LukeFRC Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Need to intonate my warwick after changing the strings. can someone point me to a handy (and good) online guide please? Ta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBunny Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 [quote name='LukeFRC' post='243278' date='Jul 19 2008, 11:38 AM']Need to intonate my warwick after changing the strings. can someone point me to a handy (and good) online guide please? Ta[/quote] Ere ya go. Some good info about strings as well on the LOS site. [url="http://www.lordofthestrings.com/lots/mcsmambo.p?M5NextUrl=RNEWS&asn_id=2004053101"]http://www.lordofthestrings.com/lots/mcsma...n_id=2004053101[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 In spite of looking fiddly, 2 piece Warwick bridges are solid and good to work with. Points to consider (above and beyond those in the guide above); Make sure your tuner/tuner pedal has fresh batteries in it (or use a mains adapter / mains powered tuner). There's nothing worse than having your batteries run out half way through! DO Plug your bass into an amp or something that'll amplify it whilst you check the pitches at the various points. It helps you to establish how the pitch is changing as you make adjustments. To further fine-tune your intonation, repeat the process again at the 19th fret. The Harmonic at this point is also equivalent to the fretted note at this position. This is especially helpful for those of you that play chords/ up at the dusty end of the fretboard! You can fine-tune further at the 24th fret, but I'v never noticed much difference between that and the results from the 19th. Once you've fine-tuned it (should you wish to do so!) Re-Check the intonation at the 12th fret to ensure all is well. [This one works for me, and AS FAR AS I CAN TELL it makes no difference to the results, and helps during the process] As far as I can ascertain (and I'm willing to be corrected!) you can intonate a given string at any pitch. If you drop tune to "D" go through the procedure and tune up to "E", everything [i]should[/i] still be fine. To this end, I often de-tune the instrument to work on intonation, as it makes the bridge saddles easier to move to and fro, and it's less likely to kink your new strings in more than one place, or wear flat spots in them on the underside around the bridge area. DO have new strings on for intonation work, especially if you like 'em fresh and change them regularly. Also re-check periodically if you keep your strings on for a while. Any change of gauge, type or make of string will require re-adjustment (though this is rarely much of a change) When you change strings- even for exactly the same string, check it again anyway when you tune them up / stretch them in. After I'm happy, I'll play each note on the fretboard and check it against the tuner. The odd note being a smidge out is fine. Most should be well "in" Never assume that instruments in a shop are correctly adjusted, no matter how good the instrument! (A quick nod to the old Wapping Bass Centre, here. I NEVER picked up a badly set-up instrument in there. Chris was a wizard on the tech side!) Don't let a poorly intonated instrument put you off. Learn to recognise what's wrong with it, and know you can fix it. I bought a Warwick Infinity SN4 from new that was dreadful in this regard, but once set-up, is terrific. When I try out basses I tune them first. If the shop won't give me a tuner, I'll thank them and leave. Then I check the intonation at the 12th fret. Then I play each fret on each string to check the action and listen for dodgy frets/buzz. Then I'll start playing... Hope this helps! Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 There are a lot of online guides - a selection has been collated on finnbass but the mods removed the link I put on the wiki so you will have to go to finnbass to look at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnt Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 (edited) [quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='243331' date='Jul 19 2008, 01:29 PM']To further fine-tune your intonation, repeat the process again at the 19th fret. The Harmonic at this point is also equivalent to the fretted note at this position.[/quote] At the risk of sounding uber-geeky, the 19th fret is not a perfect match for the harmonic. The maths tells me that the harmonic is 0.11%, or about 0.02 semitones, sharp. Close enough for Rock & Roll, though - we'd be getting in to Peterson Sweetened / Buzz Feiten territory if we were that critical. Edited July 19, 2008 by bnt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay Splayer Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 this one is quite useful.... [url="http://www.tunemybass.com/bass_setup/bass_intonation.html"]http://www.tunemybass.com/bass_setup/bass_intonation.html[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 thanks people! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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