A question for DU guitarists....

This is a weird one. I've been playing for 30 years so I'm not a novice. I'm fairly adept at the technical goings on of a guitar. I can string it, I can tune it by ear, I can adjust the neck, I can change out knobs and pick ups, etc.

So I have a very cheap old Squire strat that I use to get certain sounds when recording (it's very bad guitar so I don't use it for anything other than needing an admittedly thin, junky guitar sound.

A few weeks ago it went "off". Like I play a chord and it sounded out of tune. I identified the third string (G) as the culprit. So I tuned every string using my ear first.....each string sounded the way it should when I did that. Still sounded out of tune when I played it. I tuned it with an electronic tuner.....all strings read the way they were supposed to including the third which read as a G on the tuner.

When I play a scale though, the G string is a half step sharp.

I'm flummoxed. It sounds like a G when tuned to a G on the previous string....it reads as a G on the tuner.....so what about the guitar would be causing it to be a half step sharp?

Have you changed string gauge recently? I have the same guitar and a while back had the same problem on the same string. I'd upped the string gauge and didn't adjust the intonation and that caused it to sound all nasty. Took a screwdriver to the bridge and tinkered around with it and my tuner and it ended up OK...at least as good as a guitar of that caliber will ever sound.

Put a full set on a month ago and hadn't changed it at all prior to it first happening. In fact I just put a new string on and it is doing the same thing. And beside I never buy anything other than the same brand and the same gauge. Have for the past 20 years or so.

I'm guessing it maybe is related to the intonation but I can see that having a string be out of tune, but why would it be reading o.k. on a tuner but play a half step off. That's what's so bizarre about it.

Really. That string is the one that is most likely to go out of tune on all my guitars. I own two electrics and an acoustic, all different manufacturers, all strung with different brands of strings, different gauges, and still the third string is most likely to go out at the slightest touch on every single one, no matter what tuning I'm in, playing with a pick or finger picking.

Fuck the third string.

But, how far up the string do you play when you were playing scales? Do the standard intonation check and see how far out of tune the tuner reads it on when you play that string open and on the 12th fret. If they're radically different, redo the intonation on that string.

That open vs. 12th fret trick is something I knew years ago but had forgotten about.

Thanks.

I hooked up to my digital tuner and an open note was G and the 12th fret was playing an F sharp. So problem solved I guess. The problem being that intonation is the one thing I know very little about. I know what it is but don't know fully how to fix it. I guess I'll just mess around with a screw driver for a bit on it until I get them to sync up. I should probably check all my guitars for that now that I've been reminded of the open note/12th fret trick.

Thanks for your help!

You're fucked.

Maybe if you send a PM to ProfessorGAC, he'll be able to help you out. He's very knowledgeable about this sort of thing.

Then again, it's easy to find thin-sounding junky guitars for a pittance, if you're unable to fix this one. Maybe a used Danelectro would fit the bill.

All three of my guitars have g-strings that are bastards, just like ZombieNixon's.

I like the idea of checking the tuning at the 12th fret.

And after that, I suggest a long prayer session with the universe to tell it to do something to make g-strings not so fucking obnoxious to keep in tune.

As mentioned earlier, you need to tune the open string to pitch then check the intonation by hitting the harmonic on the 12th fret.

If the 12th fret note is flat, the bridge saddle is too far from the nut (string is too long). Adjust the saddle to move it closer to the nut.

If the note is sharp, the string is too short and you need to move the saddle away from the nut (lengthen the string).

Shouldn't be a big problem on a Squire, but I always check string height after intonation adjustment too. You may encounter some fret buzz if you've had to move the saddle a lot. Recheck intonation after adjusting height.

Takes a little dialing in, but even on an inexpensive guitar, set up is well worth the effort. Happy playing! :hi:

and stick. Check the screws and give each one a LITTLE DROP of oil before re-doing the intonation.

Mark

The G string is a bitch