open strings, though, and almost never open chords.

  17. #16
    this conversation has made more aware of my 'attack'.I have a light touch soft attack and not very loud.A persons technique is important to consider.Thanks!!!!I need a loud amp.

  18. #17

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    you are in the good way trying to make compromises... and there is more...

    unless you are heavily using open strings do not care about the correct pitch of them, focus on the area of 5th to 10th fret, and make individual frets pitch correct on those area.

    As a general rule the higher the note, the out of tone pitch the more painful (for me at least) so when going to get a compromise I always favor a bit the higher notes to be closer to the ideal than the lower notes