Post-Set-Up Intonation w/Capo

[jibberish]

Although not a luthier nor guitar tech, I've read just about everything there is to read on the concept and practice of guitar intonation (even here), but I've failed to read anything that satiated my curiosity. So I'll ask here:

When your guitar is operating flawlessly (subjective, whatever that is) - can you tune it up E-to-E, place a capo on, say, frets 3-7 and have all strings still be in tune?

Should they be?

Is it just me, or do most professional singer/songwriters throw capo's on and off without excessive re-tuning, and without playing many notes out of tune?

* A few things to save some of you the time:

1) I understand that capos are different, some clamp, some tighten, etc and someone can easily overtighten a capo to make strings sharp.

2) I am speaking about acoustic guitars with a plain ol' saddle. Heck, if it makes it easier, let's say only a one-piece uncompensated bone saddle on a vintage Gibson acoustic. 

3) Furthermore, I also understand that most electric guitars have bridges and saddles that allow better for such nuanced intonation/set-up. So no need to mention this.

Thanks!

[Dave F]

If there's a big discrepancy, I would check the nut.

Otherwise, listen to Mr. E

 

 

[Murph]

He's so cool.

Beatin' and twisting his guitar like it's his shovel.

Which it is...

[fortyearspickn]

Throwing capos around ...   bouncing off the walls and floors.   I keep my Thalia in a cotton ball lined box wrapped in shrink wrap.   

Good tip though - press on the hi strings with the heel of your hand to un-stretch the stretch after placing on the capo. 

[kidblast]

like Dave said, the Nut is the first place to look.

Most of the time, the nut slots are not deep enough, so the capo on the second fret for ex. is going to pull everything sharp.  acoustic setups, if it did not include regulating the nut slots, it's not a complete setup unfortunately.  This is the Achillies tendon with setting up acoustics, using capos and achieving proper intonation.  If that's not right, nothing int he lower registers will sound in tune

 

 

[jibberish]

4 hours ago, kidblast said:

like Dave said, the Nut is the first place to look.

Most of the time, the nut slots are not deep enough, so the capo on the second fret for ex. is going to pull everything sharp.  acoustic setups, if it did not include regulating the nut slots, it's not a complete setup unfortunately.  This is the Achillies tendon with setting up acoustics, using capos and achieving proper intonation.  If that's not right, nothing int he lower registers will sound in tune

 

 

Thanks. Just so I completely understand your take on this, to answer my original question you would say, "Yes. If everything has been done properly, your guitar should still be in tune when a capo is placed at the 5th fret, for example." Correct?

[kidblast]

50 minutes ago, jibberish said:

Thanks. Just so I completely understand your take on this, to answer my original question you would say, "Yes. If everything has been done properly, your guitar should still be in tune when a capo is placed at the 5th fret, for example." Correct?

IME, yes, that is correct 

The capo should not dramatically alter the intonation at any fret.

a few thing to keep in mind

•  Try to place it closer to the fret than to the middle of the space in the fretboard between the 2 frets.
• If you use a clamping style capo  like a kyser, make sure it's put on as evenly as possible.
• make sure the lower strings are not visibly shifted towards the middle of the fretboard. (I've seen a lot of people put capos on with that result.)
• A quick tug on each string will help too, but I find on my acoustics it's not really necessary

 

 

[dhanners623]

And if you really want to get into the capo/tuning weeds, here is some insight from James Taylor: 

 

[kinklern]

New here.

Ditto on nut slots.

[MissouriPicker]

I don’t think about intonation.  If it really sounds off, I’ll check it.  Otherwise, if it sounds good to me and feels good, I go with it.