Almost every note is sharp

[jimbo1]

I have 2 strats and even after I setup intonation most notes going up the fret board are sharp. Its the same on both guitars. Is this normal?

[WhoFan]

depends.... i know that standard scale lengths are not perfect..... they allow the guitar to be in tune close enough that your ear will not hear it out of tune easily...

[Robert S.]

Not really jimbo. Guitars will tend to be a little sharp on certain frets but you should be pretty close on most frets with the frets that have harmonics (5,7,12 ect) should be spot on.

Tall action or a poorly cut nut are the usual culprits.

[Arkitkt]

...
Tall action or a poorly cut nut are the usual culprits.

..or Jumbo frets and a heavy fretting hand. A friend of mine always complained that every fretted note on his Variax was sharp. (Only when he played it, though)

[t1r12003]

First thing I thought was also that the nut height was too high. So, when you have the open strings in tune, then you set the intonation, when fretting at the 12th fret the notes are all exactly in tune just as they are open? Sorry, I'm not trying to imply you don't know how to set intonation, just trying to help figure out the problem.

Are the notes fretted at the first frets as sharp as those fretted at the 7th frets? AKA nut is too high?

If the notes at the 12th fret are perfectly in tune as well, then as you move further up the scale do they also get progressively sharp?

[Lazarus1140]

Try putting a capo on the second fret and then set the intonation comparing "open" strings to fretted notes at the 14th fret. If the intonation is improved at frets 3 and above but remains "off at frets 1 and two, then the nut is definitely the culprit.