String/Tuning Problem?

[dawpooldad]

Hi,

I have a question about strings that someone may be able to help me with.

I've played an acoustic for many years in various bands, duos trios and such, but have never really played an electric in any of them.

I've always used Martin extra lights 10 - 47s on the acoustic and have got very used to this gauge so, when I was asked to join an old farts vintage rock and pop band, I had to press gang my trusty old Epiphone Telecaster into action.

I've not really used this guitar too much (to my eternal shame!), so I decided to re string it with some Fender stainless steels at a similar gauge 10 - 46.

Now previously, this guitar had been set up by a local luthier on a "Look after your Electric guitar" session and he had done a great job. He also found that the neck was out of line with the body and reset it.

The guitar was great after this but as I said, I didn't use it and it just hung on the wall along with the rest of my"collection". But that was a few years and I thought that all it would need was a set of new strings.

So, I fitted the strings, tuned it up, re-stretched the strings, checked the intonation, which was only out on the unwound 3rd G, so I duly reset it.

The problem is, the guitar stays in tune when I play open chords, but when I barre any chord, it doesn't sound right. It's OK playing a C or an E or a D, even B7, it's great, but play F or F#min or a B and it's out, only slightly, but it sounds wrong!

I thought that I was pressing down too hard on the strings, but I've checked the string height and it is lower than I'm used to on the acoustic. In fact the action is great! I've also checked the arm adjustment and that looks OK to me.

So what's going wrong or what am I doing wrong?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Best regards

Dawpooldad

[sam.spoons]

Do you use the same gauges that you use on your acoustics (10-47)? Is the nut hight correct (maybe the most likely culprit) and is the intonation good comparing the octave harmonic to the octave fretted on each string?

If all those stack up then a trip to a luthier is required (unless it's your technique but given similar string gauges to your acoustics.....) as it sounds like the fretting is off.

[myersbw]

I would imagine nut height is ok, but are the slots..especially for the 4th, 5th, 6th strings...too narrow for those gauge strings? If uncomfortable re-slotting the nut, then yep...go see the local luthier!

[lammie200]

You could try a compensated nut like an Earvana. I put one on my Strat and it made a world of difference.

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by dawpooldad

Hi,

I have a question about strings that someone may be able to help me with.

I've played an acoustic for many years in various bands, duos trios and such, but have never really played an electric in any of them.

I've always used Martin extra lights 10 - 47s on the acoustic and have got very used to this gauge so, when I was asked to join an old farts vintage rock and pop band, I had to press gang my trusty old Epiphone Telecaster into action.

I've not really used this guitar too much (to my eternal shame!), so I decided to re string it with some Fender stainless steels at a similar gauge 10 - 46.

Now previously, this guitar had been set up by a local luthier on a "Look after your Electric guitar" session and he had done a great job. He also found that the neck was out of line with the body and reset it.

The guitar was great after this but as I said, I didn't use it and it just hung on the wall along with the rest of my"collection". But that was a few years and I thought that all it would need was a set of new strings.

So, I fitted the strings, tuned it up, re-stretched the strings, checked the intonation, which was only out on the unwound 3rd G, so I duly reset it.

The problem is, the guitar stays in tune when I play open chords, but when I barre any chord, it doesn't sound right. It's OK playing a C or an E or a D, even B7, it's great, but play F or F#min or a B and it's out, only slightly, but it sounds wrong!

I thought that I was pressing down too hard on the strings, but I've checked the string height and it is lower than I'm used to on the acoustic. In fact the action is great! I've also checked the arm adjustment and that looks OK to me.

So what's going wrong or what am I doing wrong?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Best regards

Dawpooldad

A couple of things to check based on mistakes I've made (and still make sometimes) in similar situations.

1. The G string is so often the culprit here, and it is frequently because you really are fretting it too hard even though you may not be aware of it. Tune it up, play some open chords in any order then try to land on an open D "naturally", with no particular effort to make it sound good. Hit the D over and over a few times, then lighten up on the G string and see if it sounds better. As a long-time acoustic guy, it is pretty likely that this could be the problem.
2. You may get better results also with .011 strings instead of .010. It helped me a lot, although I ended up back on a .010 set because I play lots of solos, lots of bends, and my hands didn't get along well with .011s.
3. I doubt that you use a lot of distortion, but if you do you may experience "intermodulation distortion" using open chords or chords with lots of notes in them (like a full bar chord).

That's all I've got in terms of stuff to try before you start worrying about nut slots, fret height, etc.

[jonfields45]

It is possible that the new strings you chose are much stiffer than the ones used to set the intonation and it needs adjustment (the strings need to be longer). Have you checked the harmonic versus the fretted note at the 12th fret?

By the way, stainless strings have non-magnetic wraps and the lower strings might not sound as good as standard nickel plated steel. To compensate for the non-magnetic wrap, the stainless strings might have thicker steel cores, making them stiffer, and making your intonation even worse (in addition to being a heavier gauge which I am guessing you also did).

Intonation primarily compensates for string stiffness which moves the vibrating end of the string away from the physical end of the string. Stiffer strings require more compensation (they need to be longer).

[JeffreyAK]

It's probably the nut if you really aren't pressing the strings too hard and it's intonated at the 12th fret. If the string is sitting too high (which is often the case, either because the slots aren't deep enough or wide enough), it can really throw off the tuning when you're playing down the neck near the nut. You can file the grooves yourself with proper nut files and good technique, but it's simpler and maybe less frustrating to take it to someone who can do a good job and has the files already. I did an infinite loop on this a while back with my Strat, learned a lot about making decent grooves in a brass nut but eventually gave up and handed it to a pro to fix it for me.