Slipping Sperzel tuners, Amy remedy?

[eclecticsynergy]

I might swap the B and G string tuners, to see if that tuner still gives you a problem when it's on the G.

[PFDarkside]

Well I didn’t see any thing odd, I strung up, stretched and tuned and intonated. I think was actually 9s before and it’s got 10s now. Overnight it held tune, so we’ll see. Also I cleaned up the whole neck and body, polished the frets, etc. I kind of forgot how awesome a clean, oiled neck is.

Also interestingly, the frets have a really broad crown. I guess that means they last longer but I think I prefer a a more narrow profile. Still this is an awesome guitar, I hope it was just user error and it didn’t have the locking wheel tight enough.

[ICTGoober]

Wide frets can affect the intonation adversely. A level and recrown would help immensely, I bet.

[NegativeEase]

It's not the tuners. It's something else. The intonation is off either because the action is too high at the nut, too high at the bridge, or the intonation hasn't been set. In 45 years at the bench it's been the tuners maybe 3 times.

Totally Agree. Sperzells are likely not the issue -they are machined to a tolerance much better than most tuners which is why they can outperform a 18:1 or 20:1 machine head only using a 13:1 ratio on tuners.

My advice is look for pinching and binding in the slot and saddle AND the stability of the bridge and guitar first -in my experience -its that almost all of the time.

Also, if it is actually suspected to be Sperzell -contact them -they are straight up good people.... you will talk to one of the Sperzell family likley.

[PFDarkside]

Totally Agree. Sperzells are likely not the issue -they are machined to a tolerance much better than most tuners which is why they can outperform a 18:1 or 20:1 machine head only using a 13:1 ratio on tuners.

My advice is look for pinching and binding in the slot and saddle AND the stability of the bridge and guitar first -in my experience -its that almost all of the time.

Also, if it is actually suspected to be Sperzell -contact them -they are straight up good people.... you will talk to one of the Sperzell family likley.

Its not the nut. The amount of tension mismatch to drop a half step on a high e string would be huge. A minute turn of the tuning head gives an equivalent small change in pitch. The bridge is an older brass Strat style that is decked with 5 springs. The saddles, other than a little surface discoloration are in good shape. I posted a pic of the block, I don’t think it’s the ball ends being smushed into the block.

Lets see what happens this time around.

[ICTGoober]

Is the string winding slipping at the bridge end?

[PFDarkside]

Is the string winding slipping at the bridge end?

It doesn’t look like it from the image above, but let’s see how this new set of strings does. 24 hours later the whole guitar is really close to being in tune. I typically use the same strings on one specific guitar, like I’ll buy three sets of Optiweb 10-52 for one guitar and leave them in the case. If I got two bad sets and put them on one after another it would be bad luck but not out of the realm of possibility. A string winding would be a definite cause.

[ICTGoober]

If you pull up on the whammy, that could cause slippage. For high performance vibrato clients, I oftentimes solder the wraps down by the ball end just to be sure...

[PFDarkside]

I know you have all been waiting with much anticipation…

After the initial stretch and tuning this set of string is holding tune very well. I rarely have to tune the next time I pick it up.

Clearly it was one of:
1. User error (most likely)
2. Bad string batch (two sets from the same batch as detailed above)
3. “Intermittent” issue, like the locking ball has damage in one position but not another.

We’ll let this one marinate and I’ll revisit on the next string change. Thanks to Elixir that will be in about 4-6 months.

[Chistopher]

Moving forward don't overtighten your locking tuners. It doesn't give you more secure strings but it does damage the ball.