From the Factory: What Brand Has Best Intonation

[Highway_61]

Knowing that most guitars can benefit from post-purchase tweaking, my question still is this:
In your experience, in regard to all guitars you have purchased new, which brand, if you have purchased more than one guitar with that brand, has been most consistent in terms of being very well intonated. And, conversely, which brand had been the least consistent (unless it is to say it has been consistently bad)?

[dneal]

I think most factory guitars have pretty good intonation. Martin had a period with poorly placed bridges and saddles, but those days are long gone.

Although they may be approaching (or at) the arbitrary benchmark of "factory", and even though their tone doesn't hold my attention; Collings continues to amaze me with their build quality, including intonation. Definitely one of the best "factory" brands.

[HAPPYDAN]

Taylor. I own 3, have purchased 4. I have tried other brands, but always come back to Taylor. IMO, the best "Off the Shelf" brand.

[MrDB]

If I were heading to the audition I had been working for all my life, and the condition was that I had to play their guitar right out of the shipping box?

I would choose Taylor.

[baimo]

I ma finding Martins QC to be great and many might argue but the last 2 Gibsons I played were setup really nice

[dgt178]

...FWIW.....my Ovation and Yamaha were spot on....

[bajawatt]

Taylor and Yamaha.

[TBman]

I have a variety of "off the shelf" guitars and they all intonate well to my ears. If they didn't it would drive me nuts.

[dodge]

I would say Taylor's.

[nedray]

Depends on what you mean by intonation. I find I have to tune most low E strings a few cents flat to keep from pulling the string sharp on open G chords especially. I also find very few instruments that can play chords in tune above the 7th fret because the action gets a little high up there and the strings pull sharp when you fret them. If you just need well tuned octaves in the first five fret range, most good guitars will do that for you. As you say, tweaking at the nut and saddle are often required.

[rokdog49]

Taylor both for intonation and setup.

[EverettWilliams]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Taylor both for intonation and setup.

I think this depends on what you mean by setup. I think Taylor sets its action way too low. But the intonation is good.

I think Taylor consistently hits its mark, but I just don't like that mark.

Collings, on the other hand, gets that level of consistency, but I love what they're shooting for.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Highway_61

Knowing that most guitars can benefit from post-purchase tweaking, my question still is this:
In your experience, in regard to all guitars you have purchased new, which brand, if you have purchased more than one guitar with that brand, has been most consistent in terms of being very well intonated. And, conversely, which brand had been the least consistent (unless it is to say it has been consistently bad)?

The differences in intonation between the major players is negligible and the replies you're going to receive won't be based on some measured analysis of a large sample from each manufacturer, the replies will be based on who likes which brand more.

[6L6]

In my experience, it would be Collings guitars.

[dgt178]

Originally Posted by jim1960

The differences in intonation between the major players is negligible and the replies you're going to receive won't be based on some measured analysis of a large sample from each manufacturer, the replies will be based on who likes which brand more.

....I disagree.....if my guitars were junk....I'd be man enough to admit it.....