Two new G&L guitars have G string intonation problems

[lendryesky]

I realize it's common to have sharp notes on the first few frets of guitars. However, I have a new ASAT special deluxe and a new fallout on which only the G string is effected, and pretty noticeably. I also know the unwound G string is especially vulnerable to this. The nut seems to be cut at about the same depth for the G string as the other strings (taking into account the radius) on both guitars. I tried both d'addario 11-49 and 10-46 on them with the same problem.

I'd expect every string to be a little sharp on the first few frets, but it's weird that only the G string is effected. Has anybody else had this problem as specific as mine? All my other guitars are perfect on just about every fret (Heritage H535, Gibson Les Paul Special, and Gibson Les Paul Studio). I'm thinking of taking one of the guitars into my tech to have him diagnose it a bit better.

Additional info: On both guitars the G string on the 1st fret is about 7 cents sharp, 2nd fret it's about 5, 3rd fret about 3, 4th fret about 2, and 5th fret about 1 cent sharp.

[Craig]

I realize it's common to have sharp notes on the first few frets of guitars. However, I have a new ASAT special deluxe and a new fallout on which only the G string is effected, and pretty noticeably. I also know the unwound G string is especially vulnerable to this. The nut seems to be cut at about the same depth for the G string as the other strings (taking into account the radius) on both guitars. I tried both d'addario 11-49 and 10-46 on them with the same problem.

I'd expect every string to be a little sharp on the first few frets, but it's weird that only the G string is effected. Has anybody else had this problem as specific as mine? All my other guitars are perfect on just about every fret (Heritage H535, Gibson Les Paul Special, and Gibson Les Paul Studio). I'm thinking of taking one of the guitars into my tech to have him diagnose it a bit better.

Additional info: On both guitars the G string on the 1st fret is about 7 cents sharp, 2nd fret it's about 5, 3rd fret about 3, 4th fret about 2, and 5th fret about 1 cent sharp.

I do not recall anyone here posting of an intonation issue with only the G string being affected.

I don't see that you have registered these guitars in our G&L Registry, so please do so and I will forward your post and the Serial Numbers of these two guitars
to my contacts at G&L for their evaluation. It might be that a bench tuner has gone out of spec and would require adjustment. Whatever the cause, I am quite sure
that the Factory will address it quickly.

Also, please do post some photos of your newly acquired G&L's, as we would love to see them. For details on posting photos, see this post in the Announcements Section: Welcome! Read This First.

[lendryesky]

Thanks, Craig,

I posted the instruments to the registry under my email address for my account. The serial numbers are: CLF065863 for the ASAT Special Deluxe and CLF068827 for the Fallout. I love the guitars other than this G string intonation issue.

I actually have a 2010 Legacy too that I sent to Chris because of truss rod problems (it's virtually dead straight and loosening doesn't affect the relief. It cost $60 to ship it to have it fixed under warranty, would I have to pay shipping to get these issues fixed?

Here are some pics:






Thanks!

[Craig]

Thanks, Craig,

I posted the instruments to the registry under my email address for my account. The serial numbers are: CLF065863 for the ASAT Special Deluxe and CLF068827 for the Fallout. I love the guitars other than this G string intonation issue.

I actually have a 2010 Legacy too that I sent to Chris because of truss rod problems (it's virtually dead straight and loosening doesn't affect the relief. It cost $60 to ship it to have it fixed under warranty, would I have to pay shipping to get these issues fixed?

Here are some pics:






Thanks!

You should be able to take them to the G&L dealer you bought them from and have their tech readjust the intonation on the G strings. There is no reason to
have to ship them back to the factory to do it and it should be covered under warranty, without charge to you.

That ASAT Special Deluxe is unusual with the Equatorial Mahogany body and no Maple top. Did you special order it this way? And, what does the Custom Build Specifications Sheet
say the actual model name is and what the body color finish is?

Thanks for adding them to the G&L Registry. I will send your post to my contacts at the factory along with the S/N's.

