Why would a Guitar suddenly become incapable of staying in tune for more than a minute or two?
It was set up last year by the guitar tech at a local guitar shop and played well until a few weeks ago. I did think that maybe the strings were so old that they had died and not just become 'dull'. (I'd decided to save up to have a few things done to it and so didn't want to waste money on new strings that would only be on for a few weeks, so I left them on a bit longer than I would normally). So I thought maybe that's the problem, so I changed them to see what effect that would have. I did this in the way I always do and have done on the other guitars I've owned. They've been on about a week and should have stretched enough to stay in tune bar a tiny bit of retuning now and then, such as before starting a practice session. But there's been no improvement.
The strings are the same make and model as always. It's a one-piece hard maple neck (according to maker's website).
Would a quarter-sawn maple neck or a 3-piece maple neck have the same trouble?
There's also another problem :
Even when the guitar is in tune sometimes the chords sound crap, and sometimes they sound good. Although recently more often crap than good. I'm learning scales of chords (rather than just scales of notes) as I find it easier to remember chords for a scale than remembering random chords. Anyway, the ones I'm practicing at the moment are open C Major, open A natural minor, open A Harmonic and open A melodic scales of chords.
I did think maybe some of the new chords sound crap to me 'cos I'm not used to them. But I have played them a few times and they've sounded decent enough, but then the guitar goes out of tune. Sometimes they sound crap even when the tuner says they're in tune.
I get the impression that the crap sound of the chords is a separate problem to the guitar going out of tune so much.
I have changed the battery in the tuner, so it probably isn't that. Maybe the jack socket isn't working properly and so the tuner ain't getting an accurate signal? Maybe the cable's not woriking properly?
Comments
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
As well as what's been said I would recommend some sort of lube in the nut and at the bridge. I use Schumacher Axle Grease and it works great, trem or no trem.
We are generally assuming this is an acoustic guitar but knowing the make/model of your guitar will help somewhat. If it is acoustic it might also have 'bellied up' where the top dips between the end of the neck and the bridge and bows out behind the bridge. This changes the scale length and raises the action so that the fretted notes are out of pitch. A simple visual inspection looking across the top will likely show this to be the case. Again some pics will help the amassed knowledge here give you better pointers.
Is many factors as already stated and sometimes two factors combining to add insult... BUT one easy and not totally insane solution, is to detune by a couple of cents on your tuner and if there is spongey play on the strings (maybe cos nut too high) then your fretting brings strings up to pitch. Is haphazard, but many guitarists get round issues this way.
If playing with others, then tune to each other and forget about perfect pitch.
It's a Rally Neosound. Think of a washburn HB30, but with covered pickups. Here's a link to its page on their website:
http://www.straus.co.kr/neosound.htm
I'm told it could be Korean as it has Jinho tuners, but it could be chinese as it doesn't have the little oval 'korea' label inside. So prolly one of the last koreans they made and they'd run out of labels or an early chinese one and they had a few jinho tuners left.
Stop bar tail piece, tuneomatic style bridge, 2 volume + 2 tone, all maple body, Unspecified tone block, hard maple neck, roseweood fingerboard, presumbly a plastic nut, glued neck, 3-a-side jinho tuners.
Just done a bit of testing. over some minutes I fretted all strings at the 12th fret and then 6th to 2nd strings at the 5th/4th frets. I repeated this a few times. Tuning up each string before it's particular test each time.
At the 12th fret:
6th : string in tune. But all through tests a new string/fret rattle which I don't think was there the last time I played.
5th : string seems to be bit flat, by somewhere between the first flat marker and the 'in tune' marker, but wavers between in and just flat during different 'runs' of the test. New string/fret rattle that I don't thik was there the last time I played.
4th : string was in tune when fretted but now isn't. Maybe new string/fret rattle, but hard to hear.
3rd : string in tune.
2nd : string was slightly flicking to a 'bit sharp' when first played but quickly settled to 'in tune'. Now 'in tune' without flicking.
1st : string in tune.
At the 5th/4th frets :
6th at 5th fret : string in tune.
5th at 5th fret : string in tune.
4th at 5th fret : string in tune.
3rd at 4th ret : string one 'mark' sharp.
2nd at 5th fret : string in tune.
Throughout all tests I retuned each string before its test to eliminate that as a variable. The strings often actually needed to be retuned. The 2nd string seemed to need bigger turns to get it in tune from being sharp or flat.
I did stretch the strings a little more than usual this time. I normally just press them down a few times between the neck and bridge and this is usually enough for them to stay in tune for an hour or so after a couple of days. This time I pulled them up a little along the length and moved them side to side like bending.
1) I tune it, I play, it goes out of tune, I retune etc.
2) While its in tune the chords sound crap some of the time and sound decent some of the time.
These things have happened over tha past few weeks.
Nut
Truss rod
String gauge
String age
Frets
Intonation
Bridge
So basically anything...
I think the tech who set it up for me last year, said he'd re-cut the nut. I don't think a nut would suddenly go wrong after nearly a year of the guitar sounding decent enough.
Earlier I noticed some string rattle around the 12th fret (I didn't really test any frets close to either side of the 12th fret) on the bass side, which I hadn't noticed the other day.
@ ICBM, I don't think my hearing would have improved in such a way that the chords sometimes sound in tune and sometimes out of tune, with more often being out of tune as time's gone on.
It sounds like your truss rod definitely needs a tweak, from new rattles and out of tune chords.
Your tuning issues sound like your strings are not stretched in properly - pressing against the frets won't do it. Big bends on all the strings should do it. Then check your intonation.
When I'm recording, I do this all the time on other peoples guitars. They always look alarmed like I'm going to break something. Lol
Obviously don't go so mad that it breaks the string though. I've done that as well.
You'll usually find there'll be a good few tones of slack in the lower strings and maybe a semitone to a tone of slack in the higher ones.
It'll also make you very aware of how stretched in your strings weren't.