Tele tuning woes

[enuenu]

A friend just scored a nice custom shop Tele relic;

It sounds and plays great but doesn't stay in tune very well. The evil G string being very unruly on this axe. I would have thought that after almost 60 years they would have worked out how to build a guitar that stays in tune. Especially a supposed high end model.

 

Any ideas on the cause of the problem? Any possible solutions welcomed. Nut and bridge lubricated. Maybe the tuner itself just doesn't hold position.

[=JL=]

Have you fitted and stretched new strings? Could be a tuner issue, it certainly isn't a design fault, Teles usually stay in tune better than most other guitars.

[csm]

It's very rarely the tuner that's at fault, unless the tuners in question are UNBELIEVABLY cheap and crap -- which these days they almost never are, and certainly not from the Custom Shop.

 

(Unless it's been somehow damaged, of course. Was it used or box-fresh?)

 

Maybe the next string change should be done with extra care and attention on all that stretchy-outy stuff.

[enuenu]

It was used, but not much apparently. Good to know that the tuners are not usually the issue. It could only be one of four things I think;

 

1) Tuner moving

2) String catching on nut

3) String still stretching to maximum length (maybe got cheapo strings on it?)

4) String catching on saddle

 

It seems then that the string stretching itself out is the most likely culprit. I will tell him to change the strings, play them for 5 hours and then see if it is still not holding tune.

 

(Sorry Leo for shooting from the hip with the 60 years crack, we just got a little jaded when the new toy wouldn't hold tune)

[csm]

 

. I will tell him to change the strings, play them for 5 hours and then see if it is still not holding tune.

 

 

Good advice.

 

Also: make sure your pal does the 'bowstring' thing with the fresh strings -- both vertically and horizontally. Stretch those suckaz to just short of breaking point -- and only when that's been done to the max should you and he start checking out constructional and set-up factors.

 

Luck, dude ...

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

 

It was used, but not much apparently. Good to know that the tuners are not usually the issue. It could only be one of four things I think; 1) Tuner moving 2) String catching on nut 3) String still stretching to maximum length (maybe got cheapo strings on it?) 4) String catching on saddle It seems then that the string stretching itself out is the most likely culprit. I will tell him to change the strings, play them for 5 hours and then see if it is still not holding tune. (Sorry Leo for shooting from the hip with the 60 years crack, we just got a little jaded when the new toy wouldn't hold tune)

 

 

The tuners will be fine as almost certainly will the nut.

 

Just go for a string change and string it up properly

 

Look at the blow link, and although this is a Martin acoustic, it applies, however your buddies guitar should have solt top vintage Kluson stylees.

 

Look very caregull at the amount of wraps around the peg, one EAD you want no more than 2-2.5 wraps, and one GBE 3-4 is acceptable

 

Look at the last pic in this sequence, you need to see the strings wrapped round the post and not wrapped round each other

 

http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/stringing.htm

[jonPhillips]

Tuning problems are usually related to the nut or to the number/method of string windings as Ratae says above. I'd check here for the cause of the problems.

 

I've never actually manually stretched guitar strings, despite a plethora of advice to do so. If you string the guitar properly I can't really see the need

[enuenu]

Cheers for the advice. The guitar does sound bloody nice, I found it hard to put down.

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

 

I've never actually manually stretched guitar strings, despite a plethora of advice to do so. If you string the guitar properly I can't really see the need

[metalheadUK]

It gives nigh on instant stability Jon, as evidenced with locking tuners and no wraps, it is pretty important

 

+1

 

I stretch my strings like I'm in an archery contest.

 

I can change 'em day of a gig, and NO tuning issues.

 

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

 

+1 I stretch my strings like I'm in an archery contest.

 

 

That's the Saxon in you:thu:

 

I'm quite Celtic about my stretching, I creep up behind the guitar and tease em til they relax;)

[csm]

Heh.

 

Incidentally -- the method I was taught a VERY long time ago for stringing up any Fender with the klassic Kluson slot-head posts was to cut the string level with the next-but-one tuner from the string you're changing. In other words: if you're changing the low E, cut the string level with the D post; if you're changing the A, cut it level with the G post, and so forth. Poke it all the way in, wind it round and commence turning the peg until you're in chune. Then stretch the FARK out of it, tune up again, and repeat until it stays where it's supposed to be. Repeat for all strings.

 

(With Strats, I do ungodly things with the talent bar to help stretch the strings in addition to the bowstringing procedure.)

[jonPhillips]

LOL

[csm]

LOL

[headstash]

I have to agree that the most likelty culprit here is the way the guitar was tuned. Vintage split top Klusions are a little more finickey about the way they are strung. CSM's method is tried and true. Give that a shot and see how it stays in tune after that.

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

 

Vintage split top Klusions are a little more finickey about the way they are strung. .

 

 

On the contrary, split tops are about the easiest to get strung right, as long as you follow the no overlapping winds rule

[csm]

 

On the contrary, split tops are about the easiest to get strung right, as long as you follow the no overlapping winds rule

 

 

Yep to the max. I can do slotted Kluson posts in my sleep, but I'm still crap with drilled-post Gibson-style tuners -- even after all these years ...

[headstash]

 

On the contrary, split tops are about the easiest to get strung right, as long as you follow the no overlapping winds rule

 

 

Tell that to the many, many guitarists who've "upgraded" their vintage tuners to locking tuners because the just couldn't get them to stay in tune.

[csm]

^^^^^^

 

Allowing for all those subjectivity/individuality factors -- I got to say that, for me, the Kluson split-post is the most reliable non-locking tuner design I've ever used. When I've strung up and tuned a classic Fender (-style) guitar fitted with those ... it STAYS tuned.