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Post subject: Bought A New Strat.....Had Some Questions
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:22 am
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I bought a new American Deluxe V-Neck, and I love it, but it's not doing the greatest job of staying in tune. The strings are stretched and the locking tuners are tight, anything else I can try?

Also, I was curious about the where the fretboard meets the body. Should the fret board be completely snug to the body, or is this gap normal?

Here are the pics:

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Thanks


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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:29 am
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The gap is right and proper.

Don't want to insult your intelligence with basic tuning stability tips if you are an experienced player.

But since you mention your locking machines are "tight" I'm suddenly wondering how many winds of string you have on your tuner posts? Most of the point of locking mechanisms is that you then only need a turn or less on the post: string slippage when people have wind after wind around that post is sometimes a cause of tuning problems...

Want to give us more information to go on?

Cheers


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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:32 am
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Ceri wrote:
The gap is right and proper.

Don't want to insult your intelligence with basic tuning stability tips if you are an experienced player.

But since you mention your locking machines are "tight" I'm suddenly wondering how many winds of string you have on your tuner posts? Most of the point of locking mechanisms is that you then only need a turn or less on the post: string slippage when people have wind after wind around that post is sometimes a cause of tuning problems...

Want to give us more information to go on?

Cheers


All strings have less than 1 wind on the tuner posts. I have been playing for 9 years, but this is the first strat I have owned.


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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:41 am
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OK, then next it's the usual tips - but you probably know this stuff: no insult intended.

Points of friction are where string movement can be inhibited and so tuning affected, especially with a guitar with a vibrato. So take a look at your nut, saddles and string tree and see if there's any obvious snagging going on (for instance, flecks of stray metal on the saddles - I'm sure you know the kind of thing). If it all looks right, lubricate anyway to be on the safe side, with graphite from the point of a pencil. Is the string tree slightly crooked, causing snagging? Are the ball ends of the strings properly seated in the block? Are there any loose screws on the bridge? Are all the little screws that set the height of the saddles seated nicely on the plate, or are some of the saddles sitting only on one screw?

After that, we get to the knotty issue of trem spring tension balancing strings...

Over:


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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:51 am
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Well...
A strat needs needs a good setup and then it stays in good very good. I tune mine once every week. And even then there's little detuning. Usually just one or two strings by 4-5% off.
Get a setup if you already haven't, should be OK.


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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:50 am
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Sounds to me like it needs a setup. The bridge needs to be adjusted.

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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:19 am
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Hey, some further thoughts:

A player of nine years' standing having tuning problems is clearly not just spotty kid beginner issues. And a pro set-up is always good advice.

But. You mention it is your first Strat: I wonder if it is also your first instrument with a vibrato bridge? If so, you may be underestimating how sensitive that thing can be. If you are very accustomed to resting the palm of your picking hand quite hard on the bridge then you may be wobbling it around even when you don't realise it. Especially since if it is a new guitar it will surely have a floating trem, that is to say, you can bend notes up as well as down. This is because the whole bridge is raised a couple of mm above the face of the body, which means any pressure on the back of the bridge (from your palm) will send the notes all over the place.

In other words, your playing experience and established playing style may be the very thing causing your problem: your technique might need to change somewhat. If all of this is the case, you may also find you want a harder setup, with five springs on the back of the trem instead of the three it undoubtedly came supplied with. This will make it less suseptible to "warble" and may suit you better - it is an easy mod, after all. And heavier strings would help, if you can deal with them.

None of this is meant to show any disrespect for your nine years of experience: just trying to be helpful. If that still ain't it - then I place you in the hands of my more learned colleagues...


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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:47 am
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Everything looks ok except the pickups look to be really high. When set correctly, they should be about 1/8" from the top of the pole piece to the bottom of the string.


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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 1:18 pm
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The tuners have little knobs that turn to tighten them in case they're a little loose and lose tune from bending and whatnot. Otherwise, maybe try five springs in the tremolo. Maybe it's not tuning, but it's the tremolo working and giving you a little vibrato help you really don't need. The trem responds well to added springs. A lot of artists add springs - Mayer and Eric Johnson for example. Could be your trem has the standard 3 springs, which will not give perfect note stability imho. Watch some ace on t.v. shake his Strat and get vibrato - that's three strings. I use the tremolo for vibrato, but with five springs it works well and notes never wander. It's the best of both worlds imho. Aside from that, what works for me is to stretch the strings before you tune them and then tune low to high. Put pencil graphite on the nut, the string trees and the bridge saddles, and wherever the strings contact any surfaces. No tuning issues here at all. I tune it every now and then just to keep in dead on, and it's always basically in tune when I check it out on the digital tuner.

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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:02 pm
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Thanks guys. Some really good tips here. I am going to try some of them out tonight. The 5-springs sounds like a great idea. She is going in for a pro-setup either tomorrow or Thursday. I have a local guy that does all my guitar work and doesn't charge me much.

I might as well flaunt some pics while I'm here :D

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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:06 pm
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Something else you might want to consider is how old are the strings? You mentioned they were stretched. Are they new? Are they the same ones that the guitar came with? Dead stretched out strings don't stay in tune very well. Maybe just a new set of strings, properly strung would help.

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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:08 pm
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cryingstrat wrote:
Something else you might want to consider is how old are the strings? You mentioned they were stretched. Are they new? Are they the same ones that the guitar came with? Dead stretched out strings don't stay in tune very well. Maybe just a new set of strings, properly strung would help.


The guitar and strings are brand new. I always like to give em a beating before really tuning up.


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Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:35 pm
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LedZep77 wrote:
cryingstrat wrote:
Something else you might want to consider is how old are the strings? You mentioned they were stretched. Are they new? Are they the same ones that the guitar came with? Dead stretched out strings don't stay in tune very well. Maybe just a new set of strings, properly strung would help.


The guitar and strings are brand new. I always like to give em a beating before really tuning up.


Then it probably is like everyone else says, it just needs a simple set-up. They do a so-so set up at the factory because most people get their new guitar set up the way they want it as soon as they get it home.

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