My friend has a mid 80's Les Paul that is heavily relic'd from constant use. He's a great guitarist. Lately he can't keep it in tune and he's blaming the strings. I know I've seen this discussed here as a common problem with LP's but I don't remember what the cause was. Could someone enlighten me so I can gently suggest a fix. He loves his LP but I can see he's getting frustrated with it.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

Could be a lot of things. Maybe a worn nut or tuning machines. Maybe some binding in the bridge.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

Tuners or tuner bushings loose?

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Well if it's just a matter of something wearing out it could be anything. This guitar has had some serious mileage put on it. I thought I remembered someone saying there was an inherent problem with LP's that caused them to not hold a tune very well. I could be wrong. I guess I'll have to suggest it might need an overhaul. He'll probably keep blaming the strings.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

Has he played any gigs in the heat lately? I only ask because I've been experiencing a similar problem with my les paul traditional. I love the guitar, it's been my #1 for a while, but over the summer, I played a gig outside on a blacktop that consisted of me playing for several hours over the course of two days. Immediately afterwards I experienced radical tuning problems. Needless to say, it became an issue with the band because I would need to tune after nearly every song. Recently, it's gotten a little better, but it's still not what it was before that gig. Maybe the sun fried it in some way. I don't know. I do have yet to change the strings though, something I will be doing recently. Maybe that will help.

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Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.
-- Jimi Hendrix, quoted in: Charles Shaar Murray, Crosstown Traffic (1989)

Thanks for the replies. He does the stretching of the strings when he puts them on. He thinks he's not stretching them enough. I think there's something else on the guitar that's finally wearing out. We're playing indoors with A/C, so heat isn't the problem.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

I've been playing an Epiphone Special for the past few weeks outdoor in high temps, and some days it's humid. It hasn't reacted any differently than any of my other guitars. I would tend to suspect the tuners myself. If he feels like it's the strings, maybe try a different brand just to see. I'd try that first before forking out for new tuners.

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