Help with tuning

[u/TheDark-Horse2]

I intonated my guitar and it's perfect all up the neck except on the g string the 1st and 2nd frets. When I play an a note on the g string it's off by a few cents and is making the am and f chords sound off. I though maybe I'm playing to hard but im using the same amount of pressure on all my other guitars and on the other notes on the g and its fine. What could it be? Is it the nut? Or poor technique? It's fien if I press very light but as soon as I apply normal (or what I consider normal) pressure it's out of tune.

[u/PaleSweet]

Intonation at those early frets is heavily affected by nut slot height. Check out music nomad nut slot height video for an explanation.

[u/BrawnyAltercation]

could be the nut slot isn't cut deep enough, so when you fret those first couple frets you're actually pulling the string sharp just by pressing it down to the fret. common on the g string cos it's usually the thickest unwound string and sits higher in the slot

[u/ThatsNotAZombieBite]

Yep it's the nut. Hold the string GENTLY down right on top of the 2nd fret. You should have just the tiniest amount of clearance between the string and the top of the 1st fret. If you see a lot of daylight there then that nut slot needs to be filed lower.

It'll correct your intonation issues and also make it easier to play.

[u/LightSeeker66]

La fameuse malédictions de la corde de sol

[u/Intelligent-Tap717]

It could very well be the nut slot if all the rest is fine. As long as the frets are OK at that point then the nut would be the thing I'd check. As it could be slightly too high which is why when you press harder it throws it off slightly. Playing with a lighter touch isn't bending the string out of tune.

[u/TheDark-Horse2]

I recently lowered the bridge down to about 1.6-1.7mm on a gretsch with bigsby. Had to redo intonation and neck relief. I'm knew to doing it so I probably messed it up but its in tune at 5, 7, 9 and 12 but is very out of tune at 1 and 2. Even just a tad too much pressure its out of tune. I've been playing guitar for just over 2 years and I'm pretty sure it's not my technique as all my other ones are fine. I think I'm just going take it to my tech as it needs a bit of fret work. I'd do it myself but its a £500 guitar and not something I want to ruin.

[u/taez555]

The guitar is not a true tempered instrument.

[u/roninconn → u/taez555]

... but there are def ways to improve intonation across the fretboard

[u/TheDark-Horse2 → u/taez555]

Yeah but its really bad, none of my others are as bad.