Does anyone know how to set up an electric guitar properly? I've been trying to do it myself, but just can't get the intonation right. So far, I've gone through the following steps:

* Tune all strings approximately, then correct neck relief to be 0.2mm at the 7th fret (capo on the first and 14th fret)
* Tune all strings approximately and set the bridge height so that string 1 clears 12th fret by 1.5mm, and string 6 clears same fret by 2mm.
* Tune all strings exactly and attempt to correct intonation by comparing second harmonic with the 12th fret pitch. This appears impossible for strings 5 and 6, because I've run out of adjustment range. The slider is at the longest possible position, but the fretted pitch is higher than the harmonic by about 5 Hz.

What could be wrong? The guitar is a new-ish Hagstrom Ultra Swede.

Grab it by the neck and smash it into the ground it will be perfectly tuned for .00001 of a second seems to have worked for a lot of bands in the past

did you try googling/youtube?

Gestalt said...
best to find a good tech.

i've never been able to get anywhere near the results the tech my mates and i use for our guitars.

for $100-$150 it's well worth it.

not sure of who's the best in WA. there will be a couple of guys that most people go too. usually centred around a "real" rock orientated guitar shop that handles all of the local and touring bands.

You're probably right Gestalt, but this is DIY corner. For reference, I've got one here, about the same neck relief and action, the distance from nut to 12th fret is 325mm, from the 12th to the bridge on the low e string is 330mm. The E slider is cranked as long as it can go. I haven't got a good ear but with a $25 tuner it is green E open and green E at the 12th fret. Can you file or bend the slider to get a little more length?

Misplaced my scientific calculator so can't check the twelfth root of 2 calculations for a semi-tone, but that looks about right. At either end of the scale on my tuner is +50 and -50 so it now makes sense that that is the fraction of a semi tone from the central tuned position. So by your calculations the semi-tone from low E is 2.8 X 3 = 8.4 hz. Then the green arrow resolution, relative to 50% FSD looks to be about 5% on my cheap tuner, 5% of 8.4 is less than a Hz. If you fret the 12 th fret moderately awkwardly, a bit of lateral tension, the E goes sharp by about 20% of semitone. If you fret at the twelfth with full finger strength, really get that string down, but not bending sideways, between the frets 11 and 12 you can almost get to 50% of a semi tone. So set your intonation with the the light fretting at the 12th fret that you hope to play with.

The high E string, for comparison, on the guitar I'm looking at, has the slider as far forward as is possible. Ie slider for high E fully forward, slider for low E fully back, so the bridge needs to be accurately placed to cover the full range.