Hi, new guy here. I've been playing guitar for a long time but have only got into GJ in the last year or two and have just picked up my first GJ guitar - a second hand Harley Benton HBMC-500, which I've read some people suspect to be a rebadged Dell Arte. Nowhere near me sells any GJ guitars so I have no benchmark against which to compare it, but it sounds good to my ears and is entertaining to play. Just trying to get the setup correct at the moment, which is where I could do with some assistance:
I've read guides on here and followed the Bob Halo setup video on you tube, and I'm happy that the relief and the action are pretty much as he advised there (I have 3.0mm on the low E and 2.5mm on the high E). Now, the intonation on all the strings is ok except for the G string, which is (according to my Snark tuner) about 25% sharp (I think that corresponds to 1/8 of a tone) and is enough to sound a bit ugly higher up the neck. Is it possible to adjust the intonation on just that one string?
I've just restrung it with D'Addario 10-44 strings. I don't know what strings the previous owner had put on them but I'm guessing they're some type of Argentines. I also have a pack of Argentines 10-45 and the gauges of all the wound strings are slightly different to D'Addarios, so could that make such a difference?
Thanks for any advice :-)
Chris.
Comments
Let's hear it "Please & Thank You" :question:
Let's hear it "Please & Thank You" :question:
Is it possible that you just have a bad G-string? That's bad for a guitar player, but terrible if you are a stripper...
What is the action height?
Yes, I measured the sharpness at the 12th fret, and the action on the G is just over 2.5 mm there (difficult to be more precise than that as I'm using metal ruler with 0.5mm markings).
A bad G string? Not sure what to say ;-) The D'Addario G is a slightly heavier gauge than the Argentines, whereas the other wound D'Addarios are slightly lighter gauges than the Argentines. All only small differences though, but could that be a cause? I'll try them next anyway, but I was hoping not to have to change strings so quickly.
A couple of photos are below if that helps. Regarding modifying the bridge, I guess I would need to start with a new one as suggested as the top of the bridge isn't particularly wide.
Thanks for the help!
Chris.
The B string needs to be a little longer when fretted so the bridge at the B string needs to be set back a bit. You could try a different brand of strings to see if that helps and also go up to 11's ....maybe try Argies or other brands. I suspect that given the amount of correction needed you will need to adjust at the bridge.
Given that there doesn't seem to be enough material left on the bridge and the action is pretty low you will likely need to get a different bridge with the b string notch adjusted back by a luthier. There has to be enough material left on the blank to allow for a few mm of backset.
I have a paper on correctly intonating a guitar. Done by a classical guitar playing physicist it is some 17 pages long with formulae to make your eyes water but it is correct. I have played one guitar set up this way and it was the best tempered guitar I have ever played.
Chris.
From an article on adjusting intonation:
Setting the intonation is the act of adjusting the length of the strings (by moving the bridge saddles) to compensate for the stretching of a string due to pushing it down to the fret board to produce a note.
With the aid of an electronic or digital tuner, compare either the open string or the octave harmonic at the 12th fret with the fretted octave at the 12th fret. Use slight finger pressure, as any extra pressure ("articulation") will disrupt the accuracy of the adjustment. If the fretted note is sharp, move the saddle away from the pickups and fret board; if it is flat, move the saddle toward the pickups and fret board.
If you periodically check your intonation, adjustments should rarely take more than a few minutes, provided you stick with the same tuning, action and string gauges. Check the intonation every time you change your strings, especially if you are changing tunings, gauges, or even brands. Even the slightest differences between sets of strings can make a noticeable difference.