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hello, finished my third guitar with a fretboard from StewMac. It's supposed to be a Martin scale, I've got exactly 25.5 inches from nut to center of saddle and it sounds all screwy!! If I tune the low E and A correctly and play a simple power chord, I have to slide the A string a full fret up to make it sound almost right, so I can play power chords in third positions up the neck. I hope this makes sense...... Did I get the wrong fret board? I'm going to steam off bridge, but need advice on what distance. Thanks as always!!!

Jeff, Check the distance from the nut to the 12 fret and then the 12th fret to the saddle. The 12th fret to the saddle should be the same plus some compensation. You should be able to rule out or confirm a fingerboard problem by a few simple measurements.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

The center of your 12th fret should be exactly half the distance from the nut (string side) to the center of the saddle not counting the compensation. That full distance is your scale length. The compensation for a 3/32" saddle thickness should be 1/16" treble side and 5/32" on the bass side so those measurements should be added to the measuremant of above.

Here are a couple of links for you:

Frank Fords " Calculating Intonation Correction"

http://frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Data/compcalc.html

This is a link to the document on the Saddlematic by Stew Mac which I use and is a good tool to have.
But this explains saddle location pretty well. Think of the Saddlematic as a ruler with no measurement because you can do the exact same thing by measuring. This just makes it a no-brainer.

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Repair_tools,_specialized/i-4462.html

Hope this helps,
Bob

Martin long scale is 25.34".
I use the stewmac fret calculator for compensation. seems fine.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

So is it only the A string that isn't intonating properly?

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http://www.ericschaeferguitars.com

Good advice here.

First confirm your scale length. If it is a 25.34 scale then I try to have 25.428 on the 1st string to the center of the saddle and 25.553 to the center of the saddle on the 6th string. I intonate from there.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Replace the A string, and check it again.

Al

Call me old fashion step one -- clip on your "Snark" or other electronic tuner, tune it to pitch, What notes are you getting at the octave? (12th fret) Could be the saddle take offs are not compensated quit right.

Should look something like shown here:
http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/saddle.html

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

OK, I'm an idiot.....switched out nut and it sounds awseome!! Weird. I was using a super old nut I had laying around cuz the new one wasn't shaved down enough yet, I was excited to string it up, maybe its was possessed or something, switched it with new one, BOOM!! problem solved!! Thanks for all the help guys!!
(by the way, it was 322 mm to 12th fret and just over 644mm at the saddle)