Detune to Eb to Set Intonation?

[marnold]

I've got my DK2M finally setup exactly the way I want it . . . except for the intonation. I've got the bridge floating. Right now it's got three springs on it. Eventually, I want to get a fourth and a Floyd Rose trem stop to make string changes, blocking, etc. easier. For now I don't have that but I still want to get my intonation right. Whilst watching my Dokken DVD last night I had an idea. If I blocked the bridge temporarily and detuned to Eb, the slightly less string tension should cause the springs to keep whatever I block it with in place. When it's intonated, retune to standard and let 'er rip! Am I correct in assuming that if I intonate it in Eb that it will be intonated at standard tuning as well? Or will it at least be close enough, given the fact that I don't have a strobe tuner to get ultra-precise with anyway?

 

[marnold]

*bump!*

Any ideas? I tried it with my bass and the intonation seemed to be the same in E or Eb.

 

[MichaelE]

Tuning shouldn't affect the intonation. The string length isn't changing, only the tension.

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Truth be told, I intonate at A440 tuning, but play gigs down a half step - never really noticed much of a difference. I have decent ears, but not 24K gold plated ones.......................

 

[marnold]

Truth be told, I intonate at A440 tuning, but play gigs down a half step - never really noticed much of a difference. I have decent ears, but not 24K gold plated ones.......................

Mine aren't gold plated either, but maybe just good enough to be annoying I figure I could at least get it close enough. It's hard to get it perfect with a chromatic tuner anyway. Right now, a couple of the strings are over 25 cents sharp at the 24th fret. That is definitely noticeable.

 

[MichaelE]

Yes that would be very noticeable to me too.

 

[marnold]

OK, here's the deal. I ended up deciding to just be a man and do it without retuning. I checked it again and only three strings were off: A, G, and high E. G sounds goofy enough when tuned properly, much less when it's off. Of course that meant that I still had to loosen all three clamps. The three were actually flat, not sharp. The E was very close. The other two were in the 15-20 cent range.

If you know anything about Floyds, you know that there are two holes that the screw that holds the saddle in place can go into. The A and G were on the bridge-side hole and the saddle was as far to the neck side as possible. Thus I also had the joy of completely removing the screw and putting it back in the neck-side hole. Since I had done this before with my old Floyd guitar, I knew to keep careful track of where the saddle was before loosening it.

The long and the short of it is that it is as close to being intonated as I can hope to get it without properly blocking the bridge and getting a strobe tuner. The funny thing is that the 12th harmonic was spot on on all the strings but the fretted note on 12th and 24th was off. In my experience, setting the intonation via harmonic is a waste of time.

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Mine aren't gold plated either, but maybe just good enough to be annoying I figure I could at least get it close enough. It's hard to get it perfect with a chromatic tuner anyway. Right now, a couple of the strings are over 25 cents sharp at the 24th fret. That is definitely noticeable.

I only have one 24 fret guitar - SG Supreme, and I've never bothered to check it at the 24th fret. By the time I'm up there, I'm bending, juking, and screaming - a few cents either way won't be heard and doesn't bother me.

I set it all up at the 12th fret. If it sounds good there, I'm happy.

Even perfectly set up guitars are imperfect instruments. I've never heard of someone checking the intonation at the 24th fret.

 

[marnold]

Even perfectly set up guitars are imperfect instruments. I've never heard of someone checking the intonation at the 24th fret.

I wouldn't have thought of it either until I got my 24 fret bass. I thought something was up because it was intonated at the 12th fret, but off by an annoying amount by time you got to the 24th. It didn't take much of an adjustment to get it right all the way. Especially on a bass no one would have heard it up there . . . but I would have. On my guitar it was pretty close to being equally off at the 12th and 24th, just a bit more flat at the 24th.