I need better tuners on my strat !

[gilwe]

What's up !

Got two stratocasters - one is a '94 American standard,
the other is a '84 Japan Squier .

The American keeps tune nicely but not by *very* much.

The Squier is GREAT sounding but is VERY bad tuned !!
I will have to tune it again and again, and it will still get out of tune every few minutes !

I guess it should be the cheap japanease tuners installed on it (original).

Any suggestions for which tuners to put in ? I thought about the ones that goes on the American Standard, but hey, the ones on my other strat could still get better than how they perfrom (still not VERY well)...

 

[Bass Freak]

look on ebay for some tuners....i cant remember what they are called right now, but they start with an "r" maybe? im not sure something like that....but they are really rock solid tuners...


freak

 

[Major Tom]

Strats are among the best stay-in-tune guitars made IF they are set up properly. Strats are among the top go-out-of-tune guitars if they are NOT set up properly. A lot of players are quick to blame the tunaz, but even cheapo tuners work pretty well. Over the years (ok, decades) of working on many guitars of my own and other's, every tuning instability problem that i have ever fixed or improved upon was due to somethng else; a wobbly bridge, loose neck screws, nut or bridge friction...Unless yer plank is already optimized, I would look at few other things first.

a few questions:
are the neck screws tight?
does each guitar have a trem ?
are they vintage 6 screw type or 2 stud/screw pivot type ?
are your bridges set up as floating (can raise or lower pitch) ?
does either have a graphite nut? if not do you ever put powdered graphite (use a #2 pencil) in the nut slots?
do the tuners have tension adjustment screws on the end of the knob?

 

[SBax]

Sperzel locking tuners for the strat are the best. They are staggered in height so you just bypass the string trees. Combined these tuners with graphite lube in the nut slot and you should be ok.

 

[Dom Franco]

You may have to do a little work....

1. Tighten the springs on the tremelo unit (Inside the body of the guitar) You can also add springs (5 max) and the more springs the less the tremelo will move and stay in tune better.

2. Adjust the intonation (6 peice saddle bridge) you may be fighting to get the guitar in tune because it is not intonated correctly! use a chromatic with a needle indicator.

3. Buy better tuners, and of course they will hold tune better.

4. Stretch the strings (yank on them) when you first install new strings. New strings will stretch quite a bit the first day or so.

5. Make sure that you don't have a big wad of excess string length on the tuner shaft. (two or three winds is plenty)
and make sure the string doesn't wind over itself and cause bending and kink points.

6. Be sure the neck screws are tight and be care ful not to strip them out

I have found that most modern Strat copies will benefit from these simple suggestions, and stay in tune very well!

DOM

 

[GT]

Sperzel locking tuners for the strat are the best. They are staggered in height so you just bypass the string trees. Combined these tuners with graphite lube in the nut slot and you should be ok.

Yeah,

I tried a high dollar Music Man, with locking tuners at Sam Ash.

I tried to knock it out of tune, bent the g string all the way across the fretboard.

It stayed in tune!!

Try it for yourself, I wouldn't have believed it, if I hadn't tried it!!

I think if the rest of your guitar is good, locking tuners are the way to go.

Haven't got mine yet, but they're allways on my mind.

GT

 

[DaveM]

You can buy some tuning machines at http://www.stewmac.com

Just remember that for a strat you need to get the set of six inline.

 

[gilwe]

Thanks all !!

It appears that the guitar was *way* out of setup,
I took it to a local guitar builder today and he set it up
now the tune is even better than my other american's !!

He has also built a new nut into it as the old one probably was not original and glued badly into the neck.

The guitar is so great playing now !

 

[scottboyher]

I had a 93 Jap Strat and the first thing I did was have new pegs put on cause the original ones were not usable in my opinion. That old guitar sounds as good as any I have played.

 

[gilwe]

Those japanese Squiers and Fenders from early 80s sound so good, my guitar's natural tone (wood) sounds much better (fuller, warmer) than my other 94 made American ! If I'm not wrong the woods were imported from the US to Japan where the electeronics and hardware was created. This is a true CBS instrument !

 

[rpe]

My 87 Am Strat stays in tune from one string change to the next. I'm not kidding. It's the best "stay in tune" guitar I've ever had.

rpe

 

[Low Country]

"graphite lube in the nut slot"

yea, my girlfriend tried that one on me once... gave me hives for two weeks.

yikes

 

[gilwe]

 

[philboyd studge]

My strat is an '86 mij, by Ibanez I think. It's got those locking things at the nut and fine tuners on the bridge. Once I got springs right (5 non standard) it's the most stay in tune guitar I own. Nothing bothers it.

 

[lesterpaul]

check this out !!!!!!!!!!

put fender locking tuners on mine ,i think they're actually made by schaller,then i had an LSR roller nut put on (it has ball bearings instead of a nut slot) had the guy do a full setup ,kept just th 3 normal springs on the trem ,man you can dive bomb th trem and this baby never goes out of tune it's th 2 best investments i have ever made to any guitar ....would love to do th lockers on my les paul but all th models i've seen have have different bolt patterns and i want to keep it in as original shap as possible ........later

 

[Henri Devill]

How about if you explain EXACTLY how you secure the string at the tuning machine post.

String threads thru eyelet of peg..Small post inside of peg pushes up and "pins"the string inside of peg..This is for the "Sperzel"style of locking peg..It actualy works pretty well!Also you have the added benifit of no "wrapping" around the post, which can shift and settle quite a bit scewing with your tuneing even more..especialy if you use any type of vibrato arm..



Don