How long does a guitar that stays in tune actually stay in tune?

I stay within a pretty narrow range of humidities and temperatures for the most part, but I do occasionally travel to beach gigs. And sometimes I have church gigs that're outdoors.

Anyhow, I follow certain rules/processes:
  • All my guitars have tended to use double-locking systems or high-grade staggered locking tuners with a quality nut job, graphite, GraphTech nuts, etc.
  • I never change strings right before a gig. (At worst it'll be before the last rehearsal leading up to the gig.)
  • I never go more than 10 or so gigs or rehearsals without changing strings.
  • I stretch my strings pretty carefully and thoroughly when changing.
  • I give my guitars 30 minutes in the environment, then tune.

I learned most of that when I was performing more regularly in college, in rather less-predictable environments. But I've stuck with it ever since.

Doing things that way, I've never had to retune during the course of a gig (except for one annoying guitar, which I sold).

So, it really is possible to have tuning be almost a total non-concern. But it requires adequate prep and adequate processes.
 
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mr_fender said:
+1. And they make changing strings super fast too. No fiddly crap at the headstock. Just pull the string through snug, lock it down, snip the excess, stretch the string a few times and tune up to play.
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I'd like to find a set of locking tuners that would fit my Taylor T5z-12 (12-string electric).
 
Saarang Narayan said:
I have had guitars with floating trems stay in tune with themselves for over a year in non-climate controlled storage (basically at home in a case). I have also had the same guitars stay in tune pretty much for 3-4 months till the strings gave up. IMO, when set up correctly, fully floating dual locking trems stay in tune far better than fixed bridge guitars.
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The trem spring tension evens out things a bit. If the temp/humidity change makes the wood expand or contract a little, the springs absorb a lot of that....
 
Roland said:
Yep, took mine to India in 2008. Despite temperature and humidity differences, and air pressure changes during the flight it came out of the case perfectly in tune. It stayed that way until I changed the strings.

The key things are a stable neck, and no unnecessary winds on the tuners to store/release tension. Nowadays I play headless guitars, with direct pull tuners. The only thing which affects their tuning is the venue temperature changing through the gig.
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My snakehead Tele that I built last year uses the Steinberger type direct pull 40:1-equivalent tuners. Super stable tuning despite wood body and neck....
 
Roland said:
The key things are a stable neck, and no unnecessary winds on the tuners to store/release tension.
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Yes! Totally agree about this ^^^ comment.

Even on non-locking tuners, you don't want 15 winds of string around the peg. That's just 15 layers of friction points.

Y'gotta have a nice clean 3 turns with a good kink (in the wire! ...sheesh, you people) to lock the string in place. That's it.

After that, get rid of anything causing friction at the nut or the saddles. A nice slippery string tree if you must, but slightly back-angled headstocks and/or staggered-height locking tuners are preferable.

Tune upward to the note; don't tune downward to it. And if you overshoot when going upward, then tune back down under the note, and immediately tug any slack out of the string (by pulling it bridgewards) before carefully tuning upwards towards the note again.

Build good habits, and tuning problems need not happen.
 
My good guitars should stay in tune for an entire 50 minute set. Sometimes I'll have to tune them once in the middle of a set. That to me is acceptable. I have a 70's Goldtop that I have to tune like every 4 songs....so I don't gig with it. I'm sure it can be made better, but I just haven't had it looked at.

Guitars like my Tom Anderson's....almost never go out of tune. I'm talking the full night. Even taking it out of the case at a next gig, barely needs a tune.
 
secondwindow said:
Didn't know that about the Rick 12-string, strings touching the headstock.
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Yup. You can choose which side of the peg hole to wind your strings on and reduce it some, but the sideways tuners in the slots almost all end up with strings rubbing the sides of the slots and/or the big Rickenbacker truss rod cover....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Yup. You can choose which side of the peg hole to wind your strings on and reduce it some, but the sideways tuners in the slots almost all end up with strings rubbing the sides of the slots and/or the big Rickenbacker truss rod cover....
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My very least favourite guitar to put strings on.
 
darkknight91 said:
I usually only check when I hear something out. A lot of the times it’s my imagination because when I check it’s usually right on. I use Floyds with a lock nut or non fine tune Floyds with locking tuners on pretty much every guitar.
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I'm like you, only when I hear something strange do I start adjusting.
 
Fenders and PRS...... basically forever ..... well set up Gibsons..... a whole set (usually, with some luck) ...... Ibanez Edge equipped guitars - belong in first category....... Gretsch's and Rickenbackers...... take them out of the case every now and then, polish them, admire their beauty and put them back...... (purely my personal experience).

Parker Flys, hardtail Strandbergs both incredibly stable, Trem equipped Strandys a weensy bit less so, but then again I am stupid enough to live in Brisbane, Australia where it's currently so humid that stepping out the front door has the same effect as jumping in the shower.
 
Cooper Carter said:
Purchase a quality set of locking tuning heads.
IMO, leaving stack-wound tuning behind is the number one biggest improvement you can make to the overall performance of an otherwise good guitar. It's a real shame that the industry standard isn't simply to include them stock.
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Hey Cooper - that's interesting and makes sense to me. I think an issue is there's a lot of YouTube videos to sift through to learn the "right way" to string an LP for example. I can find 1/2 dozen to dozen consistent techniques, some outliers, and then all of them different from what Gibson says.

Still even better to go with GOTOHs maybe?? I really don't know, I'm a dumb caveman that wants to make noise lol
 
I don't know, but my 98 Parker Fly Classic stays in tune better than any other guitar on the face of the planet. I restring it, tune it, then don't have to tune it again until the next fresh set of strings.
 
Unboxed said:
Hey Cooper - that's interesting and makes sense to me. I think an issue is there's a lot of YouTube videos to sift through to learn the "right way" to string an LP for example. I can find 1/2 dozen to dozen consistent techniques, some outliers, and then all of them different from what Gibson says.

Still even better to go with GOTOHs maybe?? I really don't know, I'm a dumb caveman that wants to make noise lol
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Jim knows what he is talking about BUT he should mention that if you use the knot method your strings ( particularly the plain ones ) can get stuck on as the knot tightens over time . Gigging guitarists should not do this.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Jim knows what he is talking about BUT he should mention that if you use the knot method your strings ( particularly the plain ones ) can get stuck on as the knot tightens over time . Gigging guitarists should not do this.
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If its the “mando method” can confirm haha.
 
TheRedDevil said:
Never heard about it. Thanks, but stay ever in tune but bending is easily still possible, it that true?

That doesn't seems to be true ...
"So to answer your question, if string bending is important to you, avoid an Evertune. You'll spend more time dicking with it than it's worth."
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the response from MattBlackett756 is exactly my take on this. I use bends all the time but an almost imperceivable dead band just before a bend up works well for me. New strings do need to stretch if you want to set an Evertune right on the edge but after that just forget about them till they need changing. Adjustments to string height and intonation straightforward but there's a set order to do things in. Once familiar it's all good IMO.
 
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