The end of my Trem staying in tune issues - very useful tutorial

Patzag

Patzag

Fractal Fanatic
I've always had trouble using the trem on any guitar (except Floyd Rose) and staying in tune. Various recipes such as nut sauce and such were, to me, annoying fixes which did not result in lasting satisfaction and made using the whammy bar a luxury that I kept for absolutely needed effects, knowing full well that I'd be stuck with out of tune issues for the rest of the song.

But I recently (today) saw a YouTube video which put that problem to rest. I followed the steps exactly as shown on the video and - lo and behold - problem gone.

I knew about a few of the steps, but not some others which just made the tuning and trem ultra-stable.

The video is shown on a regular strat with no mods. And Lord knows how hard keeping a strat in tune can be. So here it is for your enjoyment and education.

Don't forget the last few seconds advice on this. It works.

 
Cracking!
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I actually watched his series of five videos a couple nights ago on this which involved replacing the tuners, seating the strings deeper into the sustain block, shaping the nut etc etc - that all seemed a bit too much just to get something useable, but this is much more encouraging!
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Very interesting. I usually do the opposite after using the trem on my stock strat -- after using the wang bar a slight tug up will settle the strings back into place.

TT
 
I've seen this before and it's important to remember that as soon as you bend a note it's going to be very flat until you dive again. Probably not a big deal for some players, but I bend a lot and use a lot of vibrato most of the time. I like the approach because it's logical and takes into account the actual issues from the tremolo, but I can't make it work for my style very well.

I've gotten a lot of success from locking tuners (because the windings loosen a bit and slip when you dive), stretching the strings, making sure that the nut is well cut and lubed with only about half the string in the slot and even then the stupid G string is usually the one that goes on me. I can usually just give it a quick upwards bend without playing a note and it will come back in.
 
Now I need to buy a whammy bar for my Strat. That was an awesome video!!! Good find!!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Such common sense but Inever thought to bottom the bar out like that after tuning each string. Good find for us newbies.

Thanks Patzag!
 
As sasha had made mention with doing a lot of bends and vibrato this "stay in tune technique" may not be as practical as it is for some. It is a good technique if you don't do a lot of note bending or vibrato.
For me it was not too practical and was more of a pain in the ass because of the given reasons sasha did. I love note bends, wide vibrato with and without pinch harmonics. With my Strats I have managed to keep all my strings in tune when using the bar other than the low "E" string which goes a little sharp. I just reef on it and it'll smarten up and get back to correct pitch. That was a more easier and practical way for me to deal with one string as opposed to all six when note bending and using vibrato. Pay mind to sasha's suggestions in his post.

Sorry... didn't mean to rain on Patzag's cool find.
 
yeah I did this and interesting to learn that depressing the trem bar quickly really does bring it back as I too was pulling back a little ... ironic. Thanks for posting, he's got some other relevant videos!
 
swass said:
As sasha had made mention with doing a lot of bends and vibrato this "stay in tune technique" may not be as practical as it is for some. It is a good technique if you don't do a lot of note bending or vibrato.
For me it was not too practical and was more of a pain in the ass because of the given reasons sasha did. I love note bends, wide vibrato with and without pinch harmonics. With my Strats I have managed to keep all my strings in tune when using the bar other than the low "E" string which goes a little sharp. I just reef on it and it'll smarten up and get back to correct pitch. That was a more easier and practical way for me to deal with one string as opposed to all six when note bending and using vibrato. Pay mind to sasha's suggestions in his post.

Sorry... didn't mean to rain on Patzag's cool find.
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No rain, Swass. No problem. I have been using this for 2 days now (which translates to 2 gigs and some practice/rehearsal). I have no problem with up-bends at all. They're coming back in pitch. But that may be because I don't bend the low strings too much. Mostly vibrato.

I can;t say it's the panacea, but it ended my issues. I can do a dive bomb with my trem, which was ABSOLUTELY out of the question before, and come right back to pitch. So I pretty happy here! :)
 
Works for me too except for the low E string that goes very sharp on me. Now if i could just regain some of the long lost short term memory functions so I can remember all thes things I learn on here! :)
 
cobbler said:
Works for me too except for the low E string that goes very sharp on me. Now if i could just regain some of the long lost short term memory functions so I can remember all thes things I learn on here! :)
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If your low E string always goes sharp, then the nut is binding. Ie: The nut is cut too tight and "holds" the string when it is slacker and prevents it from returning to the proper position.
Any decent guitar tech will handle this in five minutes by cutting the string to size. Ie: if you feel slightly adventurous, you can use a spare E string and gently expand the aperture so that the string does not bind.

I know you mentioned short term memory and I wanted to help with that too, but I forgot what your problem was about by the time I got to the end of my post :)
 
See that Super Vee - I recently fitted the "Bladerunner" trem to my strat (which is a direct replacement for a standard 6 screw or two post trem system) and it always returns to perfect pitch. Its a little stiffer than a standard trem but you get used to it very quickly.

Next I fitted one of the companies Mag-Loks and now when I bend a string the rest stay in tune. Theres no "feel" issue when using the trem downwards or upwards BUT if you go "through zerp" there is a very slight "notch". Its fine and you get used to it VERY quickly - though Im not going to fit one to my PRSs because thoese trems have a really light touch and the "notch" is much more noticeable (I tried it - if it worked I would have ordered loks for those too) - but on the strat, No problem at all.
 
The V does indeed look good... trouble is, getting one of those for the bargain Pacifca I just bagged (upon SteadyState's recommendation
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) would be around double what it cost for the guitar!
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steadystate said:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Not Paul Riario!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Now I'll never know how well it works.
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+1 this guy seems to much like a salesmen then a reviewer. And even then it's like he gets lost in what he's doing as opposed to reviewing the product
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I have to mention a great product I've recently been using that improves tuning substantially. Big bends nut sauce. I don't really use double locking systems much anymore and thereby run into the low e/g string tuning issues. Since using this stuff on the bridge and nut it's damn near as solid as a Floyd if not as solid. I really dig most of their stuff.

Staying in tune is always more fun!

Dave
 
Granted, I'm not much on the trem, but the Deluxe Trem + Grover Locking tuners + DR strings on my Deluxe Strat & I've not noticed much tuning issues.

In fact, I liked the Grover locking tuners so much, I went Locking Grover on all my guitars. (Sounds like a plug, eh?) Plus I love that it's zero winding lock as well & requires no extra tools to lock/unlock them.
 
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