It sounds like the string is hanging up - that is, getting stuck - in the nut slot. If you're not confident in doing the work yourself or don't have the tools, just take it to a competent technician and tell them what's going on. They can fix it in about 3 minutes, unless the nut slot is too deep already and the nut has to be replaced.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

Nothing you can't do yourself Elix1r
http://www.fendercustomshop.com/index.p ... t-stories/
watch the lube vid

Maybe a bad string.

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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Yes, you can lube the nut, but that means you're treating the symptoms of a bad nut and not the cause. A good nut doesn't need goop/Vaseline/graphite/Nut Sauce.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

How did that work out Elix1r, problem solved ? I just use the slightest dab of vaseline after giving the nut slots a clean with dental floss and it cured the ping problem I had, I use 9s though, if your using real heavy then I'd go as EgFryer suggests and get someone to redress the nut slots.

Maybe one of your tuners is shot? It happened to my Strat near the end. A lot of other things were going wrong, so I gave the good parts to friends who needed them.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

It could just be that the string is wound onto the tuner post in a way that causes it to become unstable. Though it's unlikely if you're getting sharp pitch and then low pitch tuning issues. As the venerable Mr Fryer says it's likely a slot issue. I would doubt it is due to the slot needing widening as much as it needs smoothing out. I once took a set of feeler gauges to a shop (long story short I couldn't believe the size I was measuring on my high E nut slots). I didn't measure a high E slot below .016" wide.
If I remember right Mr Rob Schwartz said on these boards that the Fender employees that do that work use the slotting saw for the high E. Which makes sense when you think about it. If you look at a .010" nut slot file it is remarkably thin. I think that even Superman couldn't govern the file to within .005" of side wander as it cuts through the nut.

You could try just folding some fine wet and dry paper in half and dragging it through the slot. Just gently, just enough to remove any burr or muck that may have got in there.

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No no and no

Just since I didn't see it suggested.....did you stretch the strings? I see good players all the time who don't and they spend all their time between solos (during songs) retuning. I'll go an entire gig without retuning.

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2002 mim Telecaster
Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster
Mexican HSS Stratocaster
6 non-fender guitars
2 kids (not for sale)
1 wife (uh....no comment)

No lube and grease doesn't really work. It just masks the problem till the next time it arises.

1 Check your string winding onto the post. Keep it to an absolute minimum. 2 winds max.

2 Gently clean the slot with some very very fine folded abrasive paper.

3 Check that any string tree isn't interfering with the string path unnecessarily. Raise the string tree till either the E or B string starts to sitar in the nut slot. Then lower it in very minute increments until the sitar'ing string stops sitar'ing.

After that if the string is still wandering in pitch, you need someone to get hands on with the guitar.
If you're up to a .014" gauge high E string has the truss rod been set to compensate for the heavy gauge?
Could you be suffering neck wander? A properly set up guitar shouldn't exhibit these symptoms.

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No no and no

+1.

A string that heavy is likely to stick in a nut cut for a .010. Try Niki's sandpaper suggestion.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist