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Topic: Intonation adjustment on a Pedal Steel |
Ron Wendler
From:
Southern Minnesota, USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2024 5:47 pm |
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I'm building a simple pedal steel and I got to thinking about the intonation adjustment. On a 6 string, intonation is adjusted by moving each saddle on the bridge. A pedal steel doesn't have saddle that adjust on its bridge. There are changers that adjust for peddle movement but they do not adjust like a saddle does. Does making sure the scale length is spot on both at the 12 fret and open? Am I making something harder than it is?
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A fine instrument is like a lady. Treat it nice and it will make lovely music. |
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Fred
From:
Amesbury, MA
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Posted 14 Mar 2024 5:06 am
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Intonation adjustment is to compensate for stretching the string sharp when pressing in down to a fret (or fingerboard on a fretless instrument). This doesn't happen on a steel guitar so no compensation is needed.
So, yes, get your string length right. The twelfth fret line should be at the midpoint. Exact is nice, but if your off a little bit it won't matter. We play in tune with our ears not by meticulously lining the bar up with the fret markers. |
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Ron Wendler
From:
Southern Minnesota, USA
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Posted 14 Mar 2024 5:43 am
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This is another world for me to learn. Thank you for enlightening me on this. I so love the steel and looking forward to playing it some day
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A fine instrument is like a lady. Treat it nice and it will make lovely music. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 14 Mar 2024 8:35 am
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Good explanation, Fred.
The joy of this instrument us that however high you go, it's all automatically in tune as long as you keep the bar straight. Surprise your friends!
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Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Ross Shafer
From:
Petaluma, California
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Posted 14 Mar 2024 10:17 am
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Bar pressure determines how much deflection a string will experience. If you look closely, especially when playing single note stuff with the bar's nose, there can easily be as much or more deflection as that found on a fretted guitar. Your ear/hand skills are your intonation tools.
While I'm not a player and don't even try anymore. That said...Thankfully, I do have a pretty good ear. My first steel was purchased from Bobby Seymour. He sent me an MSA with a fret board from another brand that had a 1/4" different scale than that of the guitar. Playing in tune was no problem at all regardless of the frets being in the wrong positions. While I did see that my bar wasn't exactly over the frets when playing it didn't bother me. I didn't actually realize the dimensional difference until I was getting ready to sell that guitar at which point I felt pretty dumb.
The fret lines on a steel are very much like stop signs in Italy....a suggestion... |
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