https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:17:45 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61692 Fri, 04 Jun 2004 09:39:30 +0000
(as this thread degenerates even further....)


On-topic, I heeded some of the advice posted by Promedics and lubricated the nut slightly. That, in conjunction with a shiny new set of Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies to replace the strings that came on it, appears to have made tuning a much more rewarding process. The ratcheting I felt must have been the original strings dragging on the nut rather than the action of the tuners themselves. You'd think that I, as a mechanic of sorts, might have figured that out on my own. :D

I restrung it last night, tuned it up, stretched the strings a bit, tuned again, etc, played it for about an hour, then went to bed. When I came home from work this evening and picked it up it was still almost perfectly in tune - that's *never* happened before. I've been beating the crap out of it tonight trying some different things, and even after several hours of on-and-off play it's still doing great.

One again, I really appreciate the advice. Saved me some unnecessary money and made my guitar work a lot better than it did before! Now, if only there were such a magical solution for my actual playing.... :lol:

-Rick]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Pilot https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61692 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61689 Fri, 04 Jun 2004 08:56:31 +0000 scratchmonkey

He might be able to pickup some extra flight line thats laying around, or even maybe a gallon or two of prop wash, it comes in hand now and then. I'll bet they'll let you have all the prop wash you can carry...lol

Sorry I couldn't resist..

joe]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance forrok_star https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61689 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61687 Fri, 04 Jun 2004 07:17:09 +0000
-- Scratch
(with apologies) That depends on whether or not you have 1000 scratchmonkeys at 1000 adding machines. :P]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Pilot https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61687 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61671 Fri, 04 Jun 2004 01:22:52 +0000
-- Scratch
(with apologies)]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance scratchmonkey https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61671 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61669 Fri, 04 Jun 2004 01:08:43 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance Pilot https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61669 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61531 Tue, 01 Jun 2004 02:46:33 +0000 Even cheap tuners have a screw to tighten the knobs, which also increases the tension on the gears, which will keep them from slipping. Tighten those boys up, put some graphit (pencil lead works fine) into the nut slots, and at least some of your problems will go away. A one-way trem should never go out of tune. My el-cheapo Squier Affinity Strat stays in tune until the strings break. So will an Avalanche. My Recomendadtions would be to change your Nut before anything. Graphite nute are great, Personally I prefer a brass nut. Afte that, see how your tuuning goes. If it is still off, then you'll ahev to replace, and it';s worth the small rpice differancee to go on up to locking tuners. I prefer a mixture of Graphite mixed into petrolium Jelly rubed into teh slots of my nut. Install and tune your strings, then slip the string out of it's slot. Then run inthis mixture, and then replace the strring in it's slot, and retune. If you od this in an upgraded nut, I think you'll find your tuning improves. Seriosuly though, tuning will enver be perfect without a locking nut and one of teh "systems" out there . So truly, one of teh biggest factors is are you playing for fun or money... if you're a pro/semi-pro, then the money isnt a uestion, you need ot sound your absolute best. if you're playing for fun, perhaos the very small amount of sound benefit isn;t worth teh high cost of said systems and upgrades... Hope that clears things uop rather than muddied the waters! I had a problem with staying in tune on my EVO, so I put a set of Planet Waves Auto-trim locking tuners on and have had great results. Makes string changes a hell of alot quicker, too. As for the trem guitar going out of tune there are several factors to consider -

The nut - strings binding in the slots?
The trem spring tension - is the trem base plate in the same plane as the body - 1/8" space for fulcrum trems flat against it for vintage 6 screw. Did you change string gauge lately? if so up, or down. That would impact on the nut binding and spring tension. If any of the above are out of whack then all the locking tuners in the world won't help you a bit. You would be further ahead to pay a technician do a good setup on it than spend the money on hardware you may not need. Just my 2 cents]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ignar Hillström https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61531 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61530 Tue, 01 Jun 2004 02:33:43 +0000
joe]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance forrok_star https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61530 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61487 Mon, 31 May 2004 12:09:28 +0000
I've got a shiny new Yamaha Pacifica that I really like a lot...but the tuners on it suck. They're a little ratchety, and it's hard to really get it fine-tuned without a lot of extra fiddling. That, combined with a mediocre tremolo bridge (the only part I don't like - that will have to be the subject of another post,) makes it very difficult to keep the thing in tune while I'm pounding away it it in my newbie-like fashion. :D

I like the guitar as a whole, and I don't want to buy another new guitar just to get decent tuners. Would it be worth my while to buy new ones for it, or should I just live with it for now? I'm a pretty mechanically savvy person, and doing upgrades doesn't scare me a bit. I've already set this new guitar up myself, slight truss rod adjustment and such to dial in the action and intonation. I fix $35 million helicopters for a living...affixing six small gearboxes to a guitar head, frankly, doesn't seem like it'd be that much of a challenge. :lol:

Any tips, suggestions, or warnings? Thanks!

-Rick]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Pilot https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61487 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61389 Sat, 29 May 2004 06:56:49 +0000
Thanks again]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance U2Bono269 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61389 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61388 Sat, 29 May 2004 06:50:35 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance gnease https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/installing-new-tuners/#post-61388