Take Away: This error is baked into your guitar. They are largely a result of how responsive your guitar is. These errors are real and difficult to track down. Sometimes the tones of the guitar body can interact with the string and cause a note to play sharp or flat. Take Away: Try to lower your action for less errors. Action is upstream from intonation so any change in action will affect it. As well, where you play the note on the fretboard effects the amount of stretching and thus error. Higher action means more tension which causes the note to play sharp. This increased tension will cause the note to play sharp.

When a string is pressed down, fretted, its total length rises and so does its tension. Take Away: It is possible to set true intonation this way but often requires a new saddle or bridge. They do this by changing the scale length and fret position. A whopping 6.7%.Īlterations to the nut and saddle can fix the sharpness. Take Away: These errors are real, and detectable as shown by data from multiple guitars playing the B string at the 12th fret. For poorly made ones the source of error might be from the build of the guitar itself. In precision all tone wood guitars this effect matters more. It’s right on the edge of what you can hear. Intonation errors are around three cents as well. Humans can detect about a three cent error in a note. These are intonation problems, A sign it’s time to ask these 18 questions. It’s been tuned up, but fretted notes are still sharp. You know something doesn’t sound right with your guitar.

Acoustic guitar nut too high