Intonation when switching from 9s to 10s?

[Inazone]

I have been playing D'Addario 9s for many, many years, but recently decided to try Peavey strings. I ordered one set of 10s to try on my Hamer Cali Deluxe, and upon installing them, was not especially surprised that the intonation is just slightly off. However, the low E is considerably worse, and I've adjusted the intonation as far as I can.

Will going from 9s to 10s make that much difference? I'm out of strings at the moment, so I can't immediately switch back, but I'm surprised that there would be much difference, especially on one string more than the others.

[zeegler]

Re: Intonation when switching from 9s to 10s?

Going from 9s to 10s shouldn't make that much of a difference. What gauge is your low E? 46 or 52?

[Inazone]

Re: Intonation when switching from 9s to 10s?

Actually it's .048 if I remember right. This is Peavey's "balanced" string set.

I neglected to mention that I replaced the Floyd saddles before restringing, but they are from the same brand (Schaller). At this point, the low E is the only string that I can audibly tell is off.

[Chuckracer]

Re: Intonation when switching from 9s to 10s?

Lot of varibles here, but I'm guessing either you have the saddles wrong (mixed up for the individule heights), or some issue with the string itself.

[zeegler]

Re: Intonation when switching from 9s to 10s?

Well, you don't say what gauge low E you started with. Bottom line is that if you are going from a 42 to a 62, or some radical change like that, there might be a need to adjust the intonation. Otherwise, assuming nothing alse is changed, a minor change in string gauge won't be enought to throw off the intonation enough for you to hear a difference.

[Bengal65]

Re: Intonation when switching from 9s to 10s?

Yea, you will have a change in intonation with those changes. Time to break out the tuner and perform the procedure. The low E as you mentioned, is the biggest change that you can hear, if you are going from a .042" to a .046", or .052".

[toejam]

Re: Intonation when switching from 9s to 10s?

Also, depending how high your action is, that could affect intonation, too. If you can't get the saddle back far enough to intonate exactly, you may want to lower the bridge a little... it may not totally solve the problem, but it should get you intonated a little closer.