Help! Intonation off with saddles at max

[Demious]

Today I received my new Sterling Majesty MAJ170 and I'm trying to set it up, but I'm totally stuck on the intonation.
1st and 4th string are pretty far near the end and are tuned, but all others are all the way back against the back plate and are still off. 2nd and 5th are about 6-7 cent off and the others even more. It's clearly audible off...
I checked with 4 different virtual tuners (Presonus, Presonus Ampire, Neural DSP and BX), all measuring until 1 cent, and I know its far from a perfect tuner for setup, but I checked again with a Boss TU-3 to check if there might be an error on the computers input, and all tuners show the same values.
When I received the guitar the base plate was a little above the body at the mounting screws and from there I tried with the base plate at the mount side at about 1mm above the body, equal to the body and about 1mm below the body surface. And with the back end from horizontal to about 5mm up, to about 5mm down, but the differences are minimal and several string end up off while pulled back all the way.
The strings are new. I re-stringed with standard D'addario .009 - .054 before I started setting up the guitar and I tuned to standard E tuning. I measure with the guitar hanging around my neck, in playing position. I moved the pickups down to make absolutely sure they aren't interfering. I checked at positions 0, 3 and 5, but all are too far off.
I've set up intonation for dozens of guitar and basses in the 30+ years I've been playing, among which plenty of tremolo bridges, from standard Fenders, to Floyd types and never encountered a problem like this. Or better yet, I never had any difficulties setting up intonation, not even on my first try setting up a tremolo.
Some advise on how to fix this is very much appreciated.

 

[jayjayjay]

I'm guessing that it's intonating sharp as you go up the neck, as you say you don't have more room against the back plate, so you're trying to lengthen. If I'm remembering right, the Majesty is a set neck design, so there's no neck pocket to tweak. It's possible the bridge was drilled a little too short, though. If the bridge is right, could the nut be binding?

So, if this is a new guitar you just received, maybe the easiest thing to do is send it back as defective or put in a warranty claim. Alternatively, if you haven't already, maybe cut or shorten the springs behind the blocks to give more room to adjust? I know folks have had to do that on Strats from time to time to get the intonation right.

 

[DrKev]

Hi Demious,

Intonation issues with the low E string are surprisingly common but the other strings should always have enough room for correct intonation. That they don't suggest a bigger problem. This sounds to me like a warranty claim for repair or replacement. That means contact the store you bought from right away. In Europe it's the stores responsibility to take of care this.

Can you test something for me? Put a capo on the 1st fret, tune the strings correctly for that fret (F - Bb - Eb - Ab - C - F) and adjust the intonation for the notes at the 13th fret. Tell me how it works out.

It's unlikely to be the bridge position, as I'm almost certain that would cut on a CNC machine at the same time as the neck pocket and should be perfect. That suggests a nut issue, which would be good news as it's easier to fix.

 

[Demious]

Thanks for the reply, guys!

In that case, I think Im going to have it replaced. Its brand new and I already found a couple more issues, also. I think its what we would call in the Netherlands, a Monday morning product.

 

[GWDavis28]

Thanks for the reply, guys!

In that case, I think Im going to have it replaced. Its brand new and I already found a couple more issues, also. I think its what we would call in the Netherlands, a Monday morning product.

In the US that's a Friday after lunch build.

Glenn |B)

 

[Demious]

It's unlikely to be the bridge position, as I'm almost certain that would cut on a CNC machine at the same time as the neck pocket and should be perfect. That suggests a nut issue, which would be good news as it's easier to fix.

I think that the CNC machine isnt very reliable. With the first the bridge wasnt centered, it was placed almost against the lower edge of the hole (seen from player position) and now I had it replaced, the new one has the exact same problem, only the bridge is tilted a little counter-clockwise as well.
I checked pictures the stores advertise with, but there the bridge is always perfectly centered.

Has anyone ever seen one, besides the probably photo-shopped pictures, that is actually machined correctly?

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Sometimes, and I stress sometimes, the guitars are subject to extra rough treatment during shipping, and depending upon manufacturing tolerances "stacking" the trem posts can be the weakest link where damage presents itself.

I have seen this most often on used guitars that have been repeatedly shipped, but it is not unheard of for a really good drop to cause it on a new instrument.

There have been a few times in the past with SBMM guitars (and other manufacturers )where I needed to drill, dowel, and re-drill to properly locate the bridge after the posts shifted (and cracked the body in the trem cavity).

This one (used) had the posts tilted and shifted so far to the right that the side of the trem with the bar was contacting the body cavity.