I just bought an Ibanez s470. I love the guitar but am having issues tuning it into standard tune. I tune it and within a few seconds it goes right back to drop d tuning. acually D# on the low e string. The guitars holds its tune in drop D# very well but I would like to play it in standard tune and it refuses to go there, it has a mind of its own and I have not come across this with any other guitar that I have owned. Does anyone know how to fix this????
Is this your first guitar with a Floyd Rose bridge?
Remember that a Floyd is a VERY different beast than a normal guitar bridge. It's held in place by three points - the knife edges, resting against the trem studs; the tension from the strings on the front of the neck pulling it one way; and finally the tension from the trem springs in the trem cavity pulling it the other. Since the bridge is free to move up and down, it'll automatically "level" itself to the point where the string tension exactly equals the spring tension.
When you change the tuning of one string, however, you change the total string tension. This means that the string and spring tension will no longer balance, and the bridge will shift - it'll rise out of the cavity as you tune a string sharp, and fall in as you tune it flat. Say it's going sharp - not only does this increase the spring tension, it also
decreases the string tension on all the other strings you're NOT currently tuning.
Basically, it's a balancing act. Changing the tuning on one string changes both 1.) the tuning of every other string and 2.) the bridge angle. It takes a while to get it right, though the good news is with experience it gets a lot easier.
If this is your first time, sit down with a good tuner and expect it to take an hour or two before the bridge is both parallel with the body (which you want) and the strings are in tune. Then, whenever you restring, do it one string at a time. It'll save you a LOT of time.
