Intonation!

[Coldchillin]

Ok, I already had a topic about string guages. I need new strings. My intonation in my guitar is slightly off. Now, can my worn out strings cause that or does it mean my neck needs adjusted? Please help!

[grock]

well it may not be the neck. guitar are inherently problematic with intonation! you should expect to be off by as much as 5 cents for some notes! i'm not going to go into the details here cuz i already did in another thread and it really sucks .

so with that said, make sure the neck is straight or slightly bowing forward. that is "normal". adjust the truss rod so it is straighter and that will help. if you guitar is relatively straight, the next course of action is to address the saddle. you can actually compensate the saddle that you already have with a jeweler's files. if the note is right on at 0 and sharp at 12 just file a bit back away to make the string slightly longer. a little compensation can go a long way with a saddle. if it is flat or you don't feel comfortable working on you guitar like this, follow my next advice...

i can't imagine that not solving the intonation and making it more accurate., if there are still problems you can go to a shop, say "this guitar won't intonate" and then say "what's wrong with it and how much to fix it?" and if anything you'll just have a guitar that get's slightly more out of tune on some notes than everyone else's. oh well.

[thejoe]

youll never get it perfect, just adjust the neck and saddles if its an electric, and thats as far as i would go

but if you want it close to perfect, take it to a shop