OLDFART Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 Great story - I like it! The step increments vary from guitar to guitar. They are slight on my one Les Paul but more so on another one. If one is adjusting thin strings further than thicker it is just not right. One may find that the strings are very close to the same but there is a slight step that just has to be there, it is mathematics. A good strobe tuner tells the tale. That is one reason a Strat is often hard to intonate because they do not have the bridge tilt present on most tune-a-matic Gibson types. Ever had a Strat god awful to pull the 6th back flat enough while the 1st is up close??? One major reason the Gibson bridge has a hard tilt on the treble side, the step pattern is already present, perhaps another thing not noticed. The bridge is already heavily slanted. If you notice the pattern is in sets of three saddles with each set of thicker strings starting a little more back or flat to the string nut. If you had a bunch of strings in size progression you would see this repeat in threes right across. Some LPs like one I have has very little step difference while another one is more drastic like the pick above. The step increments vary from guitar to guitar but I kid you chaps not, this is a axiom of tuning intonation on a guitar. There is no way some strings can be physically closer than other one outside the pattern. It is what it is. Just thought that might help some get things in the ball park before they fine tune their intonation. That's all really. Never encountered so much resistance and hatred simply stating something I have known for ages as a plain truth in guitar tech realm. Please stop hating me because I am pretty. I do know a few things about guitars, what I do not know I do not speak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaicho8888 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Wow...long thread on stair step looking saddles! Yes, most saddles (especially Fenders) are looking stair step; but tuners tell you where the saddles are to be positioned. My ES339 is definitely not stair step on the low E, A, D. Gibson bridge is at an angle. Besides, you're only intonated with the zero fret and the 12th fret...the rest of the frets are percent off. So why are we over analyzing this? If you're hankering for a more intonated guitar try a "true temperament" fretboard with the wiggly frets. Even then it's not exact for Western tuning. Bottom line, we are talking music...yes music for our ears and heart! Music that consist of myriad "off" notes; yet pleasant to our ears. Just an observation: I know it's basic statics/dynamic engineering; but please discuss this in an engineering forum. An engineering forum where members have similar knowledge and technical background... where members can talk and understand the very specific technical "lingo"...just my two cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaicho8888 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Sorry... double tap the trigger and posted twice!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Just an observation: I know it's basic statics/dynamic engineering; but please discuss this in an engineering forum. An engineering forum where members have similar knowledge and technical background... where members can talk and understand the very specific technical "lingo"...just my two cents. Yes. You're all very naughty. Please find and engineering forum. How daft, discussing such things as guitars and the engineering principles pertaining to them, on a guitar forum of all place. Silly people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Sutherland Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I'm glad this thread got resurrected... I can't believe I missed out on all this fun last month!!! As for intonation, I've never heard of saddles being arranged by look, rather by lengthening or shortening the string as needed. And which way the adjustment screws face... I've never really given it any thought, just assumed they would always face the stop bar (both of my LP's have Nashville bridges). At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how you arrive at perfect intonation, as long as it sounds good (and is in key). What works for one person may not work for another, and I'm certainly not going to tell someone their method is wrong because I disagree with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Yes. You're all very naughty. Please find and engineering forum. How daft, discussing such things as guitars and the engineering principles pertaining to them, on a guitar forum of all place. Silly people. I tried to tell you guitar players were silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaicho8888 Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I tried to tell you guitar players were silly. Ha ha ha... "We's all silly guitar players." If I ever chat about guitar playing at an engineering forum...many do not know or will misunderstand the "lingo"; but be reassured it will be discussed in detail. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmaher Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 I too am glad that this thread was resurrected, albeit a while ago. I have a virtually unplayed, newish ES335 that Im trying to set up, intonate and tune, and am having a bit of difficulty doing so. I have a newish Gotoh stop piece, and a Gotoh Nashville-type bridge. Saddles are all pointed in one direction on the bridge. Basically, it looks like this guitar was in the middle of an upgrade project, and given to me uncompleted. Long story. I have no idea where the original pieces are. Guitar, including the nut, looks to be in good shape, including the neck being straight. So, basically, I'm going to set up the guitar from scratch, systematically checking each part as I go. For starters, should I adjust the saddles to a position halfway in their travel, as a place to start? I understand that they are going to probably need a bit of adjustment. Should I reverse any of the saddles, for starters? Again, is there a systematic way to set the bridge, for starters, before I string it up and proceed with the setup? In addition, the stop piece is screwed all the way down upon the body, but there is plenty of upward adjustment as needed. In its current position, none of the strings touch the edge of the bridge. Anyway, I'm just looking for a place to start, with the bridge and saddle positions. I'm obviously kind of new to this, as you can probably tell. This is my 1st post here. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 You don't need to reverse any saddles yet. Might need to later. Start by getting a tuner and see what the reading is at the 12th fret on each string. Just start where the saddles are currently at and go from there. I would recommend going to YouTube. There are tons of videos of guys showing you how to do it. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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