Strobe tuning ... how often?

[venreskiller4]

Just the other day, I replaced my old worn out strings and let the new ones settle for a while before making the major tuning and locking down the nut. When I did the fine tuning, I was noticing how my power chords were out of tune. I checked the strobe by hitting the open string and hitting the 12 fret octave. Of course, the 2 notes on the same string didn't match up on the tuner so I adjusted the bridge piece to true up the intonation. If the 12th fret note was flat from the open string, I moved the bridge piece closer to the nut. I did the opposite it the 12 fret note was flat of the open string. I used to be more diligent on checking the strobe but I have gotten lazy. It's time for me to stop it. It vastly helped my intonation.

Out of curiosity, how often does everybody else check their strobe? Do you have a guitar tech do it or do you do it yourself?

[loudguitar]

I check my intonation regularly, mostly by ear. I have several different chord voicing I use at different positions, combing open strings and notes in the higher register. Since the guitar has by its nature imperfect intonation, you may often find a chord or two that doesn't sound quite right even if strobed out correctly, so sometimes you can tweak it a little to make voicings sound right.

I also routinely set up/restring as many as 8-10 guitars a week at my shop, so I have become pretty good at it. I can always tune a guitar to perfect A440 without a tuning fork or metronome.

Of course older strings will often cause poor intonation. Theoretically, if you change strings with same brand and guage, you should not have to adjust, but it is always good to check and make any changes as needed.

[venreskiller4]

Jan 2, 2011 8:44:18 GMT -6 loudguitar said:

I check my intonation regularly, mostly by ear. I have several different chord voicing I use at different positions, combing open strings and notes in the higher register. Since the guitar has by its nature imperfect intonation, you may often find a chord or two that doesn't sound quite right even if strobed out correctly, so sometimes you can tweak it a little to make voicings sound right.

I also routinely set up/restring as many as 8-10 guitars a week at my shop, so I have become pretty good at it. I can always tune a guitar to perfect A440 without a tuning fork or metronome.

Of course older strings will often cause poor intonation. Theoretically, if you change strings with same brand and guage, you should not have to adjust, but it is always good to check and make any changes as needed.

Thanks for your insights Loudguitar. I can think of one voicing that utilizes open and fretted notes. The good old E power chord with the root on the 7th fret. The low E is open and the B and high E are open. Since there are no 3rds, there should hardly be any waves. No doubt you are familiar with Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. This piece goes through all 24 major and minor keys. Every movement should sound good if your piano or clavier is well tempered in it's tuning. So even pianos have that issue too.

I don't have perfect pitch, but I have pretty good relative pitch. I have a good idea of what my intervals should sound like and the perfect ones (unisons, octaves, 4th's and 5th's) are the easiest to hear when they are out.

That's what threw me this time was the fact I used the same brand and guage strings ... Dean Markley Blue Steels. There are bound to be variances during the manufacturing process.

Going to a different issue, I tend to break my high E more often than the other strings and I was thinking of buying several high E strings so I wouldn't have to keep buying whole packs of Blue Steels. I was thinking Ernie Balls; I just hope the tone is compatible with the Blue Steels. I'm sure I would have to re-strobe.

I also have this cheap habit of re-using my old strings when I break them. Since I have a lock down whammy system, the strings usually break by the bridge. I just unlock the nut, take some string off the tuner, lock it into the bridge, and tune. I know I move the fret wear just above the corresponding frets, and the crimps from the lock down are hovering over the the 1st fret board. This may not help the intonation but it saves me money.

[loudguitar]

Some chords I like to use to hear the intonation are:

E Major voiced open 6th, 5th string 11th fret with 3rd finger, strings 2,3,4, barred at 9th fret with first finger, 1st string 12th fret with pinky.

A major voiced open 5th string, then like A/C# with the C# at 4th string 11th fret, 3rd string 9th fret, 2nd string 10th fret, again with 12fret 1st string with pinky.

A5 with open 5th string, 3rd and 4th string w/ 1st finger at 14th fret, 1st and 2nd string at 17th fret with pinky.

D/A with open 5th and 4th strings, 3rd string 11th fret w/second finger, 1st and 2nd string barred at 10 fret with 1st finger.

Badd11 make a B bar chord at 7th fret, 6th string, but only fret strings 6,5,4,3, like the regular bar and add open high E and B strings.

If all these, along with an open G C and D chord, and open E major sound good, the intonation is very accurate.