Is it normal to have to tune your guitar a couple times a day?

[73Fender]

I never heard of nut sauce, so I just Googled it. I wonder what’s in it - they don’t say. The claim made for it is fairly bold (and probably more than a little upsetting to their lawyer) -

“Your guitar is guaranteed to remain in tune.”

Has it made a difference for you?

Hard to say. Of course a well cut nut and smooth saddles are vital. I tried the Nut Sauce after years of reading great reviews on the forums. It hasn’t hurt for sure. I’m sure you could substitute but it’s cheap (got mine on Amazon) and it should last forever. I’d say yes it has helped.

[sgosnell]

I never heard of nut sauce, so I just Googled it. I wonder what’s in it - they don’t say. The claim made for it is fairly bold (and probably more than a little upsetting to their lawyer) -

“Your guitar is guaranteed to remain in tune.”

Has it made a difference for you?

From the Big Bends FAQ

What does Nut Sauce contain?Teflon and silicone in a proprietary base that won’t run or drip.

Teflon and silicone in a proprietary base that won’t run or drip.



Teflon and silicone in a proprietary base that won’t run or drip.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

From the Big Bends FAQ: What does Nut Sauce contain?Teflon and silicone in a proprietary base that won’t run or drip.

Thanks - foolishly, I didn’t look at the FAQs.

The presence of silicone residue on a guitar’s finish makes finish repairs more difficult because it interferes with the flow and adherence of a repair or refin. Even a tiny drop gets around - scant residue on a finger can end up wherever that finger touches the guitar. Luthiers and techs doing any finish repair or refinish work generally assume that there’s silicone contamination and take added precautions to minimize risk of fisheyes etc.

None of us anticipates a headstock break or a body blow from a mic stand, but they happen. I won’t use a silicone product on any of my guitars. My approach to nut hygiene is properly set up Tusq nuts kept clean.

[Alder Statesman]

How bad out of tune is it? During a show I usually have to adjust just a little bit a couple of times. Are the nut slots smooth?

In the early ‘90’s I saw Robert Cray in concert. After every tune he would take of his Strat and slide it across the stage to his tech and Robert would grab a fresh Strat. While playing the next tune the tech would retune the previous Strat.

Granted, at least in my experience, Strats go out of tune fairly quickly unlike a Tele or LP.

[Little Jay]

All my guitars (all 20 of them) are very stable and don’t need tuning for days, weeks and sometimes months. That goes for both the Fender and Gibson designs (my 1950 ES-125 with its old Kluson tuners is extremely stable and hardly ever needs to be tuned).

I only need to tune then when the weather changes or after I played them heavily (but even during gigs I never need to tune), or if I accidentally hit the tuning buttons.

The only occasions that required tuning several times a day - in case of my guitars - are:
a) after putting on new strings or
b) a newly assembled or built guitar that is still setting (trussrod, wood).

So if your guitar was not recently strung or is not just put together but still needs tuning several times a day, I find that suspicious and it leeds me to suspect something is working or slowly giving away. It might by anything from something harmless like slipping tuners, to more serious like an instable neck/body joint, but something is not in order…..

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Granted, at least in my experience, Strats go out of tune fairly quickly unlike a Tele or LP.

Hardtail strats that are set up properly for the chosen strings have stayed in tune for me. But every original style trem strat I’ve played was a tuning nightmare unless the trem was solidly blocked. Using 3 or more stiff springs actually makes it worse, because they pull too hard on the strings when you release the whammy bar and are not precise enough to stop at the point of proper tuning. And fewer or weaker springs may not return the strings to the exact same position and tension either (but on the looser side of tuned).

[deacon Mark]

Today I took my 37 D'a New Yorker out to play a few things and stretch the fingers. I think it has been at least a week since I last picked it up. Require no tuning at all was fine. One the road of guitars and how they journey............................

[rpjazzguitar]

I tried nut sauce on my Comins. Didn't change the problem.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I tried nut sauce on my Comins. Didn't change the problem.

