[stefano65]

Hi all,
i am an electric bassist, not a guitarist so i ask to someone more expert than me: my acoustic/electric little one is a Takamine, model EG334B0. She is around 15 years old, i bought her new in a music shop.

I have problems with her: the strings doesn't want to stay in tune. More, i cannot use an electronic tuner because when i perfectly tune her, it doesn't "fit" with the fret: the open strings are in tune, but when i try to make a chord, the sound is out of tune in every cord position.
Thinking it was because my strings could be old, i change them. Nothing changed.
I tryed with a screwdriver to "close" all the little screws on the mechanincs. Nothing changed.

Can someone plz help me to understand what's happened and what can i do to fix this issue? I wish don't change my little one...

[stavcoby]

This is an intonation issue ( pitch accuracy ) normally caused by a curved neck or maybe a bridge issue.

You need to either loosen or tighten the truss rod accordingly.  I recommend getting a guit repair guy to look at it and set it up for you, if you’re not aware of guitar maintenance.

Could of been warped through climate in storage or a knock or even strings too tight at a high gauge.  

[stefano65]

This is an intonation issue ( pitch accuracy ) normally caused by a curved neck or maybe a bridge issue.

You need to either loosen or tighten the truss rod accordingly.  I recommend getting a guit repair guy to look at it and set it up for you, if you’re not aware of guitar maintenance.

Could of been warped through climate in storage or a knock or even strings too tight at a high gauge.  

Well, the bridge is glued on the top and i cannot do anything to change its position. And when i bought the guitar there was no tune problems at all.
So i think the guilty is the neck (and me, that i didn't check it. Bad Stefano...  ).

I have no problem at all to put my dirty hands  over a trussrod: i did it many times with my bass but i never had such a problem with Paul (i called my bass Paul and my guitar Filomena, an ancient italian female name).

I will see closely through the neck to see in which direction i must turn the trussrod. I think in 2-3 days it will fix.

Thanx a lot stavcoby, i very appreciated your help

[Boydie]

I would definitely say this is an "intonation" issue

Although I would personally NOT recommend a truss rod adjustment to fix it

In my experience you will save yourself a lot of hassle and get a much better result if you pay for a proper set-up by an expert

Intonation is best fixed by focussing on the distance between the fretted note and the string first

If your open strings sound fine and your fretted strings sound out then I suspect your "action" (the height of the string from the fretboard) is a bit high - and pressing the string down is actually affecting the pitch of the string by "bending" it as you press the string against the fretboard

One thing to bear in mind is that you only need to press hard enough to make contact between the string and the fret wire - the string does not need to be buried into the fretboard!!! So it is always worth checking your technique

Whilst adjusting the truss rod will affect intonation and action the best approach is lots of small, precise, adjustments to the nut, bridge and truss rod to achieve a good action and intonation - rather than an "extreme" adjustment of just one element - an experienced luthier will find the best combination for you

On acoustic guitars the nut slots can be cut individually to change the height of each string, if it is too high you will increase the pitch of the string by having to push it down harder

Bridges can be adjusted - in extreme cases they can be moved but I doubt you will need this

It is more likely that your bridge saddle will need to be re-shaped to change the height (by sanding some material from the bottom of the saddle to lower it)

The saddle top can also be shaped to change the point of contact for each string or angled to change the point of contact for all strings (or a bit of both)

The truss rod will also be adjusted to compensate and compliment these adjustments to achieve the best compromise of all adjustment options

I have never regretted spending money on a pro set-up and having fantastically playable guitars!!!

Cranking the truss rod could cause damage so please take care if you have a go yourself!!!

[tone]

Excellent advice from Boydie there - I would agree that some combination of nut, truss and bridge will yield the best results, but only in the hands of an experienced luthier.

It's really worth spending money on a professional setup. You'll get much more enjoyment and life from the instrument.

[stefano65]

Hello Boydie and tone

of course i won't to do anything that harm my beloved one, that's the reason why i will try only to adjust the trussrod. If the problem is more than this, i will bring her to the doctor.

I can do the normal maintenance, i am not (and i don't want to become) a luther.

Thanx a lot for the sharp infoes Boydie: i knew (only) half of them and i never tryed to do something that could hurt my Filomena.