Hope this helps.

[helle-man]

The G string is the trickiest string to get in tune on an electric. I use a kind of tempered tuning and tune the G a few cents flat so that it blends with the other strings. The Low E is another string I tune slightly flat.

This isn't a big problem, but it's something you have to be aware of with guitars. The nut height, action height, truss rod, bridge intonation, pressure of your fingers all enter into it too.

You'll figure it out. It's not likely a production flaw from the factory.

Will

[lendryesky]

Thanks, Craig,

I posted the instruments to the registry under my email address for my account. The serial numbers are: CLF065863 for the ASAT Special Deluxe and CLF068827 for the Fallout. I love the guitars other than this G string intonation issue.

I actually have a 2010 Legacy too that I sent to Chris because of truss rod problems (it's virtually dead straight and loosening doesn't affect the relief. It cost $60 to ship it to have it fixed under warranty, would I have to pay shipping to get these issues fixed?

Thanks!

You should be able to take them to the G&L dealer you bought them from and have their tech readjust the intonation on the G strings. There is no reason to
have to ship them back to the factory to do it and it should be covered under warranty, without charge to you.

That ASAT Special Deluxe is unusual with the Equatorial Mahogany body and no Maple top. Did you special order it this way? And, what does the Custom Build Specifications Sheet
say the actual model name is and what the body color finish is?

Thanks for adding them to the G&L Registry. I will send your post to my contacts at the factory along with the S/N's.

Hope this helps.

Hi, Craig,

The ASAT with Equatorial Mahogany was bought through Martin's Music. I'm not sure if they special ordered it or not. It feels great and is nice and light. I'm not sure what it says on the build sheet as I don't have access to it at the moment.

[GeorgeB]

This thread made me curious... so I checked intonation on a few of my guitars, using my trusty Korg AT-2 needle tuner which allows for about 1 cent resolution (needle barely moves), don't know absolute accurary but should be quite good.

When I try to pluck and finger softly and take utmost care to neither pull nor push the neck intonation is spot on (+-2ct) but of course notably the G string goes sharp once you dig in harder, by 10ct and more also depending on fingering force. Pushing or pulling the neck gives another +-10ct giving an effective range of 0..25ct sharp or so. And that's with rather beefy .020 G strings. I mention this to put the numbers into perspective and the absolute tolerances they may have.

Anyway, I would think from the description thatit's most certainly a nut issue and should be easy to fix by a tech. G&L nuts come with quite a good factory setup but there always is room to optimize action on the lowest frets. On those Fender-style headstocks I also like to add a second string tree for D and G, together with a propper dressing of the nut for the higher break angle. I found this prevents a lot of additinonal (to the above) intonation problems on the G string, besides using the thickest gauge you're comfortable with (.020 in my case.

[lendryesky]

Just a follow-up. I took the guitars to my tech and he got the intonation all setup well.

[Elwood]

Just a follow-up. I took the guitars to my tech and he got the intonation all setup well.

Good news lendryesky,
gotta love good techs.

[darwinohm]

This is no surprise to me. WR made some good points. You can tune a guitar with the best tuner in the world and it still needs to tweaked to sound right. Nut, string height, it is all a factor as you bend the string to fret it. Glad it is acceptable. -- Darwin

[fabien]

A good setup will do wonder. That said tuning a guitar is all about compromising but some guitars are more prone to tempering problems.
Most guitarists will give away some accuracy in the first frets on G and B strings to get them in tune above 5th fret, but if your playing style uses mainly open chords on the first 5 frets you might choose for accuracy in this region at the cost of higher frets.

My Suhr has the Buzz Feiten tuning system and my custom made is so well made and allows such a low action that they sound almost perfect all over the neck. My strat and G&L are well made too but cannot tip to the other two.

By the way, very nice ASAT lendryesky! I'm not fond of the fallout style so I wont comment on it sorry .

Fabien