'62 reissue strat tunnning and intonation problems

[danilevitin]

have an american strat '62 made in 1999. i had the guitar re fretted with jumbo frets and also a compound radius made.

the guitar doesnt stay in tune, and seems to have an overall out of tune sound to it even when the saddles are set correctly. i have another start that doesnt have any of these problems, hence, i string the guitar correctly, the bridge has all five springs attached to it (the bridge rests well on the body), and the pickup's height is coffect.

anybody has any ideas that can help? thanks

[dan P]

Usually tuning problems can be traced to....not stretched new strings, a nut thats binding, or the strings are not wound on the tuners right...How is the intonation?

[jmasin]

Is it out of tune with the strings OPEN? Fretted?
You say a general out of tune sound, does this mean with chords?
Anywhere on the neck better or worse?
Like Dan says, is it intonated?

Sort of need more information.

The reason I ask is if you are talking about fretted notes, I would ask if you have ever played jumbo frets before? True jumbos (the BIG'UNS) take a bit of getting used to. If you are used to your finger tips hitting the fretboard, and now they don't, you may have to adjust your pressure as it is VERY easy to fret a note sharp just with pressure.

I had the 6100's put on my strat, and I find if I play an open E chord a little overzealous, the G# is always too sharp because it is so easy to push hard on that G string, and if your finger isn't right at the fret, it will sharpen. To me this is the most obvious chord where it happens.

It may have nothing to do with this, but it is honestly the first thing I thought of when you said new jumbo frets and tuning problems because I have recently had to work on my playing style with my new axe.

Please provide more information!

[Strat-Talk]

Dan P has supplied you with all the usual culprits. But it can be lots of things. We're here to help. Just supply some more details and we'll see what we can do.

[Boris Bubbanov]

Originally Posted by danilevitin

have an american strat '62 made in 1999. i had the guitar re fretted with jumbo frets and also a compound radius made.

I do see more intonation problems with the really big frets. If your other guitars have smaller frets, you may be pulling the string sharp on the jumbo fretted one.

Compound radius? Are you saying you have a new fret board, or that the original board was reworked?

I would think, going from 7.25 to say 9-14 conical radius, that the amount of fall away you need would be hard to achieve with what you started with. I would try another S neck from a guitar known to intonate well, and eliminate the body and bridge as culprits. Once that is done, I'd take one last look at the tuners (if the stock Gotoh 'kluson' should be OK) and the nut (which normally would've been redone) and if the problem remains, you might just have a cattywompus neck with geometry that just hasn't been thought all the way through. Or, depending on how meticulous you are being, maybe you simply have good but mismatched components at this point.

[Old Cane]

cattywompus

I always wondered how you spelled that.

I'm with Boris and the others here. What did you have done to the neck and the nut?