Frequency of retuning?

Sorry, I now realize I should have put this in the Guitar Repair and Maintenance forum.

Is this normal?

No, Check how it was strung. Sometimes a bad re-stringing job will do that.

Yes, fluctuations in temp can cause it, but if you think it is not extreme than refer to above.

Mike

well you should tune your guitar every time you pick it up. but, it shouldnt be totally whacked out of tune from day to day. I went to North Carolina for 2 weeks, and when i came back, my Squier was still perfectly in-tune. i was so amazed i had to call my girlfriend. She didnt seem to understand what was so amazing.

Anyways, I second the check the stringing idea. If it's not wound right, it will go out of tune. You might also consider putting new strings on it.

As Tracker said, if it was strung poorly it won't stay in tune. Are the windings around the posts neat. About 3 turns for the wound strings. Or are they all balled up.

On some instruments the tuning machines are of a lesser quality and tend to slip under tension. For example: On my Washburn acoustic I have "Grover-like" tuners and they tend to slip about 20 or 30 cents flat from session to session. I will eventually change these to real Grovers. The Grovers on my Epi LP don't slip and the guitar stays in tune. I also have a Yamaha Pacifica (strat copy) which only cost $160 which was about 1/2 the Washburn and far less than the LP and the Pacifica stays in tune also with a no name machine.

I would be suprised if your friends Martin had inferior machines but anything is possible.

Is it possible that the strings are very new and were not properly stretched out when put on the guitar ?

How far out of tune would you say the strings go between sessions?

Michael

Is it possible that the strings are very new and were not properly stretched out when put on the guitar ?

Good thought. A similar situation can also occur if the strings were changed to a different gauge. The difference in overall tension can allow the neck to slowly change position slightly.

Apparently this is less likely in instruments with metal truss rods, but I had it happen on a guitar with a rod, and it took several days to get settled again. I even had to make a small bridge adjustment. And that was with only a minor change in string gauge. There seem to be no absolute rules about these things - sometimes they happen, sometimes they don't.. :?

Is the room it's in often cold? What happens with me, is because I live in a basement and it's often a bit frigid my guitars are usually sharp when I pick them up. I make it a point to rub my strings with my palm to warm them up and make the metal expand to a temperature they would normally be at after I had played on them for 20 mins.

Same with the neck, it might be cold and when you warm it up it'll go back to what you had tuned to previously.

I think it's unrealistic to expect not to tune a guitar every time you pick it up.

That said, I often go for days without retuning my metal bodied resonator. It's relatively insensitive to humidity changes and will stay in excellent tune with itself. But the absolute pitch it's tuned to will vary considerably with the temperature. Fine when you're playing by yourself, lousy if you want to play with others or with recorded music. Plan on tuning every time you play and you won't be disappointed. It's normal, and it's not like it's a big deal to do it.

Sometimes, i pick up my guitar and it's all intune cept the G...which is WICKED flat. What causes that?

Sometimes, i pick up my guitar and it's all intune cept the G...which is WICKED flat. What causes that?

What kind of guitar, electric or acoustic.

Is it a 3x2 or inline 6 peghed ?

I seem to remember reading something about this in some forum.

Sometimes, i pick up my guitar and it's all intune cept the G...which is WICKED flat. What causes that?
We should combine our guitars, my G string is never out of tune. The rest will fall out slightly.

how much is "seriously out" i have a few that seem to hold tune for weeks or even longer , but others that go out a bit here and there.
also kids will play games with your head by lightly tweaking yer knobs if they get ornery :wink:

For my (borrowed) guitar, it always goes flat, never sharp. In a day or two it might not go down an entire half-step on any string, but every string will be at least somewhat flat. When I didn't play for about a week (using the electric), it went down between one and three half-steps on every string. As far as I can tell, the strings are attached securely, and it is a Martin, so the hardware seems OK.

It's also the case that I get buzzing if I'm not perfect in my fingering. If my finger is on the left side or even in the middle of a fret, instead of on the right, it buzzes. Up to now I've been assuming this is because of my novice-ness, and while this may be a contributing factor, perhaps the guitar needs a set-up.

Well, the G goes out mainly on my Ibanez electric, which is 6-in-line. That one does it the worst and the most frequently. But the other ones do it too. The Martin and the Fender acoustics do it, just not as badly, but the G still goes noticeably out of tune, while the rest stay spot on, and they are 3 on a side.

Anyways, your guitar could also go out of tune just from playing it. If you play it ALOT, it will be out of tune when you pick it up the next time. So it's reasonable to have to retune alot when you play alot.

for the sake of those listening to you, tune every time you pick it up.

I have 3 guitars that will stay in tune from day to day, in otherwords a very small percentage. It's a good habit to tune them everytime anyway.