This article was contributed by Guitar Jam Trax - www.guitarjamtrax.com

How to keep a "Mini" guitar in tune

Some of you out there might have bought one of those little mini guitars, like the one Eddie Van Halen used during "Little Guitars" on the Diver Down Tour in 1982. Cute little things they are. But, it can be a real drag to properly intonnate them and get them to play in tune. Here is some advice on how to get these little things tuned properly:

First, an explanation of the problem:

A typical electric guitar comes in two scale lengths (I'd say 90% of the time). When I say "Scale" I mean the distance between the bridge contact point and the nut contant point. On a Les Paul, SG, or similary "Gibson Style" guitar, that scale or "Distance" is 24 3/4 inches. on a Strat, Tele or similar "Fender" typle guitar that scale is 25 1/2 inches.  The reason I mention this is to say that if that guitar is a smaller scale, and you mention 3/4 scale to be specific, the physics of the guitar change a bit. The very difficulty you describe in your email is very typical with short scale guitars. The fact that it is in-expensive, and therefore most likely not made of the best hardware, only complicates matters. What is happening here is that whil in theory, you are making intonnation adjustments to the bridge saddles that should eventually allow you to tune the guitar over the whole neck, the guitar appears to be in-tune only in spots, but never really fully in tune. 

Here is my suggested workarounds: 

1. Absolutely put new strings on. At minimum, with a brand new set of strings, you can elimiate that variable from the equation because old strings eventually loose their ability to really hold tuning well. I'm 100% sure that the age of the strings is not your ultimate problem, but if the strings have more than 10 hours of sold playing time on them, or or dirty at all, then you are at a constand disadvantage in diagnosing and solving the problem.

 2. Buy light acoustic strings with a "Wound Third" (or "Wound G String"). I would recommend a guage of 0.11 - 0.46, or maybe 0.12 - 0.52, but nothing lighter. I'll explain this further in my summary.

 3. Tune the guitar a 1/2 step sharp. For example, if you are using a chromatic tuner, play an Ab (which is the 4th fret on the low E string), and tune it until your tuner reads "A"

Summary: I have found that using heavier strings and tuning sharp helps to compensate for the short scale. The reason is that the shorter the scale of the guitar, the looser the strings have to be in order to hold a tune and have the fret measurements translate into the correct notes. The longer the scale, the tighter the strings will feel. For example, a Gibson Les Paul is a shorter scale guitar (24 3/4 Inches) and as a result, the strings feel a bit slinkier, eaiser to play and bend. A Fender Strate or Tele is a slightly longer scale guitar (25 /1/5 Inches), so as a result, the strings feel a bit tighter, snappier, and a bit harder to bend. Your guitar is quite a bit shorter than most, so the strings are unusually loose feeling. As a result, it is very hard to properly tune and intonnate the guitar. Using heavier strings and tuning the guitar a 1/2 step sharp will help to compensate, making the strings a bit tighter.

Regarding the "Wound G String". Electric guitars used to have a wound G string believe it or not. It wasn't until around the 50's that a plain G string became common. In your situation, using a wound G string will help compensate for the odd intonation of the G string at this scale and tension.  

While it might be a bit inconvenient to play the guitar a 1/2 step sharp (i.e. jamming along to "Voodoo Child" will feel strange in the key of Eb minor : - ) that is unfortunately the price of keeping a novelty guitar in tune.

Good Luck!

 This article was contributed by Guitar Jam Trax - www.guitarjamtrax.com