Intonation nightmare on my 'little guitar'...

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:43 pm

Allen wrote:By the way, it's more addictive than beer and fishing

Tell me about it!

aussieadam · Post by **aussieadam** » Mon May 11, 2009 10:54 pm

How about trying to build an acoustic that meets the requirements that you were trying to get this cheap Chinese beater to do?

Hopefully one day!
...but I wanted something cheap an nasty that I wouldn't form any emotional attachment with... about to embark on a tour of europe, and the thought of being guitarless for 3 months is almost enough to stop me from going!

The requirements are:-

If it gets stolen... I won't care.
If it gets broken... I won't care.
If it never appears at the airport... I won't care.
If it is vandalised in any way, shape, or form... I won't care.
If I'm running low on firewood... It'll burn brightly! (especially that toxic chinese paint!!)

If you've got any suggestions i'm curious to hear them!
...I do actually have a few old pallets sitting in the yard...

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Tue May 12, 2009 5:21 am

Everyone of us after building a few, probably have one of those that would fit the bill. It's just that we never, ever show them to anyone else.

Antipode · Post by **Antipode** » Tue May 12, 2009 7:31 am

Hi all - had same problem with a baritone uke tuned GDAE. Thought I would be clever and make it louder. Gave it steel strings. Intonation went 2/3 of a fret sharp at 12th. Measured, checked, drunk beer..... Threatened it with moving bridge back 5mm. Bottom line came with restringing with nylon - check before you butcher. Intonation back to perfect. Don't know the scientific reason for it but is fact.
Suggestion. Restring it with nylon and stick a microphonic pickup in it. I got one for $13. Is about 3/4" square by 1/8 thick. Sticks on back at centre of lower bout. Works great. Came with cords ands all - will hunt out the box.
Rick

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Tue May 12, 2009 7:45 am

Antipode wrote: Intonation back to perfect. Don't know the scientific reason for it but is fact.

Nothing scientific about it.....steel versus nylon. Different materials different properties.

aussieadam · Post by **aussieadam** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:36 am

kiwigeo wrote:
Nothing scientific about it.....steel versus nylon. Different materials different properties.

...sounds a lot like science to me

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Tue May 12, 2009 3:36 pm

Could be the extra tension of steel strings on a 'just enough to hold it together' design mentality built nylon string guitar is bowing the neck a little, rolling the bridge a little, compressing the top a little, stretching the dome out of the back a little, bending the heel block in a little and pulling the sides in at the front a little. Add all that up and there's ur scale length problem and it will most likely just keep moving until it reaches the point catastrophic failure.

I use to travel around on a motorcycle for years with no fixed address. Carting a guitar from one place to the next was out of the question. The solution was to just buy a cheap <$100 beater out of the local rag when I made my way into a town I wanted to stay in for a while. When it came time to go, I would sell it to recoup some of my moe, or just gift it to someone I had made friends with to remember me by. Then I would ride off to a new place and a new guitar.

I wonder how many of them beater babes went on to learn how to play the bloody things

Cheers

Kim

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Tue May 12, 2009 4:35 pm

A uke travels well on a motorcycle. Cairns to Geelong, and no worries at all. Plus, they're fun to play, and can be as little as $20. Who cares if it's stolen, though not much wood in one to keep you warm if you need to toss it on the fire.

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Tue May 12, 2009 5:27 pm

Allen wrote:A uke travels well on a motorcycle. Cairns to Geelong, and no worries at all. Plus, they're fun to play, and can be as little as $20. Who cares if it's stolen, though not much wood in one to keep you warm if you need to toss it on the fire.

But you can pretend a banjo is a frypan...

Antipode · Post by **Antipode** » Wed May 13, 2009 7:18 am

Hi Kim
I checked the baritone with a steel straightedge and a digital caliper at the time for just the things you mention - none showed altered between steel or nylon.
Also did a test on full size acoustic 6-string by restringing it - temporarily - with nylon. It went flat by heaps at the 12th - also with no noticeable movement. Restrung with steel the intonation was back to fine.
From that logic would suggest that intonation might well also be effected by gauge, core material .....
Someone has probably done such exhaustive tests.
Cheers

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:09 am

Tons of work has been done on this....sorry dont have references handy but do a Google and I'm sure youll find tons of bedtime reading material.

brian64 · Post by **brian64** » Sun May 31, 2009 6:41 pm

aussiedam, also consider the tuning machines. They are designed for the tension of nylon strings (and at that price probably don't do that well) and are probably slipping with the added tension of the steel strings.

Cheers,

Brian.

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Intonation nightmare on my 'little guitar'...

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