On Correcting Sharpness by Stretching, Bending, Yanking, Tugging, Etc.

Kojo27 · #1 12-18-2011, 06:35 AM

I'm fine-tuning my guitar, by ear or with a tuner, and a string is a bit sharp. So, rather than de-tune and come back up to the note, I take the bit of sharpness out by either:

Bending the string
Pushing down on the string with your pick
Tugging outward gently, sort of like pulling a bow and arrow
Dragging a finger beneath the string, along the fretboard, from 12th fret down to 3rd or 4th fret

Etc.

Do y'all ever do this? We're thinking we'll just "pull" the string, and "stretch" the sharpness away. AND IT WORKS! I've seen guitar techs do it.

But isn't it a temporary fix, bound to fail? IMO, yep, the string will go back to it's sharp tension after a few good whacks with a pick or fingers, and we're right back sharp again, but probably playing now.

Or this is how it seems to me. If we're "correcting" sharpness this way, we should realize that it doesn't really work. Strings don't stretch as much or as easily as some of us imagine they do. There's a BIG load of tension behind the nut -- and we can pull some tension out of that part of the string, and into the main part, creating a bit more slack, a bit less sharpness. But the tension ekes back to where it belongs -- if we've tuned UP to the original pitch as we should (for tuning down to a pitch guarantees flatness once playing commences.)

Any of you guys do this? Or am I just now realizing something that lots of players already know?

Comments?

randalljazz · #2 12-18-2011, 07:22 AM

depends on whether the tension is equalized at the nut. ensure this by pressing down with one finger on each side at the same time, rocking it a little back and forth. should do this every time you adjust your tuning pegs.

princeplanet · #3 12-18-2011, 09:00 AM

I run a recording studio and it's a daily thing for us to keep guitars in tune, often retuning and dropping in for certain chords tht need, say, the 3rd "sweetened".... Anyway, yeah, the best method to fine tune downward is to stretch the string until it drops. Then you strike it very hard to see if it pops back to sharp as it may if the string gets caught on the bridge or nut. Most of the time though, the trick works. If you're worried about friction, use graphite at the friction points (a lead pencil works fine).

Kojo27 · #4 12-18-2011, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by randalljazz

depends on whether the tension is equalized at the nut. ensure this by pressing down with one finger on each side at the same time, rocking it a little back and forth. should do this every time you adjust your tuning pegs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by princeplanet

I run a recording studio and it's a daily thing for us to keep guitars in tune, often retuning and dropping in for certain chords tht need, say, the 3rd "sweetened".... Anyway, yeah, the best method to fine tune downward is to stretch the string until it drops. Then you strike it very hard to see if it pops back to sharp as it may if the string gets caught on the bridge or nut. Most of the time though, the trick works. If you're worried about friction, use graphite at the friction points (a lead pencil works fine).

Hey, thanks guys. If I'm reading you right, you're saying that a formerly sharp string that you've stretched or bent till it's now in tune will STAY in tune, if you make sure the string isn't "grabbing" in the nut groove?

I hope this is true, but I haven't been able to make it happen. I have a bunch of guitars, and they all have lots of graphite in the nut's string slots. Slightly sharp strings that I correct by stretching, I've finally noticed, will be sharp again after a little playing.

Randall, you write about the string's being "equalized at the nut," but I'm not familiar with this concept -- I'd love to learn, though! How do you know when a string is "equalized?" Do you do this and THEN tune - or what?

Also, Randall, you say to stretch a sharp string and then strike it hard to see whether it goes sharp. If it *does* go sharp, what then? Another stretch? When it stops going sharp, what do you think has happened -- regarding the string and the guitar? [/i][/i]

princeplanet · #5 12-18-2011, 07:27 PM

Just keep stretching until it drops enough to tune from below. But stretch it HARD. 2 or 3 times a year I will break strings from doing this!

Kojo27 · #6 12-18-2011, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by princeplanet

Just keep stretching until it drops enough to tune from below. But stretch it HARD. 2 or 3 times a year I will break strings from doing this!

Ah... cool. Makes sense. (I've broken more strings from doing this than from any other way. I even break 5th and 6th strings. I'm learning not to stretch so FAST, though - this helps.)

Thanks much!

kj

beasleybubba · #7 12-20-2011, 03:45 PM

I implement the string stretch almost every time I tune my guitar

Kojo27 · #8 12-20-2011, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beasleybubba

I implement the string stretch almost every time I tune my guitar

Does it stay in tune? (What are you calling "the string stretch?")

Until lately, I'd been using pick push-downs and string yanks, whatever, to take out sharpness, but it would almost always come back into the string when I'd played just a bit. Just wondering how you guys deal with that.

kj