cheap strat - how to fix intonation

[theodie]

I actually read something somewhere where they recommended all three steps (open, 12th harmonic, & fretted @ 12th). I tried that & couldn't get the harmonic quite dialed in, but I figured the hell with it, as long as the fretted note was close. You can change the pitch just by changing your fingering pressure, so "close" seemed good enough to me. As a guitarist I used to play with would say, "close enough for rock n roll"!

Its best to run through some notes and pay attention to the kind of pressure you use while playing before you intonate. Hey, a guitar could be intonated to one persons but, it will not be intonated to the next guy who picks up the guitar due to different pressures.
Fretted at the 12th and open string is the best method. Like I said before, the Harmonic reads sharp. Well, on the guitar I picked up today it did but, others I have seen read flat. Point is, it is not nearly as accurate.