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April 2008
Posts: 4
Location: Phoenix, AZ | Did I say that right??? Anyways I've got an applause acoustic with I believe the aluminum neck, no truss rod. In pretty good shape. $35.00 from a local Goodwill. When properly tuned the b-String is flat compared to the G-String at the 4th fret and the hi=E-String is flat compared to the B-String fretted at the 5th. All the strings fretted at the 12th fret are sharp of their harmonic. The needle goes to around one O'Clock to give you an idea of how sharp. With no truss rod I'm thinking unglueing the bridge and moving it back is the only fix. Anyone ever tried this or maybe another way to fix....My first posting and my first Ovation/Applause guitar..Thanks... |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | It's not all that unusual for the fretted string to be a bit sharp fretted at the 12th, as you are "Stretching" them as you push them on to the frets. You might try lowering the action a bit if it is high... that can contribute to the problem
Also, before messing with the bridge, try a new saddle, make sure it is properly compensated. |
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Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | ... fret-wear could also be a contributing issue but, in this case, you can't have a fret job done, it'd need a new neck |
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April 2008
Posts: 4
Location: Phoenix, AZ | Neck seems to be OK, frets seemed to fine. Action is it's just that the intonation being off makes the chords sound a little off. Not sure about the saddle, it looks OK and I'll look into a compensated saddle, maybe StewMac but it's still going into the same slot. Any possibility of routing a new slot a little further back to get better intobation....Just a thought..... |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | For $35, forget the 12th fret harmonics and tune it by ear until the chords in the first position sound OK, and enjoy it for what it is. Or it's now that slide guitar you always wanted! If it has an Aluminum neck it's a 30-year old entry-level guitar. Maybe your expectations of it are a little high? |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4073
Location: Utah | You could try putting in an eNut. It's a little half-round piece of silver that stuffs up against the nut on the fretboard side. It works quite well. An alternative is to buy a piece of half round silver from a jewelry supply shop for a lot less $, although the enut is pretty cheap. Or, you could cut down a real nut to fit in the same place. I bet it would help intonation a lot in the first 5 frets for you, especially when playing open position chords like C, G, D, A, and E. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 4
Location: Phoenix, AZ | eNut sounds interesting but I need it on the bridge side to lenghten the strings a little to get the fretted notes at the 12th a little less sharp..........Food for thought..........Not high expectations. It sounds good and I'll try your tuning siggestion PT, thanks......... |
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Joined:
October 2002
Posts: 153
Location: Huntington Beach, CA | Is this an A/E guitar? If not, and if it has a thin line saddle, you can buy oversized (3/16 width) saddle blanks and fashion one to fit the slot but stair-step back a little with the upper half resting on top of the bridge behind the slot. Then finish off the crown to match the fretboard radius and thin out the top for a good bite on the strings. As long as the lower half of the saddle fits snugly in the slot, the string pressure pushing toward the sound-hole should be kept in check. Bone blanks are farily cheap and easy to grind, file and sand.
You can route out the bridge slot and shim the saddle in front on the sound-hold side, but that's a permanent alteration of the instrument and requres far more skill. Saddles are expendable if you miscalculate.
Just my thoughts. You might find some good suggestions on frets.com. Good luck.
- Eman. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4073
Location: Utah | Originally posted by GoodwillGuitars:
eNut sounds interesting but I need it on the bridge side to lenghten the strings a little to get the fretted notes at the 12th a little less sharp..........Food for thought..........Not high expectations. It sounds good and I'll try your tuning siggestion PT, thanks......... Actually, the eNut would work for you. What it does is shorten the scale from nut to 12th fret. The problem that you have is that the scale is too short from 12 to bridge, which is what makes it sound sharp compared to the harmonic. Or, another way to think of it is that the scale is too long from nut to 12, compared to 12 to bridge. If you shorten it at the nut, you can make the two halves equal.
You also describe fretted notes being too sharp in the first 5 frets. If the open strings are properly tuned and the fretted note too sharp, such as open E is ok but fretted 5th on the 2nd string is sharp, then the eNut will help.
I know, it is kind of counterintuitive, but it reduces the sharpness of fretted notes in the first few frets.
You can buy cheap half round jewelry silver that will work as well as the eNut. The issue is that whatever you put in there has to be a tad taller than the slots in the nut. Which means you might have to file the nut slots deeper, making the nut unusable when the eNut is removed. Or, if you don't file the slots, the eNut makes the action higher than it was before. Not a big deal, maybe.
Is the action a lot too high at the nut? That will definitely make the notes a bit sharp in the first few frets. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 4
Location: Phoenix, AZ | Thanks FlySig.....The action is low and could be a tad higher without any problems. I'll look around for a eNut................ |
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12th fret HarmonicsVS12th Fret Fretted
