E string intonation

[Frankieabbott]

Hello all. I've used my limited set up skills to try and set up my bass. Have adjusted the relief to around 0.4mm (it had hardly any relief prior to this) and have my string action set at E=3mm and G=2.5mm at 12th fret. It plays a lot easier now. I've used my tuner pedal to intonate the strings at open and played at 12th fret and pedal is showing that the 12th fretted note is just about spot on. (I can't vouch for the accuracy of my pedal). Have also checked intonation at other frets on the fretboard and all seems ok.........HOWEVER....the first three frets on E string are playing sharp! HELP!!!!

[gary mac]

First off, are the strings old?

[KiOgon]

How well cut is your nut? You are bending the E more/too much to fret if it's too high!

[EssentialTension]

Nut is too high for E string?

[morgano]

Yes, could be the nut is too high and you are effectively stretching the string as you fret it. Also, the nut slot could be angled in such a way as the string is making contact only towards the back of the slot (i.e. closer to the tuners). This has the same effect as moving the frets towards the bridge, so will cause the fretted notes to go sharp.

[Frankieabbott]

I bought the guitar 'new' about 3 months ago. I suppose that maybe the guitar and certainly the strings could be any age depending how long it's been displayed in the shop. The clearance of the E string at the first fret is approximately 0.6mm.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Frankieabbott

[KiOgon]

[quote name='Frankieabbott' timestamp='1456067676' post='2985052']
I bought the guitar 'new' about 3 months ago. I suppose that maybe the guitar and certainly the strings could be any age depending how long it's been displayed in the shop. The clearance of the E string at the first fret is approximately 0.6mm.
[/quote]0.6mm don't sound a lot - but the way I test is to tear a sliver of paper & put on top of first fret while fretting the string at the 2nd, if the scrap of paper falls out - the nut slot ain't deep enough also as above - check the high point of the bottom of the slot is towards the fingerboard - not the tuners.

[Frankieabbott]

I've tried the sliver of paper test on first fret of all strings...not one string holds the paper when second fret is fretted!! Some are closer than others. The E string seems to have the biggest gap however.

[KiOgon]

Sounds like you need a nut job

[Frankieabbott]

Ooooof......is it painful?

[3below]

Much good advice above. The worst case I ever had of this caused much grief (and some stupidity on my part). The eventual cause was a 'duff' string.

[Ghost_Bass]

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1456068600' post='2985068']
(...)
the way I test is to tear a sliver of paper & put on top of first fret while fretting the string at the 2nd, if the scrap of paper falls out - the nut slot ain't deep enough
(...)
[/quote]

Great simple trick! That's my lesson learned for today, thanks

[iiipopes]

If the nut slot is of the proper geometry with a good witness point ramping back to the tuner, and if the strings have been installed and seated correctly, occasionally a bass will still have intonation issues with string stretch pulling notes on the first three frets sharp. This happened to me on my custom half-fanned P/J, which there is a thread somewhere.

I installed a Stephen Delft style nut shim to intonation the nut as well as the bridge, and it has worked perfectly:
[url="http://www.mimf.com/nutcomp/"]http://www.mimf.com/nutcomp/[/url]

Edited February 23, 2016 by iiipopes