Is your guitar continually going out of tune? This page will give you some tips to help keep your guitar in tune, and help it stay in tune longer. Playing a guitar that is out of tune annoying. Playing a guitar that continually goes out of tune give me the shits. So here are some tips on sorting out tuning problems.
The best tip is to stretch your strings every time you change your strings. This gets out any slack and also takes the slack out of the strings themselves.
If on the other hand, you already do this, here´s some other tips on beating tuning problems.
1. File smooth where the strings on the back of the tremolo are. If there are any sharp points (and of course wear), then the tremolo system will jam.
2. Make sure that your nut is fixed in place. Again this should be obvious but they can come loose. If you have a locking tremolo nut, make sure that the screws that hold it to the neck are secure and tight.
3. Make sure that the string isn´t binding when it goes through the nut on the neck. Make the grooves larger if this is the case (usually only a problem when changing string gauge). Symptoms for this problem would be when bending a string, the pitch of the bend suddenly goes out of tune.
4. To help stop binding along the nut, silicon or graphite can be used to help stop this type of string binding. Use a lead pencil and draw on the grooves to help the string slide. If you don´t like the lead everywhere, you can also use oil with teflon (like gun oil, 3 in 1) or even bicycle chain oil.
5. If you nut is not cut correctly, that is the string grooves aren´t cut perpendicular (at right angles) to the nut, or the slot itself isn´t tapered back towards the head stock, this can also create tuning problems. Also make sure you clean the back of the nut with a tooth brush when changing your strings. This will remove any crap that has accumulated since the last string change (when dinosaurs ruled the earth?).
6. If you still have nut problems, you can also purchase a roller nut, which has smaller rollers in place of the grooves.
7. Make sure that you don´t wrap your strings around the tuning pegs too much. No more than three passes around the tuning peg is needed, otherwise the string can slip and move, causing all sorts of tuning problems.
8. Tuning machines if loose or worn can usually create tuning problems. Make sure that when turning the tuners, that they turn freely. If they are jamming, or reluctant to move, this could be the cause of your problem.
9. Make sure that your bridge is secure. As guitars get older, the mounting screws tend to come loose. To rectify this problem, you may need to chock the hole with small pieced of hardwood (about the size of tooth picks and glue. You can then re-drill the holes. This is usually only a problem on guitars with floating style bridges.
10. Make sure that your neck is securely bolted on. On 70´s strats with three bolt needs, the problem can easily be fixed with a conversion to a four bolt mounting. This will de-value your guitar, so think long before doing this type of conversion.
11. The final piece of advice is worn frets. The most likely place is at the first 5 to 6 frets. These are where guitar players play most of the time, so they tend to wear quicker. You will notice that you can set you´re intonation correctly and the guitar plays fine in the open and higher positions, however when playing chords in the lower positions, the guitar sounds out of tune. To remedy this, you could try just re-dressing the first couple of frets. If this doesn´t do the trick, then you may need to re-fret the first couple of frets to correct the problem.
The best tip is to stretch your strings every time you change your strings. This gets out any slack and also takes the slack out of the strings themselves.
If on the other hand, you already do this, here´s some other tips on beating tuning problems.
1. File smooth where the strings on the back of the tremolo are. If there are any sharp points (and of course wear), then the tremolo system will jam.
2. Make sure that your nut is fixed in place. Again this should be obvious but they can come loose. If you have a locking tremolo nut, make sure that the screws that hold it to the neck are secure and tight.
3. Make sure that the string isn´t binding when it goes through the nut on the neck. Make the grooves larger if this is the case (usually only a problem when changing string gauge). Symptoms for this problem would be when bending a string, the pitch of the bend suddenly goes out of tune.
4. To help stop binding along the nut, silicon or graphite can be used to help stop this type of string binding. Use a lead pencil and draw on the grooves to help the string slide. If you don´t like the lead everywhere, you can also use oil with teflon (like gun oil, 3 in 1) or even bicycle chain oil.
5. If you nut is not cut correctly, that is the string grooves aren´t cut perpendicular (at right angles) to the nut, or the slot itself isn´t tapered back towards the head stock, this can also create tuning problems. Also make sure you clean the back of the nut with a tooth brush when changing your strings. This will remove any crap that has accumulated since the last string change (when dinosaurs ruled the earth?).
6. If you still have nut problems, you can also purchase a roller nut, which has smaller rollers in place of the grooves.
7. Make sure that you don´t wrap your strings around the tuning pegs too much. No more than three passes around the tuning peg is needed, otherwise the string can slip and move, causing all sorts of tuning problems.
8. Tuning machines if loose or worn can usually create tuning problems. Make sure that when turning the tuners, that they turn freely. If they are jamming, or reluctant to move, this could be the cause of your problem.
9. Make sure that your bridge is secure. As guitars get older, the mounting screws tend to come loose. To rectify this problem, you may need to chock the hole with small pieced of hardwood (about the size of tooth picks and glue. You can then re-drill the holes. This is usually only a problem on guitars with floating style bridges.
10. Make sure that your neck is securely bolted on. On 70´s strats with three bolt needs, the problem can easily be fixed with a conversion to a four bolt mounting. This will de-value your guitar, so think long before doing this type of conversion.
11. The final piece of advice is worn frets. The most likely place is at the first 5 to 6 frets. These are where guitar players play most of the time, so they tend to wear quicker. You will notice that you can set you´re intonation correctly and the guitar plays fine in the open and higher positions, however when playing chords in the lower positions, the guitar sounds out of tune. To remedy this, you could try just re-dressing the first couple of frets. If this doesn´t do the trick, then you may need to re-fret the first couple of frets to correct the problem.
