INTONATION
Before tackling this course, you should be comfortable with all the material from Adjusting Intonation on a Strat

Next up- Gibson style bridges! Once again, James and Chris walk you through the full process in a step by step manner, talking science along the way!

Summary: Different Bridge

We chose a Gibson style guitar for our second demonstration because of the different style of bridge. Gibsons typically have either Tune-o-matic or ABR bridges. Both are very similar and are adjusted differently to the saddled bridges on Fender guitars. These kind of bridges usually require a flathead screwdriver rather than the phillips. The picture below shows you how you would adjust these kind of bridges.

Checklist: Adjusting intonation

It's time to put some theory into practice and adjust the intonation. Here is a handy checklist to help you stay on track as you intonate your guitars.

  • 1. Get the open tuning perfectly in pitch, ideally in the playing position
  • 2. We start on the low E string, where you need to fret the 12th fret and pluck the string
  • 3. Check the tuning, is is sharp, flat or perfect?
  • 4. Adjust the saddle on the bridge using the flathead screwdriver. Tighten the screw if the string is sharp, and loosen it if the string is flat
  • 5. Retune the open string
  • 6. Re-fret the 12th fret and you should see the note is now closer in tune. If you need to make any further adjustments then runt he process again in the E string
  • 7. Once you are happy with the E string, repeat the whole process for all 6 strings

All done?

Congratulations

You've now completed Guest Corner: Intonation and taken a huge step forwards in your guitar playing journey.

Feel free to bask in glory for a while, or go ahead and try another course if you're hungry for more.