Guitar wont stay in tune?

D

DAS19

New member
My guitar wont stay in tune... idk if its cuas eI added that spray lubricant or something and it got on the top or osmething or maybe its becuase im just tuning wrong im not sure but im really bothered.

Are you supposed to detune like go down below the note before you tune up to the note on guitaR?

anyone have this problem I have a fender american strat... thanks
dave
 
yes, I've always been told you should tune up to the note, if you go past it, detune and go back up. No idea if that is strue, but it is what i do now.


Do all strings go out of tune quickly or certian ones?
Do strings suddenly go very flat or sharp all of a sudden as you tune? Strings could be getting hung up on the nut or a saddle on the bridge. Would need to be looked at by a good guitar tech probably.

could jsut be bad tuners, you can bvuy after market tuners that shold be good. Double check that the holes won't need to be redrilled if you aren't ready to deal with that.

Take it to a guitar tech and have it cheked out and set up. Good luck.

Daav
 
It's because you didn't properly wind the string around the post and loop it back against itself when you put the strings on.

That's where the slip is.
 
c7 you beat me to it lol

And yes, you always tune up. The reason is that tuning down tension on the string which provides the string the ability to go flat once playing tension is applied.
 
alien said:
c7 you beat me to it lol

And yes, you always tune up. The reason is that tuning down tension on the string which provides the string the ability to go flat once playing tension is applied.
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Andy you beat me to that...

Also, your tuners will have small screws in the end of the tuning knobs. Those screws actually adjust how loose or tight your tuning machines are. You should try to tighten them all a little, testing that theres just a little added resistance when twisting the knob when there's no string pressure (loosen the string all the way so you can get a feel for how tight your tuners actually are, to avoid damaging them).
 
Another tunning menace you might want to consider is the tailpiece, I assume you have a stock tremelo. Uneven spring tension (especially if you use the whammy bar much) will cause your guitar to go out of tune very quickly. There are places to mount 5 springs (the factory only installs 3,) and I would recomend that you add the additional 2. Depending on where you get them, the extra springs will likely cost $5-$7 and are easy to install. This will make your tremelo a little "stiffer" but not enough to be concerned about and will definately help your guitar to stay in tune. Very light guage strings are also harder to keep in tune, super lights (8-38 or smaller) are almost impossible if you play hard at all. The tuners (machines) are rarely the problem with a guitar which refuses to stay in tune, unless you have some really crappy super "el cheapos." Stock Fender machines are normally sufficient for their purpose. Try adding the additional springs before you seriously consider changing the machines, it's cheaper and more likely to help keep your guitar in tune.
 
Dani Pace said:
Another tunning menace you might want to consider is the tailpiece, I assume you have a stock tremelo. Uneven spring tension (especially if you use the whammy bar much) will cause your guitar to go out of tune very quickly. There are places to mount 5 springs (the factory only installs 3,) and I would recomend that you add the additional 2. Depending on where you get them, the extra springs will likely cost $5-$7 and are easy to install. This will make your tremelo a little "stiffer" but not enough to be concerned about and will definately help your guitar to stay in tune. Very light guage strings are also harder to keep in tune, super lights (8-38 or smaller) are almost impossible if you play hard at all. The tuners (machines) are rarely the problem with a guitar which refuses to stay in tune, unless you have some really crappy super "el cheapos." Stock Fender machines are normally sufficient for their purpose. Try adding the additional springs before you seriously consider changing the machines, it's cheaper and more likely to help keep your guitar in tune.
Click to expand...

With a Strat and whammy bar, 90+% of the tuning problems are due to friction in the headstock (nut and string trees). The tension in the springs and how many springs you use doesn't have much to do with it. Lighter gauge strings are worse. I agree that the tuners are rarely the problem.

If you have metal string trees, replace them with graphite or roller trees. If you have a plastic nut (or a brass nut, which is much worse), replace it with bone or graphite. Make sure the nut slots are cut correctly for the gauge strings you are using; too narrow slots will squeeze the strings and retain tension in the headstock. A little dab of lubricant in the nut slots under the strings can help quite a bit; I use a slurry of Teflon grease and graphite.

Worst case, if after you divebomb with the bar your G string still goes sharp (usually the worst culprit), pull back on the bar and release it.
 
The nut is usually the problem when one of my gtrs won't stay tuned reasonably. Graphite lube works well... pencil lead even. That's assuming the slots are cut right.
 
