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Sorry to be such a noob, but i cant figure out how to intonate my musicmaster...

My MM doesnt have those small screws on the saddles?

yours are screws too.
you just need a tiny allen wrench.

Oh I see, well that helped thanks!

it uses a .05 inch allen wrench (like most USA fender stuff).

if the inotonation is off, those screws won't help. those will raise/lower the height of the strings.

the screws on the back side of the bridge will adjust the intonation. if your notes on the 12th fret are sharp, you need to move those saddles back. If the notes on the 12th are flat, you need to move the saddles up.

Alright thanks!

it might be worth bearing in mind that you'll never get perfect intonation with the stock saddles - with only three for all six strings it's always going to be a bit of a compromise. replacing them with compensated saddles would help.

I happen to hate those slotted screws, I've always just replaced all my intonation screws with good stainless steel 6-32 screws.

The harmonic on the 12th fret matches the open string but it sounds really untuned when i play open chords like D and A.
Why is this?

Bloodbank wrote:The harmonic on the 12th fret matches the open string but it sounds really untuned when i play open chords like D and A.
Why is this?

your open, 12fret harmonic, and 12 fret notes should all match... not just the harmonic and the open...

those 3 saddle bridges are a pain in the ass to intonate

If you want better compensation you can use tilted Tele saddles to retain a vintage look



Or full-on compensated ones if your hands are in the air and you subsequently find it somewhat difficult to care



The stock middle saddle usually intonates better with a wound G, as the most noticable discrepancy in intonation will come from the wound D and much lighter plain G sharing a saddle... but that's usually no fun if you weren't using one before, and it's still not possible to get as close as with compensated jobbies.

are your chords going sharp?

those chords tend to always be a little sharp, especially those D chords. It's just the very nature of guitar. Using as light of a touch as possible will help. If they're going sharp, you guitar is bass ackwards.

my past musicmaster intonates perfectly with 10 54 ernie ball strings. put the saddles down on the two E sides. then adjust the 3 screws.
and i don't like the tele compensated saddles; esthetic and there are less large than MM saddles.

paul_ wrote:Or full-on compensated ones if your hands are in the air and you subsequently find it somewhat difficult to care

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That's what my Musicbastard has, and they work like a charm.

mkt3000 wrote:

paul_ wrote:Or full-on compensated ones if your hands are in the air and you subsequently find it somewhat difficult to care

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That's what my Musicbastard has, and they work like a charm.

I've got those on my Duo Sonic II and on my Tele, and they work great!

I've just fitted some of the Wilkinson compensated saddles to my '78 musicmaster. Only slightly odd thing I found was that the middle saddle worked better' flipped over and used as a standard, non-compensated brass saddle, but on the whole, the Wilkinsons did the business for me. Have saved the scummy vintage m@j@ ones that were on there in the baggie that the new ones came in (I don't give a fuck re. vintage correctness, but am aware that this guitar is all original other than this mod)

Did a quick before & after demo for anyone interested to hear the difference these made to mine (pretty noticable in my opinion) :

SoundCloud Demo Link

Bloodbank wrote:Sorry to be such a noob, but i cant figure out how to intonate my musicmaster...

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My MM doesnt have those small screws on the saddles?

good on you for using fender bullets. i love them, even without a trem!

jumbledupthinking wrote:Only slightly odd thing I found was that the middle saddle worked better' flipped over and used as a standard, non-compensated brass saddle

That is interesting, maybe scale-related? Do you use a plain or wound G?
Nice demo btw, great sounding guitar.

paul_ wrote:That is interesting, maybe scale-related? Do you use a plain or wound G?
Nice demo btw, great sounding guitar.

Thanks man...glad you liked it!
I use a wound G, got 12s on it at the moment if I remember correctly.

jumbledupthinking wrote:I've just fitted some of the Wilkinson compensated saddles to my '78 musicmaster. Only slightly odd thing I found was that the middle saddle worked better' flipped over and used as a standard, non-compensated brass saddle, but on the whole, the Wilkinsons did the business for me. Have saved the scummy vintage m@j@ ones that were on there in the baggie that the new ones came in (I don't give a fuck re. vintage correctness, but am aware that this guitar is all original other than this mod)

Did a quick before & after demo for anyone interested to hear the difference these made to mine (pretty noticable in my opinion) :

SoundCloud Demo Link

Intresting post indeed!
Thanks guys for all your inputs!