Intonation and scale length issues on a Telecaster build

[wazkelly]

Sorry I missed this one.
Yep, deffo the bridge. Common problem with the three saddle Tele bridge system.
Another issue is the rear pup cavities are often 5-6mm too far back which makes intonation a challenge.

Ran the numbers through the Stewmac Fret calculator for a 21 fret initially using 648mm as that is closest to 25.5" and that is where I thought neck measurements were out by 1mm around 12th fret so went back and plugged in 646mm and the calculated measurements now line up more closely to those on this Telecaster neck. The confusing part is at the bottom of the calculator you have this....


Bridge placement for 646.000mm scale length
Distance indicated is from the fretboard edge of the nut to center of forward-most mounting screw or pivot post.

Telecaster® style bridges

652.333mm (± 0.5mm) ........and this final number is pretty damn close to what I have on the high E?

Re-checked the intonation across all 6 strings and it is a compromise at best to get somewhere near the fretted 12th note. Arrggghhhh, so frustrating and as the 6 saddle replacement arrived in today's mail proceeded to install it to see if that would do the trick.


Slightly shorter base plate length but thankfully long enough to hide screw holes from previous one.

Started intonating high E at exactly 646mm and had to screw plenty south to remove the sharpness on fretted 12th note and ended up at about 649mm with all others staggered backwards a little bit further from there.

May have solved one problem but now have a couple more to deal with as the bridge PUP no longer makes noise and suspect it may be shorting on the copper shielding or a wire came loose. Also had to wind the saddles up really high to take out fret buzzing and now some of the strings are buzzing against the protruding ends of the saddle intonation screws. Neck is dead flat and maybe I need to shim the front edge a bit, add some front bow, or take a bit of meat out of the neck pocket to drop the altitude down closer to sea level?

This one may just end up on the wall. The missus has given the all clear as she reckons it is the prettiest of the bunch built. Damn shame as the PUP's and 4 way switch sounded so good before I became obsessed with the rotten intonation sounding out of tune.

Got Thursday as RDO and will attack it again then. Happy for any more comments, suggestions, inspiration or feedback.