Dani Pace said:
Another tunning menace you might want to consider is the tailpiece, I assume you have a stock tremelo. Uneven spring tension (especially if you use the whammy bar much) will cause your guitar to go out of tune very quickly. There are places to mount 5 springs (the factory only installs 3,) and I would recomend that you add the additional 2. Depending on where you get them, the extra springs will likely cost $5-$7 and are easy to install. This will make your tremelo a little "stiffer" but not enough to be concerned about and will definately help your guitar to stay in tune. Very light guage strings are also harder to keep in tune, super lights (8-38 or smaller) are almost impossible if you play hard at all. The tuners (machines) are rarely the problem with a guitar which refuses to stay in tune, unless you have some really crappy super "el cheapos." Stock Fender machines are normally sufficient for their purpose. Try adding the additional springs before you seriously consider changing the machines, it's cheaper and more likely to help keep your guitar in tune.
Click to expand...

there we go... thats exactly what I was looking for. Ive had to tighten my springs in the tremelo already and I guess I bought lighter guage strings now soo its not staying in tune because of this. I know its not because of me putting the strings on wrong becuase my friend who knows how to put them on the right way did it who also works at a music store. ill ask the guitar tech at the local music shop if he can install the 2 springs for me cuase its under warantee.
 
ggunn said:
With a Strat and whammy bar, 90+% of the tuning problems are due to friction in the headstock (nut and string trees). The tension in the springs and how many springs you use doesn't have much to do with it. Lighter gauge strings are worse. I agree that the tuners are rarely the problem.

If you have metal string trees, replace them with graphite or roller trees. If you have a plastic nut (or a brass nut, which is much worse), replace it with bone or graphite. Make sure the nut slots are cut correctly for the gauge strings you are using; too narrow slots will squeeze the strings and retain tension in the headstock. A little dab of lubricant in the nut slots under the strings can help quite a bit; I use a slurry of Teflon grease and graphite.

Worst case, if after you divebomb with the bar your G string still goes sharp (usually the worst culprit), pull back on the bar and release it.
Click to expand...

Didnt read this... I dont really feel like doing all that. id rather use fatter strings.
 
Are you stretching the strings while you tune them? You've gotta double-wind at least the 1st and 2nd strings, and put a fair amount of winds on them to prevent slippage. Then, after you've got the string tuned, pull it off the fretboard and wiggle it around a bit. You'll notice it go out of tune quite a bit the first couple times, but after a while it won't really go out of tune when you do that. If you're not doing that, you'll keep going flat over and over and over again.

Also make sure you've got it set up correctly: e.g., a harmonic octave = a fretted octave. Otherwise, it'll sound right tuned open, but the higher up the board you go, the more out of tune it will seem.

Otherwise you'll have to check the springs/tension like everyone else mentioned too. Hope this helps :)
 
steve.h said:
Are you stretching the strings while you tune them? You've gotta double-wind at least the 1st and 2nd strings...
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Double wind? I have had a couple of players advise me to send the high strings twice through the hole in the peg to "avoid slippage", if that 's what you mean. I did that once, and I don't advise it. It made no diff that I could tell to the guitar staying in tune, and it made getting the strings off at string changing time a real PITA. The next time I strung it up, I made a little mark on the string where it went through the peg so I could tell if any of it had pulled through the peg when I took the string off later. It hadn't.

A few wraps around the peg secures the string just fine.
 
ggunn said:
Double wind? I have had a couple of players advise me to send the high strings twice through the hole in the peg to "avoid slippage", if that 's what you mean. I did that once, and I don't advise it. It made no diff that I could tell to the guitar staying in tune, and it made getting the strings off at string changing time a real PITA. The next time I strung it up, I made a little mark on the string where it went through the peg so I could tell if any of it had pulled through the peg when I took the string off later. It hadn't.

A few wraps around the peg secures the string just fine.
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Depends on your pegs man. On a nicer guitar, the pegs are engineered better and grip the string much better than, say, the tuners on a fender squire strat. The style of music and the gauge of strings is also a factor. If you're using an 11-gauge e-string, you don't have to double-wind it. If you're using 9's and slam on the damned things, you should probably double-wind it.

On a related note, one of the best upgrades to my guitar(s) I ever bought was those planet waves locking, self-cutting tuners. Holy crap are those things sweet! (link: http://www.planetwaves.com/ptoolsdetails.aspx?ID=5)
 
steve.h said:
Depends on your pegs man. On a nicer guitar, the pegs are engineered better and grip the string much better than, say, the tuners on a fender squire strat. The style of music and the gauge of strings is also a factor. If you're using an 11-gauge e-string, you don't have to double-wind it. If you're using 9's and slam on the damned things, you should probably double-wind it.
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I disagree; the guitar I did my experiment on was a cheapie with 9's. I use plenty of wraps, though. Metal on metal has the highest friction coefficient of just about any substance combination (it's why a brass nut will never work with a whammy bar unless it's a locking nut); with four or five wraps a string will not pull through the peg, in my experience.

But whatever floats yer boat.
 
I had a cheap squire strat that, with 9's, would slip pretty regularly without double-winding 'em. Granted, that was back in the day when I really didn't know a hell of a lot about playing guitar and thus slammed on the poor thing, but it's still an example of double-winding solving a slippage problem.

That said, it is one of the less common problems for sure, especially with non-shoddy guitars and more proficient players. I just wanted to present all options to the OP so he didn't go buying extra springs if slippage was, indeed, the problem :)

*edit: using a lot of wraps has a similar effect, yes!
 
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