Strings and Intonation
STRINGS AND TUNING: Guitars have strings, true. Electric guitars usually have plain steel strings with Low E, A and D wound in a steel material usually nickel. The higher strings are not would and are just varias guages of plain steel. Occasionally a guitarist feels it necessary to have a wound G. This is consistent with the usual set up of an acoustic guitar but not generally applied to the electric variety.
INTONATION:
Intonation is the note a string rings at a given point of the neck. When your intonation is out it means that notes are not sounding at certain frets as they should (either sharper or flatter). There are factors that effect an instruments intonation, some are - string guage, string composite and the age of the strings. Tired old strings will not vibrate as they should. It is possible to stretch a string unevenly this will cause the vibration of the string to differ from that of a new string and will force intonation to ‘go-out’. It is advised for that reason to never set an instruments intonation with old strings. That’s true for any stringed instrument. Remember when setting intonation on a guitar that by lengthening the strings ability to ring will lower the note value at any given point of the neck.