Snake oil is very effective if your snake is sticking. It has little use apart from this.

I’m always amazed at the ease with which problems are solved when properly diagnosed.

[WILSON 1]

Here in Florida my L-4 will 'wake up' sharp every day.

Up North it was just the opposite and that's due to humidity and the way any piece of furniture will react to atmospherics.

Only problem is that strings were never designed to be tuned down...so stretch and re-tune.

Same with the tele although it takes a few days.

I chisel a 2B pencil flat to 'lube' the nut slots. But any popping should be noticable.

Also there is such a thing as 'string travel' having to do with nut slot cuts and bridge saddle height.

At every setup I 'deck' the saddles and slowly bring them up until there is no buzz.
( DO NOT ATTEMPT WITHOUT FRETBOARD ARCH KEYS )

If your G string is intonated and is pitch perfect at the 12 fret ( fretted and harmonic ) but is sharp at the 2nd fret ( A )
you could have travel problems which will make any chord sound 'out'.

Sorry...I use this ( ' ) alot.

[sgosnell]

If your G string is intonated and is pitch perfect at the 12 fret ( fretted and harmonic ) but is sharp at the 2nd fret ( A )
you could have travel problems which will make any chord sound 'out'.

It can also be caused by a high nut slot. This is common on new guitars, and usually all the slots are too high. Getting the nut slots right is one of the more important, and more difficult, parts of a setup.

[WILSON 1]

It can also be caused by a high nut slot. This is common on new guitars, and usually all the slots are too high. Getting the nut slots right is one of the more important, and more difficult, parts of a setup.

Right, I did say that and while on the topic of nut slots...

don't forget with a new instrument or a new nut install to file down the top of the nut after the slots are cut to proper depth.

A portion of the string should show ABOVE the nut ( although I believe we all fail in this regard with the 1 & 2 strings as too shallow a slot can cause the E to pop with aggressive strumming ).

Don't bury the strings.

[sgosnell]

Very true. It seems that every factory guitar sent out has the nut slots too high, and the nut itself too tall, with the strings far above the frets but buried in the nut. It's common on even well set up guitars to have the b and e strings about the string thickness into the nut, so that they barely show any thickness above the nut, but I think lower is better. I generally strive for about half the string thickness to be above the nut, maybe the E and A a little more. Neither the nut or saddle slots need to be deep, just enough to keep the string in place, which isn't much.

[Filmosound 621]

my latest guitar, a Kalamazoo KG-21 from 1941, has a stock Ebony nut, that needs to have the slots cut deeper. a lot.

might be the reason, why this guitar hasn't seen much love yet, wrong strings and bad set-up.

sounds all sweet now with Thomastik # 11 JazzSwing.


and it stays in tune pretty well too, with that mahogany neck, that might has been cut about a 100 years ago.

[Woody Sound]

Yes.

Gibson introduced the E-tuner system as a response to customers complaining that the guitar they bought on-line was out of tune at the time of unboxing. The noobs raged over Gibson not stretching the strings at the factory so that the customer would have to tune the brand new guitar!

Learning to play the guitar starts with learning how to tune. We then continue to practice the art of tuning every day for as long as we persist playing this instrument. Those really adamant about learning to play the guitar, will also have to learn how to replace strings, how to tweak the truss rod, the bridge and how to intonate. Those that didn't give up playing eventually learned to dress a nut. The most stubborn individuals will sooner or later learn to dress the frets...then, after a lifetime of playing we got guitars that stays in tune within reason, meaning I'm happy if I during a gig have to retune just once (which I do so fast it goes unnoticed).

The father of a young beginning student of mine said to me "They should just tune the damn thing at the factory for good."

[JCat]

The father of a young beginning student of mine said to me "They should just tune the damn thing at the factory for good."

Yes, it's a common attitude these days. Turning a tuning key and pluck a string in real life is so far from the realm of virtual reality and instant reward. The "Garage band" app never goes out of tune and it's free. -"Who in his right mind spends 2000 bucks and more on a product that has to be manually tuned? It's sooo 1950!"

