Guitar is intonated but still sounds out of tune

rico

My tele is intonated (as well as I can with three compensated saddles) but some notes on the B still sound out above the 12th fret.  

It had a slight fret level recently but no crowning. 

Are there any tricks to setting up a tele so the relative intonation is accurate?

Im using the Strobostomp iPhone app. 

sweepy

Check the nut height first before you do anything else

rico

sweepy said:

Check the nut height first before you do anything else

The nut height is spot on

Bridgehouse

Have you retuned your ears?

smigeon

Are the strings new?

richardhomer

How close is the neck pick up to the strings? Sometimes the magnetic field can impede strings' vibrations which can be perceived as an intonation issue.

rico

richardhomer said:

How close is the neck pick up to the strings? Sometimes the magnetic field can impede strings' vibrations which can be perceived as an intonation issue.

It's about 2.5mm from high E when fretted at last fret. 

richardhomer

rico said:

richardhomer said:

How close is the neck pick up to the strings? Sometimes the magnetic field can impede strings' vibrations which can be perceived as an intonation issue.

It's about 2.5mm from high E when fretted at last fret. 

That's not the issue then....

WezV

Tune so the 5th fret note is in tune.  Then compare against the17th. 

Alnico

rico said:

My tele is intonated (as well as I can with three compensated saddles) but some notes on the B still sound out above the 12th fret.  

It had a slight fret level recently but no crowning. 

Are there any tricks to setting up a tele so the relative intonation is accurate?

Im using the Strobostomp iPhone app. 

No guitar will play right with flat top frets.

Have I misunderstood or are they actually flat across the top?
I'm not saying that's the whole problem but i cannot understand why they would have been levelled without being recrowned?

bingefeller

Jerry Donahue often talked about tuning his Tele and, thankfully, someone else had typed out how he does it.  

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/jerry-donahue-tuning-intonation-technique.197519/

try this too. 


http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/jerry-donahue-on-telecaster-style-bridge-intonation





Maybe this will help.  

Funkfingers

Are you a fretboard strangler? Some people press down so firmly on the strings that they send them sharp.

guitars4you

a couple of points to look at - tune up with a chord but no 3rd in the chord so root and 5th - a 3rd will give a dis-chord effect - try this approach further up the fingerboard as well - If you tune around the top nut end, then a slightly out of tune chord there will be amplified and further out as you up the fingerboard - so if you can tune around say the 7th fret and get this spot on/close, then less negative variation as you move up - Hope that makes sense as I'm not sure if I'm explaining it well


also is the action high-ish or okay - a high-ish action is harder to intonate as you are effectively stretching and bending the string when you fret it - like a vertical bend

57Deluxe

a typical extended intonation tweak on three saddle Teles is to slightly bend the E B saddle post laterally in towards the guitar's centre..

peteri

Try tuning on the 12th fret - and then playing across the rest of the neck.

For example - my LP Special, in order to make the G string work - I have to tune it to a 'b' at the 4th fret. If I tune open, most chords sound out

crunchman

Funkfingers said:

Are you a fretboard strangler? Some people press down so firmly on the strings that they send them sharp.

That would be me.  I'm working at not pressing so hard but getting out of years of habit isn't easy.

Ravenous

rico said:

...but some notes on the B still sound out above the 12th fret.  
 

Have you tried intonating on the 19th fret? i.e. play a natural harmonic above that fret, then play the note fretted. Tweak the intonation so these match.  (I think it's the 19th anyway - "two-thirds" of the scale length.)

It's similar to intonating against harmonics at the twelfth, just on a different bit of the neck.

I wonder if there's something else going on in the high notes, like pull from the pickup or some damage to the B string? (As everyone else's already mentioned the bridge height etc.)

earwighoney

It might be an obvious thing to state but have you tried changing the strings?  

rossi

I set mine up to play the good old low D chord .If thats  sound right the rest does .no idea why

mbe

When you say it 'sounds out', is that sharp or flat?

Chalky

No point changing intonation on old strings. They will have deformed at the bridge.  I always intonate to the 17th fret. So E open is A at the 17th. The guitar has to settle like that until next day then check again. And if all OK I check the 12th fret intonation too.  Some guitars just don't quite have every single fret in the right place.