My Les Paul's intonation is rubbish

[JonnyScaramanga]

Alright, something's gotta be done.

I recorded with my Les Paul recently, and a song which had open D and A chords in it just sounded horrible. Also if I play a big open E5 (fretted 02245x), it sounds disgusting.

The intonation is set correctly, but the 2nd fret of the G string and 3rd fret of the B are noticeably sharp.

There is some fret wear in those places, but it's quite light. I once had an Ibanez with worse fret wear which didn't sound as bad.

So I guess I'm gonna pull the trigger on an Earvana nut. But I just saw this: http://www.monteallums.com/enut_tuning.html Anyone know anything about it?

[Philly Q]

So I guess I'm gonna pull the trigger on an Earvana nut. But I just saw this: http://www.monteallums.com/enut_tuning.html Anyone know anything about it?

It looks like it's nothing more than a "zero fret" which simply shortens the distance between the nut and the first fret, unless I'm missing something.

Did you see this link which Fernando posted the other day?

http://www.guitarsetup.co.uk/TheFunkyNut.php

[WezV]

there are many ways to skin a cat, that enut thing looks a bit odd though - it seems to be moving the break point by more than 1-2mm -  which is quite a distance when only slight adjustment is needed

the very fiddly way:
http://mimf.com/nutcomp/

but really the earvana nut is the simplest way to do it so well worth the price.

[FELINEGUITARS]

We stock the Earvana nut and have it fitted tio all our stock guitars pretty much.

We now have the shelf nut version which is easier to fit and some feel a bit neater looking


The part is £20 +p&p

Philly - it is more than a zero fret as it has offsets which adjusts more for the strings that need more shortening.

[MrBump]

What about at the other end?  Surely the bridge would need to compensate for the different nut?  Or am I having another stoopid day?

[FELINEGUITARS]

What about at the other end?  Surely the bridge would need to compensate for the different nut?  Or am I having another stoopid day?

No - you are quite correct
The bridge saddles do get moved a little (not by much) towards the neck once the Earvana is fitted and the guitar is more in tune at both ends - but especially where you play all the open chords

[Philly Q]

Philly - it is more than a zero fret as it has offsets which adjusts more for the strings that need more shortening.

He mentions tuning offsets, but not physical offsets at the nut or bridge.  He does have one pic of an offset one halfway down the page (under the pic of the Floyd nut), but all the other pics on that page and in the installation instructions just look like big frets.  

http://www.monteallums.com/eNut_Installation.html

It's interesting seeing this eNut, the Earvana, the Feiten system, the Funky Nut, the compensated nut in Wez's link.  You'd think it would be - at least theoretically - an exact science, but they're all very different.  :?

[WezV]

basically at the moment the intonations adjustemnt at the bridge is working hard to correct the tuning imperfections... by having a compensated nut you should in theory need less compensation at the bridge

[WezV]

It's interesting seeing this eNut, the Earvana, the Feiten system, the Funky Nut, the compensated nut in Wez's link.  You'd think it would be - at least theoretically - an exact science, but they're all very different.  :?

Best to think of them as an improvement on the standard system... some are more of an improvement than others but all could be considered better the way they are designed to work

dont forget set-up plays a large part as well... if you have a higher action you need more compensation... at both ends if possible

[FELINEGUITARS]

basically at the moment the intonations adjustemnt at the bridge is working hard to correct the tuning imperfections... by having a compensated nut you should in theory need less compensation at the bridge

Thats the score!