How to intonate on Jay Turser Violin Bass?

[Allmanfan456]

Hey guys! I recently got my Jay Turser vilon bass set back up and given back to me but its horribly un-intonated. Does anyone here know how i would go about intonating it?

[fretlessman71]

Yep - it's going to have to be manually. Meaning moving the bridge back and forth beneath the strings.

Get a tape measure and measure the distance from the nut (or the zero fret if you have one) to the 12th fret. That distance should ALSO be the basic distance from the 12th fret to the bridge. Start there. (NOTE: this is a STARTING POINT ONLY.)

Once moved to the right spot (careful as you tighten the strings back; they tend to drag the bridge toward the neck as they tighten), check your intonation on each string. Using a tuner, compare the 12th fret harmonic to the 12 fret "fretted" note; if the fretted note is high by comparison, the bridge needs to move AWAY from the pickups, and vice versa if it's low.

Since it's a non-adjustable bridge, close is as good as you're going to get. My advice would be to get the D and G strings in good intonation at the expense of the E and the A (how often do you play that high on those strings, anyway?).

HTH! -Fret

[Allmanfan456]

Originally Posted by fretlessman71

Yep - it's going to have to be manually. Meaning moving the bridge back and forth beneath the strings.

Get a tape measure and measure the distance from the nut (or the zero fret if you have one) to the 12th fret. That distance should ALSO be the basic distance from the 12th fret to the bridge. Start there. (NOTE: this is a STARTING POINT ONLY.)

Once moved to the right spot (careful as you tighten the strings back; they tend to drag the bridge toward the neck as they tighten), check your intonation on each string. Using a tuner, compare the 12th fret harmonic to the 12 fret "fretted" note; if the fretted note is high by comparison, the bridge needs to move AWAY from the pickups, and vice versa if it's low.

Since it's a non-adjustable bridge, close is as good as you're going to get. My advice would be to get the D and G strings in good intonation at the expense of the E and the A (how often do you play that high on those strings, anyway?).

HTH! -Fret

Wow thanks man that makes sense! And i play all strings pretty equally.

[Pilgrim]

One more note - the bridge may have to slant a bit relative to the body to get the intonation right - that's OK and not unusual with that type of bridge.

[fretlessman71]

And those bridges may already be compensated in that direction - my Hofner and Univox Lectra basses take that into account. But yes, a little EXTRA slant may be necessary.

[jblock]

I have a bass with a floating bridge and the intonation is spot on at the 12th fret but goes sharp beyond that from 2 cents at the 14th fret to about 8 cents at the 21st fret. Is there anything that can be done about this or is it normal?

[rumblethump]

I've intonated getting the G and E string exactly right and it worked for me. The D and A weren't too far off. Don't forget to back off the tuning when moving the bridge or you will scratch the finish.