[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by joannan

Ok, thanks for all the replies. The photo and capo advice helped, it is now seeming to be fine with the capo closer to the fret and not so tight. BUT it does indeed go out of tune on the 5th Fret, low E, without capo. Quite sharp.
It is okay on the 3rd fret without capo. I didn't check this thoroughly enough when I bought it. What does this mean and what can be done about it? The action isn't as low as it could be, will that make a difference?

Hi joannan…
My most expensive guitar goes very sharp when capoed at the 5th fret, depending on which capo I use. It's only slightly sharp with the capo most closely matched to the radius of the fingerboard. The cure - retune. But when fretted, I can keep it tolerably in tune (wasn't always so).

Poor intonation on low strings - especially sharpness - is usually an issue of us overpressing, or the saddle needing a bit of compensation, or the height of the action, or a combination of all three.

The fact that all guitar's frets are built slightly out of tune (it's called equal temperament) means there will be noticeable discrepancies that we have to work around...and that means compromises.

One of the things I've done is to have my 6th string intonated during setups to D instead of E, and I've had the saddle slot filled and recut on one of my guitars because as it aged, the lift behind the bridge accentuated the sharpness.

All of these are perfectly normal, and they become a part of our acoustic guitar life if one keeps an instrument for more than 10-15 years.

I've never met a Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Guild, (keep the list going) that I was totally happy with out of the box without a decent setup. I found some more tolerable than others, but all require setups.