how to keep your guitar in tune

[chrisj]

how do you guys keep your guitar in tune for a really long time if you drop tune mostly?

[Maggie]

Three words: play a Steinberger.

[Gearjoneser]

Here's the thing. You CANNOT take a guitar and tune it down unless you leave it in that tuning and intonate it for that tuning. Also, you've got to make sure the nut is slotted for any string gauge that didn't come stock on the guitar.
The way to properly intonate a drop tuned guitar is to

1. Make sure the nut is slotted for your string gauge, low, but not TOO low.
2. Get the string height exactly where you want it.
3. Adjust the truss rod so the neck is straight, with just a little relief.
4. Drop tune your guitar where you intend to keep it.
5. Use a tuner with a needle, or strobe tuner, and make sure every note on the neck,
especially from the 10th fret to the 19th are ALL dead center on the tuner.
Keep tweaking this until every note is centered.

Now, your guitar is perfectly intonated and should stay in tune just fine. Also, it helps
to do the pinch lock wraparound on the tuning posts, so the strings can't budge.
A little Vaseline, liquid teflon, or liquid graphite in the string slots keeps strings from sticking in the nut. If this is a problem, you really need to have the nut slots cut wider.

[Maggie]

Here's the thing. You CANNOT take a guitar and tune it down unless you leave it in that tuning and intonate it for that tuning. Also, you've got to make sure the nut is slotted for any string gauge that didn't come stock on the guitar.
The way to properly intonate a drop tuned guitar is to

1. Make sure the nut is slotted for your string gauge, low, but not TOO low.
2. Get the string height exactly where you want it.
3. Adjust the truss rod so the neck is straight, with just a little relief.
4. Drop tune your guitar where you intend to keep it.
5. Use a tuner with a needle, or strobe tuner, and make sure every note on the neck,
especially from the 10th fret to the 19th are ALL dead center on the tuner.
Keep tweaking this until every note is centered.

Now, your guitar is perfectly intonated and should stay in tune just fine. Also, it helps
to do the pinch lock wraparound on the tuning posts, so the strings can't budge.
A little Vaseline, liquid teflon, or liquid graphite in the string slots keeps strings from sticking in the nut. If this is a problem, you really need to have the nut slots cut wider.

Or... play a Steinberger.

[Nightburst]

Some heavier gauge strings also work well for more tuning stability and less floppyness.
Gearjoneser has pretty much covered it all.

[Maggie]

Some heavier gauge strings also work well for more tuning stability and less floppyness.
Gearjoneser has pretty much covered it all.

[DEAD_HORSE]Yeah, but I covered it more efficiently.[/DEAD_HORSE]

[Nightburst]

What the hell is a steinberger?

[Guitarist]

What the hell is a steinberger?

[Maggie]

What the hell is a steinberger?

Woah, what sad fate has befallen the youth of today!

Only the best production guitars ever made. Instant transposition (de-tuning, etc.) with a flick of the wrist and they don't go out of tune. Ever. Full stop.

[Nightburst]

My el cheapo Ibanez never goes out of tune either because it is setup correctly by me. (with help from Gearjonesers 'how to setup a guitar' post on the old board)

Is it really a crime not to know Steinberger?
While I'm at it, I'm not pursuing EVH's tone either, lol.

[Maggie]

My el cheapo Ibanez never goes out of tune either because it is setup correctly by me. (with help from Gearjonesers 'how to setup a guitar' post on the old board)

Yeah, but if you put it in the cargo hold of an airplane and flew it across the continent, it would be out of tune when you land (for that matter, if you didn't slack the strings, it might land with a broken neck). Not so with a Steinberger. You can repeatedly drop a Steinberger from a second-story window and it will stay in tune.

Is it really a crime not to know Steinberger?

A crime? No. A shame? Most definitely.

While I'm at it, I'm not pursuing EVH's tone either, lol.

Nor am I, but since you mention it, if you were, you'd probably know what a Steinberger is. Ed plays them.

... or were you talking about Evenly-Voiced Harmonics?

[Nightburst]

Hey people lean new stuff everyday, I'll be checking out some steinbergers then. And I thought strats were tough.
Heh, I can already picture myself dropping the Ibanez out of the window to see what will happen, I'll bet it will be totally destroyed since it's made of basswood.

[Chi3f]

yea but most of us aren't that naive to be tossing our main guitars out the window for the fun of it... my guitars rarely go out of tune and when they do how hard is it to tune them? never have a problem durring a gig.

who cares if it will go out of tune when your shipping it? I have enough time to get it right again...

[casblah]

Steinbergers are an eyesore, IMO.

[MattPete]

Hey people lean new stuff everyday, I'll be checking out some steinbergers then.

http://www.gibson.com/products/steinberger/

That, my son, is a Steinberger.

Carbon fiber
active pickups
transposing tremolo (Trans-trem)

All of this, 20 years ago.

http://www.gibson.com/products/stein...res.html#TTrem
http://www.nedsteinberger.com/

[Gearjoneser]

And with a Steinberger, they've already solved the problem of broken headstocks!
Just like relicing.....they give you a pre-broken headstock! LOL

[McLaughysSN]

-Great Tuners
-A bridge that is INTONATED to that tuning (probably the most important thing)

i believe there used to be a post in the vault about intonation (old forum). i haven't checked if it is there any more but it was a very useful post

another thing to consider whe getting your guitar intonated is that you put some good gauges on there (heavier with the lower tunning you go). and make sure that the guitar STAYS in that tuning its intonated for. dont tune it to other things otherwise it won't stay in tune as well (very much to do with neck tension)