How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

[RorySquier]

This is how I tune my 1998 Fender American Std. Strat and I find this method great! My guitar stays in tune even after real heavy usage. It takes a bit of patience to tune but when all set everything works well.

;>)/

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Never seen a guitar with a...drumroll.... tremolo....

 

[RorySquier]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Never seen a guitar with a...drumroll.... tremolo....

?



;>)/

 

[Chistopher]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Why on Earth are there so many people who the first thing they recommend is buying new tuners to fix tuning instability? 70% of the time the issue is binding in the nut or string trees and the other 25% is binding in the bridge.

I have never tried this method, but all of the Strats I've ever owned had flawless tuning stability once I got them setup and put graphite on everything. The string stretching part of this clip is really the most important part of this clip; even if the string doesn't really stretch but rather settle in its position.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

?



;>)/

The correct musical term for varying the pitch is vibrato. Tremolo is a different effect, one that can’t be achieved with the vibrato arm on a Strat.

 

[Adieu]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Why on Earth are there so many people who the first thing they recommend is buying new tuners to fix tuning instability? 70% of the time the issue is binding in the nut or string trees and the other 25% is binding in the bridge.

I have never tried this method, but all of the Strats I've ever owned had flawless tuning stability once I got them setup and put graphite on everything. The string stretching part of this clip is really the most important part of this clip; even if the string doesn't really stretch but rather settle in its position.

Because there's two types of tuners out there, those that work and those that don't.

If youve got something with those atrocious old "trapeze" tuners every brand seemed to stick on the lower end models, hells yeah you need to upgrade.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Because there's two types of tuners out there, those that work and those that don't.

If youve got something with those atrocious old "trapeze" tuners every brand seemed to stick on the lower end models, hells yeah you need to upgrade.

What in the heck is a trapeze tuner?

 

[Adieu]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

What in the heck is a trapeze tuner?

This unsealed crap

 

[Chistopher]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

This unsealed crap

But that is sealed. Plus open-geared versus sealed tuners have little effect on tuning stability, just that open tuners often get all grimy after decades of wear and sometimes aren't as smooth.

Even those tuners I don't tend to have issues with. Maybe a rough edge on the post will break a string, which is a massive pain in the ass, but I've never had any tuning issues that have been rectified by replacing solely the tuning machine.

 

[Adieu]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

But that is sealed. Plus open-geared versus sealed tuners have little effect on tuning stability, just that open tuners often get all grimy after decades of wear and sometimes aren't as smooth.

Even those tuners I don't tend to have issues with. Maybe a rough edge on the post will break a string, which is a massive pain in the ass, but I've never had any tuning issues that have been rectified by replacing solely the tuning machine.

It's not, it's..."covered".

It is a loose fitting cap.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Blaming the quality of the tuners is an easy scapegoat, but the root cause of tuning instability is incorrect/poor stringing of the instrument. IE: bad string wrapping technique.

 

[Adieu]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Blaming the quality of the tuners is an easy scapegoat, but the root cause of tuning instability is incorrect/poor stringing of the instrument. IE: bad string wrapping technique.

Hmm.

Ive never had a problem with tuning decent tuners.

Technique: tie a loop through the hole, make sure all the windings go under it not over it

Wraps: often WAY too many according to others, since I like to be able to swap pickups without swapping strings

 

[formula73]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Tuning stability issues come from crappy nut slots.

People have been tuning stringed instruments with tapered wooden pegs for centuries.

 

[Mincer]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Tuning is a function of a system...there can be many causes. Playing style, too- things can sound out of tune with aggressive technique (and imprecise bends) even though everything looks great with a tuner. Even pickup height on a Strat can bend the strings out of tune.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

I've never picked up a set of tuners and thought 'these are crap' or had tuning difficulties attributable to them. The sole exception is a Mexican Squier that had higher than normal resistance tuners (that still functioned well) and oh yeah- a Breedlove where the gears actually broke.

As usual I am not compelled to sit through a video on this.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

The correct musical term for varying the pitch is vibrato. Tremolo is a different effect, one that can’t be achieved with the vibrato arm on a Strat.

I actually know that but thanks for pointing it out. It is Fender that uses the word "Tremolo" to describe vibrato so they are the ones that have it mixed up.



;>)/

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

I've never picked up a set of tuners and thought 'these are crap' or had tuning difficulties attributable to them. The sole exception is a Mexican Squier that had higher than normal resistance tuners (that still functioned well) and oh yeah- a Breedlove where the gears actually broke.

As usual I am not compelled to sit through a video on this.

Yeah, overall the budget tuners aren’t totally crap these days. Same with cheap guitars. They were awful when I started playing. Lol

But it seems some don’t have a great gear ratio, and just don’t tune as smoothly. You get close to pitch but it’s not precise enough. I almost always end up replacing these with brand name tuners.

In general I think the best thing these days is to switch to locking tuners and something like a GraphTech nut. Just stick the string straight into the tuner and lock and tune it. This prevents having wraps around the post. Then stretch you strings by pulling on them an inch or two and retune. Do that a few more times.

Works for me even on my guitars with non locking trems.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AlexR]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

+1 for most tuning machines being pretty good. Unless they are slipping (and I've only ever seen this on 1 old cheapy nylon string) then they do just fine. Of course there are smooth tuners and not so smooth ones to turn, but they still hold pitch quite well.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

This unsealed crap

WHAT??!!!

You were just playing with us right?

You realize of course that you are one of my favorite posters on this forum, right? You always have something very funny to say which totally brightens my day.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: How To Keep Your Stratocaster Guitar In Tune...

Well, I just wasted 8 1/2 minutes of my precious life watching that video.