Let's be realistic; Once the beginner gets passed the first obstacle of understanding E B G D A E to strum a few cowboy chords, then the real journey begins.

When I was a teenager playing in a guitar band, we had no electronic tuning pedals, just a tuning fork or a piano (that may or may not have been in tune). Our guitars were poorly intonated and nobody ever tweaked a truss rod. We were running the racks of the guitar stores and made comments like;
"this one is dog", "that one has a nice neck"," the one over there makes my finger hurt", "here's one with low action", "fat necks for fat tone, heavy guitars for heavy metal, rosewood is warmer than maple"....

I firmly believed that the expensive quality guitars were adjusted at the factory, once and for all. We didn't know better. We thought that if a guitar didn't hold tune, it was because of crappy tuner keys.

But somehow we played songs together, having fun making noise. Once I learned to maintain my guitars, I took my playing to the next level.

If I could count the hours I've spent trying to tune a guitar that could never hold tune due to poor setup...
If I could count the hours I've wasted fighting a poorly setup guitar...
If I could count the myths, the lies, the sales crap, the false assumptions...
If I would have known then, what I know now I would have saved time and money.

The only guitar gear I've bought in the last couple of years that really made a difference are luthier tools. Good maintenance is the best "upgrade" a guitar can get.

[AllanAllen]

Yes, it's a common attitude these days. Turning a tuning key and pluck a string in real life is so far from the realm of virtual reality and instant reward. The "Garage band" app never goes out of tune and it's free. -"Who in his right mind spends 2000 bucks and more on a product that has to be manually tuned? It's sooo 1950!"

Let's be realistic; Once the beginner gets passed the first obstacle of understanding E B G D A E to strum a few cowboy chords, then the real journey begins.

When I was a teenager playing in a guitar band, we had no electronic tuning pedals, just a tuning fork or a piano (that may or may not have been in tune). Our guitars were poorly intonated and nobody ever tweaked a truss rod. We were running the racks of the guitar stores and made comments like;
"this one is dog", "that one has a nice neck"," the one over there makes my finger hurt", "here's one with low action", "fat necks for fat tone, heavy guitars for heavy metal, rosewood is warmer than maple"....

I firmly believed that the expensive quality guitars were adjusted at the factory, once and for all. We didn't know better. We thought that if a guitar didn't hold tune, it was because of crappy tuner keys.

But somehow we played songs together, having fun making noise. Once I learned to maintain my guitars, I took my playing to the next level.

If I could count the hours I've spent trying to tune a guitar that could never hold tune due to poor setup...
If I could count the hours I've wasted fighting a poorly setup guitar...
If I could count the myths, the lies, the sales crap, the false assumptions...
If I would have known then, what I know now I would have saved time and money.

The only guitar gear I've bought in the last couple of years that really made a difference are luthier tools. Good maintenance is the best "upgrade" a guitar can get.

We used to tune to the A of the bass guitar. Someone told us it stayed in tune best. I didn't get an electric tuner until I was already playing for a decade. The Bandleader didn't want me tuning by ear on stage.

[Marinero]

Factors that reflect intonation issues:

1. humidity
2. temperature
3. bad strings
4. bad tuners
5. laminate vs all wood construction
6. improper bridge placement
7. poor construction/alignment of neck

I think, as a general rule, most guitarists do not know how to tune their instruments properly. Tuners are only a guide and you must use your ears for final adjustments. My CG's with good strings need to be tweaked every 10-15 minutes ,as a general rule, when playing in a stable, humidity-controlled room. Playing in venues with constantly changing conditions with people coming and going, doors opening, etc. are more problematic and micro-tuning may be necessary after every piece. My EG is a different story and is much more stable--even with 60 year old Grover tuners. And, since it is a laminate, it is more stable than my CG's. I have played for an hour straight without tweaking the tuning and even, sometimes, overnight it will still be in tune. I keep the humidity at about 45-50% in my music room.
Marinero