All factors that contribute to a guitar's ability to stay in tune

[Shenaniganizer]

Name them.

And give details!

Including details for Floyded guitars!

[PanaDP]

Setup, setup, and setup.

[RaVenCAD]

nut

[doc oc]

Machine heads.

[Into Nation]

Binding nut and proper installation/stretching of strings are near the top of the list.

[_pete_]

There are 5 parts to this video. Watch them all and your question is answered.

 

[YOUTUBE]UgfMyJ76p4o[/YOUTUBE]

[Elias Graves]

I'll say nut again, just because people overlook it so much. Seriously, it can make a HUUUUUGE difference. A cheap plastic nut that won't let the string slide easily is the worst when it comes to staying in tune.

 

EG

[Scoogs]

In no order of importance:

 

The winding of the string around the tuning peg... Make it neat, make it secure.

 

The nut - Quality of the nut, and make sure it's lubed up real nice.. Graphite, or an aftermarket product like Nut Sauce. I use it. Amazing stuff.

 

Bridge/Saddles are lubed up as well.

 

Ok, the next item, coupled with winding the strings up properly, are really important. Stretch your {censored}ing strings!!!!! I don't know how many times I've had people say their guitar can't stay in tune, hence it being trash. All they really needed to do was stretch the strings out and actually do a good job of putting the strings on.

 

What I usually do is tune the string to pitch, grab and yank it lightly at the 12th fret. It will go flat. Tune to pitch and repeat over and over until the string doesn't go flat after yanking on it. Then do a couple of bends and make sure it still stays in tune. After that my guitars can honestly stay in tune for a solid week.

 

I mean, unless it's a really {censored} guitar, the tuners are probably the last problem the guitar is going to have.

[alphamarquis]

 

In no order of importance: The winding of the string around the tuning peg... Make it neat, make it secure. The nut - Quality of the nut, and make sure it's lubed up real nice.. Graphite, or an aftermarket product like Nut Sauce. I use it. Amazing stuff. Bridge/Saddles are lubed up as well. Ok, the next item, coupled with winding the strings up properly, are really important. Stretch your {censored}ing strings!!!!! I don't know how many times I've had people say their guitar can't stay in tune, hence it being trash. All they really needed to do was stretch the strings out and actually do a good job of putting the strings on. What I usually do is tune the string to pitch, grab and yank it lightly at the 12th fret. It will go flat. Tune to pitch and repeat over and over until the string doesn't go flat after yanking on it. Then do a couple of bends and make sure it still stays in tune. After that my guitars can honestly stay in tune for a solid week. I mean, unless it's a really {censored} guitar, the tuners are probably the last problem the guitar is going to have.

 

 

I break strings when tugging at the twelvth. I usually leave mine unplugged, rock out pretty hard and then retune and then rock out again and retune. Stability is usually achieved after two rock outs.

[ChineseKnockoff]

Environment! Last year I built a practice area in the basement, both for noise containment and to stop the wife from complaining about there always being gear laying around "her" house.

 

About a week after I started practicing down there I noticed that I almost never had to tune up before practicing, where when I was playing upstairs, tuning up was mandatory every single time I picked her up. And sometimes more than once. After thinking about it for a minute I realized that 1) the air temp down there is much more stable than above ground, esp in the summer, and more importantly, 2) because of some heirlooms that we store down there we've got year 'round humidity control.

 

So, environmental stability = tuning stability.

[ChineseKnockoff]

 

tune the string to pitch, grab and yank it lightly at the 12th fret. It will go flat. Tune to pitch and repeat over and over until the string doesn't go flat after yanking on it. Then do a couple of bends and make sure it still stays in tune.

 

 

Do you have to repeat the yanking at each retuning, or just the first?

 

The only time I do that is when intonating because it seems a little abusive to me somehow even though you're not pulling all that hard. Maybe that's silly, but couldn't that put more stress on the neck and tailpiece anchoring studs?

 

(I've got an Epi Les Paul Studio with an alder top. (Seriously. A 3 piece mahogany body and an alder top. WTF were they thinking?) and the tailpiece studs are starting to compress the alder and pull forward because, ya know, alder is about as hard as freakin' play dough. So I'd worry about compounding that by string pulling.)

[ExiledCrow]

Heh! I live in a swamp (well, not really but close), so both environmental stability and basements are right out the window. But at least it won't get too dry ...

[docjeffrey]

Very few of us change our strings frequently enough. We start to blame tuning issues on tuners (the least likely culprit), nuts, and bridge saddles.

 

The truth is that even a perfect setup only lasts a few days. Then, elements conspire to contract or expand plastic, bone, and graphite nuts. The guitar can swell when it gets humid and contract when it gets dry.

 

 

But truly, the bottom line is that the strings are the first things to go bad, and it only takes one gig to wear out a set of D'Addarios.

 

I've gone to coated strings, but that's not gonna help the G, B, and E.

[ChineseKnockoff]

 

Heh! I live in a swamp (well, not really but close), so both environmental stability and basements are right out the window. But at least it won't get too dry ...

 

 

Having been to Lou-zi-anna once or twice, I've wondered about this: back in the day, before air conditioning was everywhere, and before there was a Guitar Center in every shopping center where you could grab a fresh set of strings on the way home from work, how did those old guys stay in tune? I'm imagining something like:

Delta bluesman, pre-practice routine:

1) Scrape overnight rust off strings

2) Wring water out of wood

3) Bake guitar until dry enough to play

4).....

 

Or is that why Chicago blues became so popular? Having distortion to cover up those little details was too good to pass up.

[ExiledCrow]

You've heard John Lee Hooker, it ain't about the purity of the sound, it's ALL about the feelin'

[Brewski]

get a Floyd Rose and all problems solved.

[ashasha]

Nut, string angle over the nut, the number of wraps around the tuners, the string trees, stretching and not tuning 'up' to pitch all the time.

 

Get all of that straight and you are about 90% of the way there. The tremolo itself can cause some issues if there are burrs, the spring to string tension isn't right or if it is just grimey in the wrong places, but in my experiences 90% of it starts at the headstock which is just counterintuitive as hell.

 

I will say that the biggest misconception is that tuners slip; I believe that it's been proven that it is mechanically impossible for that type of gear to slip. It's almost always the release of tension on the wraps loosening them and changing the pitch when the trem is put back to neutral. Using locking nuts does help because it removes the slop in the wraps. Staggered tuners help because it eliminates the string trees which is another binding point.

[_Idioteque_]

tuners, nut,neck joint type, neck pocket, pickups, bridge, stringe gauge, humidity, etc

[Steadfastly]

Stable temperature and humidity.