Intonation of a Warwick Corvette Std.

[RenorCordic]

OI! I recently acquired a Warwick Corvette Standard. I play in C# G# C# F# tuning and I'm having some trouble getting my intonation spot on. The harmonics on the 12th frets are good, but when I fret the 12th on the G# and C# they are pretty high. Especially the C#, it's almost a D. I have the saddles as far back as they can go. If I adjust the truss rod will this help with the intonation any? And if not is there anything else I can do to close the gap between the open and 12th fret of the G# and C#?

As an aside, I used to play a Schecter Diamond Series Studio 4 and I was able to get the 12 frets almost perfect.

[Rick Auricchio]

If the 12th fret note is sharp, you need to get the saddles farther back. The truss rod will not help if your action is already reasonable.

[RenorCordic]

Yeah. The saddle on the E (C# in my case) is as far back as it will go. I guess the intonation just can't be perfected in this tuning.

[Rick Auricchio]

Regardless of the tuning, the 12th fret is at the 50% point on the string. So it should intonate. On this 34" scale bass, there's 17" from nut to 12th fret. And there should be 17" from there to the bridge saddle.

I'm stumped too.

1. Were you able to intonate in standard tuning?

2. Are the strings sitting in the nut properly, or are they on top of the slots?

[ehque]

You need to do your relief and action adjustments before you even touch your intonation. A bass with a high action will need more adjustment room to intonate properly.

What strings are you using? Using proper strings for this tuning might address the problem.

[ridgeback]

bring it to a good guitar shop and get it set up the right way..if thats not an option dont use your ears get a good tuner.. all guitar /basses are not exactly in tune along its length,its a fine line to what works and what does not work...warm humid weather can be a nightmare for tuning...

[RenorCordic]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I changed to standard tuning and found that I couldn't get proper intonation there either. The strings are snug inside the nut slots.

I'm unsure as to what you mean by relief and action adjustments. Do you mean adjusting the nut height and adjusting the truss rod? I'm fairly new to the fine adjustments of a bass, but I do want to be able to do them myself. The action is very high on my Warwick. I use Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys. .50, .70, .85, .105.

I use a Korg Pitch Black Plus as a tuner.

Thanks again!

[ridgeback]

relief is the curve in the neck..(from 1st fret to the 24th fret or whatever it has)
if you dont know what your doing dont touch the trus rod,and if you are going to do it make sure your strings are at the right tension..dont adjust it without strings..and small adjustments (less than quater a turn at a time) warwick tend to have a flat neck anyway..
honestly mate i would get it set up by a pro because i dont think you know what your trying to fix(not trying to be *******) you can do a lot of damage very easy..there is plenty of time to learn this stuff but first you have to know what it should be like...a pro set up is not expensive (price of a set of strings) and will save you a lot of **** until you can do it for yourself..

[lowendfriend]

Next step: strings.....are you using strings appropriate to the tuning range you are striving for?

I'm assuming the Corvette Standard also has the 2 piece bridge, so you can go up a little in height and offset a bit with truss rod and Just-A-Nut adjustment to "bob 'n' weave" a little on setup. That might return some of your adjustment range on the saddle settings.

I use Sadowsky flats on my Corvette $$ 5er.

Are the strings you are using new? Sometimes using strings that were on another bass with different set points can twist or "set" them a little different, or twist the strings. That would be more likely if it was just a one or two strings than if all 4 or 5 are a problem.

Good luck.

[RenorCordic]

@ ridgeback: You aren't being an expletive deleted. I am new to this and I don't know what to change to fix it.

@ lowendfriend: The strings are new and the bridge is 2 piece.

[lowendfriend]

Have you reviewed the material in the sticky at the front of this forum? I particularly got a lot out of the Jerzy Drozd Ultimate guide.

Maybe you went too far in one direction for intonation? Generally your highest string will be closest to the pickups and then each subsequent string toward the low notes gets progressively farther from the pickups by roughly the string thickness. Didn't know if your corvette is a 5 string or not. Intonation on tapered B strings can be a little wacky as the thickness over the bridge is more like a D or G string in thickness.

[RenorCordic]

Thanks. I'll go over that sticky a few times and see what I can come up with. Thanks everyone! It's a 4 String by the way.

[ehque]

Don't bother changing strings (to fix the problem) before you get your relief and action settings right. Different sets of strings have different tensions, pulling on your neck differently and changing the setup.

Learn how to do a setup first and get this bass setup before trying anything else.