Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

I've normally always played Strat style guitars. Real Strats, copies, close-enoughs, etc.
If the neck is the same scale and dimensions as a Fender american, it just fits my hands the best.
I do have a jackson that is much closer to a les paul neck, and lo and behold the G string is problematic for tuning/intonation.
I have found the B string to be the trouble maker on the strat style guitars.

Anyways...
I'd like to mine some experience and get some feedback on which brands that people have owned that had NO intonation issues.
Also, brands that you all have owned that have given you the worst problems.

It's not a personal experience, but I have been reading a lot about Carvins neck through the body guitars. Some "owners" claims that they stay in tune better than anything they have used before. Hype? Who knows. I did a lot of online research into their guitars prior to falling in love with a Goddess. When I get around to cheating on her, may just be a California Carved Top, or a V from Carvin.

My son has a Revelation by Hohner that's very nice, if you like the Floyd Rose (I've never been a fan). He also has a Fender Jag, which is sweet. (Why does he have better axes than I do?! Cuz I bought them for him!) I've used both with wonderful experiences.

I love my Squire Strat now that I've switched the pick guard & guts with American parts. I have a mid-priced Danelectro that also stays in tune really well, but it has no sustain to speak of. Must be that horrid Masonite body! It's light, though, LOL

If I can find a luthier that I trust, I'm gonna get my Ricky refretted, cuz it's probably my best guitar, but I still hafta get those parts I stripped & made for it gold-plated. I still don't know the model. I think it might have been a kit, but it's a really nice axe with a super thin neck & amazing tone. Hard to make it sound dirty, though, for some reason. The notes just ring through no matter the distortion until you muddy it up to the point it sounds awful.

My Squier Strat gives me no trouble at all, usually the only intonation problems are from abusing the whammy bar. I do have a bit of trouble under A/C vents, it seems the G and B change quicker than everything else, one or the other will be out in no time when the A/C comes on. Peavey Patriot, it's the B string. Not sure what the scale length is, but it has an extra fret and is a longer scale I think around that of a strat. Telecaster copy, no trouble, but it has a 6 saddle bridge. I hate those 3 saddle jobs like vintage tele's, no matter how you go about it 3 strings are not quite right. Cort Cl 1500, same scale as Gibson hollow body guitars, 24 3/4, (just looked it up) and it seems to have very good intonation and stays in tune sitting on the guitar stand for weeks at a time. Washburn BT 2 has very little trouble, I think it's a longer scaleusually I think it's the B string that goes out of tune.

I had a Lotus Les Paul copy years ago and like a dumbass let it get away from me, no trouble with it at all and held its tuning when sitting in the living room too. should have kept that guitar but I wanted a lighter one and couldn't afford to buy one outright so I traded it for a Epiphone strat...very bad idea, the Epi had THE most horrible intonation problems I've ever seen due to the angled down headstock. The strings fanned out after leaving the nut, whereas strat strings run in a straight line to the tuners. Touch the whammy bar and it was way out of tune, the strings would hang in the nut big time. I got rid of it after about a year, traded it for my current Squier Strat. Now that one was a good move, the Squier is a guitar I'll never give up, one of those Squiers that's a keeper.

All in all I think the Peavey Patriot is the most finicky one of the bunch, I have to watch it close and occasionally have to pull up on the B string to keep it in tune onstage, it's strange, but sitting on the stand untouched it will often be sharp when I get ready to use it. Everything else dead on, B string sharp, sitting there untouched...or at least that's what my ears telll me when I try to play it onstage a lot of the time.

hmm,
I have:
cort acoustic
thinline tele
frankenstrat
79' ibz bolt on lp (no mustache)
epi es295
89' jem 777 fp
83' hamer steve stevens
frankenjackson
dano u2 reissue
carvin
frankenpbass
dean fretless

now the cort's an acoustic so... you can't ask for perfect intonation AND playability...

the danelectro u2 - knife edge bridge so again... not perfect at all

the fretless bass - that's a tuff one to get locked in...

everything else on the list strobes out perfect... 100% e thru e
and you can hear it when you voice a few open chords at the 12+ fret...
but the minute you change strings/the weather changes/the neck adjusts/the strings get worn... it pulls the stars out of alignment - so I just deal with it until I feel like going through the whole process again..

btw...

I used to go to the carvin store every weekend...

finally had the money to buy a 'body kit' like they used to sell...
the neck warped and now it's my 'slide guitar' (along w my dano).

wrote a complaint letter to carvin 6mo after I bought it... they never replied. where's that garanteed 1/16 action now?

on the other hand.... bought my epi and found it had some bad fretwork...
called gibson and they sent me to a luthier at no charge and they filed em down... now it plays like glass (If only it wasn't such a club!).

I have had some - & + with Carvin's service people. The one Tech gent I spoke with on the phone about my amp was every bit as polite and helpfull as any I have encountered. Some of the others whom I spoke with must have been just California dope heads. Dumbassess with poor attitudes.