Gitane & Intonation

rhythmkick

Well well well,
I've recently purchased a lovely little Gitane 225, and apart from shimming with some popsicle sticks, she rests just as I got her.
First of all, the volume is right on and I'm super happy with the bite and punch, it rocks all over the place on my dreddy. But I have a problem with the intonation on the g-string. I noticed while playing octaves on the e and g that my g is flat above the 7th fret. Is this something that can be remedied fairly easily?
I'm bringing it to my local luthier asap for fret work, proper shims and a truss adjustment, but I know for a fact that he's not a selmac specialist and I've read some enlightening advice about guitar setup on this forum, so the more I can tell him in advance would be more than welcome.
Cheers.

Josh Hegg

Number one... Get a Dupont bridge. The Gitane bridges are crap. That will alleviate the need for shims as well... 2 birds one stone.

The intonation might have some to do with the strings you are using. You must use the correct strings on these kind of instruments for them to preform correctly. Get 10-45 or 11-46 here -->

https://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/cg ... ne+strings

This would be a good first step. Also tell your set up guy that you don't want it set up like a western gaiter. Make sure the action is high enough. If you don't till him this he will kill your brand new bridge and make it too low. Use shims only to get the action you like then order a bridge accordingly before you have it set up.

Cheers,
Josh

rhythmkick

Hey, thanks for the reply,

Mine came fitted with argentine 10's, so I don't think it's a string problem.
Also, I remember reading a whole shwack of info about dupont bridges, but I can't find the thread again. What's the norm for bringing the action up to standard?

Thanks again.

Josh Hegg

The Dupont is a good and easy way to make the guitar sound 100 times better. However the compensation on the Dupont bridges is a but extreme for the Gitane guitars. Thus not fixing the intonation problem 100%. The only real way to fix the problem is have a bridge made by some one who knows the Gitane and the way it needs to be set up. But like I said before the Dupont blank with a proper set up is good.

Cheers