Anyone good at setting up guitars?

[Tristan Needler]

I've never tried it, but recently I've noticed the intonation is way of on the two highest strings, especially the high e. How do I fix that?

The fretted note at the twelfth fret is almost a quarter tone lower than the harmonic. Even chords and notes on the third fret sound way off. The E, A, D, and G strings are all fine.

[rawkandrowl]

What kind of bridge do you have? On most fixed bridges, there is a screw that controls the saddle for that string and here is how to adjust it: If you move the saddle closer to the pickups, the tone at the 12th fret will become sharper, if you move the saddle closer to the bridge, it will become lower.

[patrickhowell]

With a tuner, tune the open string. Fret and play the 12th fret. If the fretted note is flat, then move the bridge saddle toward the frets. If the fretted note is sharp, then move the bridge saddle away from the frets. You should use the 12th fret and the open string, not the 12th fret harmonic because the harmonic can be affected by your finger placement.

Remember it like this: if it's flat, then it's safe to move toward it. If it's sharp, it's dangerous and you should move away.

[PawelPotapowicz]

Exactly. Make sure you are doing it to a tuner and not by ear. The one thing I would recommend is to change strings, set it up, play for a few minutes, then go back to it to see if anything has been altered and make re-adjustments. Good luck!

[patrickhowell]

The one thing I would recommend is to change strings, set it up, play for a few minutes, then go back to it to see if anything has been altered and make re-adjustments.

Yes, I should have mentioned that. Old strings can make a guitar seem like the intonation is set wrong because they are stretched unevenly. Always set up a guitar with new strings (after stretching them).