Electric guitar maintenance and setup - Who can you recommend?

[Mark1066]

I have never seen so much terrible advice all in one place. And from people who claim to have half a century of experience, which makes it a whole lot worse.

 

The information about tuners is total nonsense. Virtually all cheap clip-on tuners have a chromatic mode nowadays (in addition to other modes) and whichever mode you choose, it will not affect the sensitivity of the tuner. How could it? Just absolute rubbish. Of course the nut can affect more than open strings. If it is too high, the 1st 2nd and 3rd fretted notes will almost certainly sound sharp when you fret them.

 

It's not physically impossible for the 12th fret to be perfect and for there to be intonation issues at other points of the neck either. In fact it's almost guaranteed to a certain degree as the guitar uses equal temperament tuning. They can only ever be relatively in tune and never perfectly (although it is not normal for all the fretted notes to be sharp of course).

[murphybridget]

On 8/20/2021 at 4:22 AM, CALSinCM said:

I bought an electric guitar online.  Initially it sounded Ok (but what do I know as I'm a beginner and learning?).
One of the thing I noticed though early on is that my fretted stings were significantly #sharp up and down the fretboard, even at the 12th fret.  I've used multiple tuners and now have a headstock tuner as well and they all show the same.  ##Fretted## notes are sharp.  Open strings are spot on..  I can hear it by ear now too.

I talked to a guy who I'm taking lessons from online (American overseas) and he (and others) have said it's an intonation issue and have someone who knows what they are doing check the guitar adjustment.

So I just did that.  Went to a guitar shop in Chiang Mai, and asked them to restring the guitar and make sure everything was set up correctly.  I specifically mentioned "intonation."   Picked it up today.  The first thing I noticed is that I now have fret-buzz on the fretted E 6 string.  I checked the fretted strings and I'm still #sharp on the fretted notes.  I played it if front of the guy, the fret-buzz is obvious and he says, "Normal." 
Full-Stop!  Ok.  Let me have my guitar.  Smile. Pay. Leave. 

So I'd like a find someone in Chiang Mai who can setup and perform maintenance on a electric guitar, preferably someone who can speak English and is willing to teach me the setup (as I'm a beginner who would like to learn) so I can do it myself.  "Tamada" and "pokatee" for some Thais is perhaps different than for their farang customers. 
Fret buzz is not normal. 
Fretted strings that sound sharp have intonation issues and is not normal. 

I'd like to play (and learn) on a guitar that is correctly setup and maintained.  I'm looking for recommendations for someone who can correctly set up the electric guitar - it's a bonus if that person can teach me to do it myself. 
Thanks.

 

It sounds like your guitar might need some intonation adjustment. Since the open strings are in tune but the fretted notes are sharp, it's likely a problem with the length of the strings. You may need to adjust the saddle positions on your bridge to properly align the fretted notes with the open strings.