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What advice for staying in tune?


bacongrease

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I'm discovering that the Riviera P93 sounds really sweet, great with a soft touch but who doesn't lean in and play with intensity when you need to. The problem is my guitar seems to go out of tune when I do. Is it the tuners? Is it because of the Bigsby bridge? Does it have to do with strings? Please advise.

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Some basics:

 

1) Not too many wraps around the tuning peg --- excess can cause slipping

2) Make sure nut slots are cut wide enough for the strings you're using. Likewise the bridge slots. Strings binding in the nut slots is the number one cause of tuning issues.

3) Always tune UP to pitch, not down. This will ensure the tuners have a more stable grip.

 

If all three of these are addressed and you still have problems, I'd suggest taking your guitar to a luthier to have it checked out further.

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The one thing guaranteed to drive me crazy is a guitar that will not stay in tune. Since I started using Nut Sauce I haven't had a problem. I can highly recommend it. It looks expensive for a small syringe full but well worth it.

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Excellent advice, deeman, Parabar, and Abutcher.

 

I don't have a thing to add except:

 

* Make sure that you have a quality tuner handy (such as a Snark or other such head-stock clip on) tuner.

I have a Fender California clip on tuner, and I love it.

If you aren't using a tuner, and are (for instance) simply tuning by ear, you can never be sure that you are properly in tune in the first place.

 

and

 

* Make sure that your action and intonation are set up correctly.

If the guitar set-up is wrong, you can tune it perfectly, and something will always sound just a bit off.

 

[crying]

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I'm discovering that the Riviera P93 sounds really sweet, great with a soft touch but who doesn't lean in and play with intensity when you need to. The problem is my guitar seems to go out of tune when I do. Is it the tuners? Is it because of the Bigsby bridge? Does it have to do with strings? Please advise.

 

What gauge strings are you using?

 

make sure new strings get properly stretched.

 

if you hear any "plinks" when you are tuning, the strings is getting bound up in the nut, you can take care of that with stuff like Big Bends Nut Sauce.

 

Look up on how to properly lube a guitar fitted with a bigsby

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well, do you shake the neck when you play?

 

I think any guitar will do that, it's just a matter of physics...

 

if you have some vaseline hanging around, (that's pretty close to what Big Bends Nut Sauce is) try using a tooth pick and put some on the witness points, eg: where the string touches any part of the guitar from end to end.

 

so the nut, the saddles, and the places where the string runs over and under the bars for the Bigsby,

 

see if that helps at all

 

11 gauge strings should remain pretty stable if they have been properly strung, and stretched.

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I'd check the saddles for burrs while your at it too. My brothers Les Paul would go out and when I did a set up there was a little burr in the v where the string passes through the saddle, when you would bend the string would catch and wouldn't go back in tune.

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  • 6 months later...

I'd like to share my string-stretching technique here. Perhaps everyone already does it this way, I don't know, but this is the one that works just perfect for me and really helps me stay in tune.

 

The wound strings:

 

I work them up and down a few times, and this is my method. I start at the headstock end. I press down the first fret with the thumb of my left hand.

 

I lift the string off the fretboard with all the fingers of my right hand a few frets down while I use my right thumb to hold down the string on the fret in front of the fingers. I stretch the string by pulling them up with the fingers and down with the thumb (right hand). Securing it with the left hand thumb is to not put unwanted stress on the nut slot.

 

Should be 2-3" or so between the two thumbs.

 

I work the string like that up and down the fretboard a few times - down-up-down will do ya. Not sure how hard I press down with the thumbs, I go by feel.

 

The unwound strings (G-B-E): I don't do them like the wound ones (if you do, they're likely to kink or break). I just lift them up 1-1.5" inches off the fretboard at the 12th fret three times - making sure to lift them STRAIGHT up, soas not to mess with the nut slots.

 

Then, of course, you tune up.

 

I've tried all kinds of string-stretching techniques over the years, but this is the one that really seems to do the trick. For me, at least.

 

Hope someone finds it useful!

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When I was on the road I would change strings every night, and would have to do so sometimes in a very great hurry. I would change them one at a time, tune them a bit sharp and as you suggest pull them straight up between the end of the neck and the bridge to where you could actually feel them stretch, then wiggle them back and forth in place suspended that way.

 

Once I did that I would tune them to pitch and in most cases be good to go.

 

I don't remember any breaking ever, and in those days I was using lighter gauge strings.

 

I can still change out any Fender vintage style tuners in under ten minutes, and Gibson style tuners in about thirteen.

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TI Powerbrights 011-053.

I also noticed that the guitar will change pitch like a vibrato if I shake the neck.

 

It comes from the factory set up for 10-46, so you may have to have the nut recut for the larger strings. Nut Sauce or other lube may take care of it as others have suggested.

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