How to Set the Intonation on a stratocaster style Guitar

A commonly overlooked yet important detail, intonation can really make or break your playing experience. While you may have done everything else right, if you do not set your intonation properly (or do not know how), you will never rid yourself of that feeling that something “…just is not right.”

This usually starts with the guitar being impossible to tune. And then when you finally think you have it in tune, every other chord sounds out of tune again. It’s enough to make you pull your hair out. All this is easily avoided with a good intonation adjustment. Once you have the distance between the saddles and nut properly set for each string, it will feel like someone literally pulled the monkey wrench out of the machine; everything gets easier. Setting your intonation is fairly easy. A good tuner and a screw-driver will suffice in a pinch. Included here are a bunch of videos that provide some no-nonsense help with regards to proper intonation setup for a Statocaster style guitar.