Chap intonation problems

TheDan

TheDan

New member
I've come across an intonation problem on my Chap: The guitar is tuned perfectly, 12th fret harmonic in pitch. However, when I fret the guitar on the first fret (on all strings) it's almost half a note off. The further I move up the neck, the less it gets. On the 5th fret it's in pitch again.

I tried to make adjustments with the Floyd Rose saddles and the springs on the back of the guitar but that didn't do anything.

Anybody here know what the problem is?

Much obliged,

Dan

 
Sounds like your nut is too high to me. The higher the nut, the more you have to press on the strings. The higher up the neck you go, the less you have to press. Is your nut shimmed? If so = remove the shim. If not, you may need your nut cutting...

 
Vic Croll (Concrete Sox) said:
Sounds like your nut is too high to me. The higher the nut, the more you have to press on the strings. The higher up the neck you go, the less you have to press. Is your nut shimmed? If so = remove the shim. If not, you may need your nut cutting...
Click to expand...
This. A lot of people think Floyd nuts are all the same but they're not, necessarily. Different spec'd orders and different places of manufacture add up to different heights. Everybody advertises the width in listings but not the height. I've run into this, as well. I've still got a guitar with all chrome hardware except a black locknut that's a little too narrow just so I can play it.

 
Is it shimmed? if it's had a bunch of fret dressings the frets may be too low for the current shim, so it may need a new one, or to have the existing one shaved down.

 
Something that came up in conversation about a Floyded guitar with a set up problem around the first fret was the possibility of the locking nut having the wrong radius. A nut for a rounder radius would rattle on the outer strings and be higher in the center on a flatter radius fretboard. A flatter radius nut would rattle in the middle on a rounder radius fretboard. Adding shims only cures the problem in one part of the nut if the wrong nut is installed.
Check your radius of your fretboard and the the radius of your nut before adding or removing shims.
 
I found out with my 1987 Chap Custom that the previous owner had taken away metal from the bottoms of the clamps of the R2 nut?

We checked the height and levelness of the nut platform and every so slightly took off the most minute thickness. Would get string buzz unless the clamps went back in the exact position...weird.

My previous guy in Pennsylvania completely missed all of this. Only when a guy in Phoenix who I took it to for the buzzing issue found this out. You wouldn't expect something like that..

Ideally to change out the whole R2 nut assbly would be ideal.

yngwe308

 
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