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Gibson les paul staying in tune

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(@blutic1)
Reputable Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 280
Topic starter  

I have a new Gibson Les Paul Standard. The g string always goes out of tune. I replace strings often and I have tried different brands. My friend has a Les Paul Studio and he says the same thing happens to him. He thinks it has to do with the intonation of the Les Paul body style. I think he does not know what he's talking about. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. BTW I play "normal" - no super huge bends or anything.


   
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(@demoetc)
Noble Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 2167
 

If you've changed the strings, you *might* have too many wraps around the post. Other than that, you might tighten the little screw in the tuning machine. Also, sometimes the whole machine gets a little loose. You tighten it by gently tightening the hex-shaped nut where the tuning post comes through the front of the head of the guitar. Sometimes those work loose and the thing wobbles and twists a little.


   
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(@metaellihead)
Honorable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 653
 

You might want to try lubing the nut with some graphite (pensil lead). Other than that and tightening the gear screws there isn't a whole lot you can do outside of changing tuners. It seems to be a common complaint amoungst Gibby owners.

Though, it could be the way you're wrapping the strings on the pegs. I use this method as pictured on my guitar...

I have the string go up through the hole, wrap it back around to be pinched down when the string is tightened on the peg.

-Metaellihead


   
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(@forrok_star)
Noble Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 2337
 

Sometimes the Tuners / machine heads get worn out and they will have some play in them, what happens even after you tune they can slip just enough to put you out of tune. Something to check.

Joe


   
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(@blutic1)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 280
Topic starter  

I have used a couple winding method. I learned a good one off the D'Addario website. It has a little film that shows you. The guitar is brand new. So I guess it's a mystery. It might be that I am muting it too hard with my picking hand.


   
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(@furious_b)
Eminent Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 36
 

I too have a gibson les paul and though my g-string donsn't go out of tune i can offer some suggestions...

first of all, you say it's a brand new guitar, it may just need some breaking in, second of all, some people seem to have trouble with certain types of strings and complain certian kinds never stay in tune. What i will usually do is once i've changed the string i tune it, then pull on the string and stretch it out, then it usually goes flat, so i retune it, and repeat this a few times so that when i'm playing and bending the strings it's already a little "broken in" and it seems to work for me, good luck


   
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(@davem)
Estimable Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 91
 

It could also be the nut. take a lead pencil and make some marks in the slot of the string and then tune it. A little graphite may be just the trick. Sometimes the nut needs to be replaced. For more info on your LP check out http://www.lespaulforum.com There's some good info over there.

Dave

Sometimes in life you get shown the light,
In the strangest of places if you look at it right.


   
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(@corbind)
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Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 1735
 

I got my Gibson SG almost two years ago new from GC. I've put graphite in the nut slots and on the bridge. I change my string more frequently than most and I still get strings going a little out of tune. Every night I turn my processor on (that has a built-in tuner) and my Peterson VS-II (accurate to 1/10th of a cent). My guitar is seldom still in tune from the previous night. I watch both tuners while tuning. I start from the 6th string, 5th…1st. I go back through to check again starting from the 6th string and they're usually off a little from must 1-2 minutes earlier. Frustrating.

I notice that my actual body head affects the tuning. The body of the guitar is on the side of my stomach and obviously my hand on the neck. I'll play for like 5 minutes then go back and find I'm a little out of tune. On reason may be that I hang my guitar on a wall that has an exterior house ball behind it so maybe the temperature against that wall is a few degrees cooler/hotter.

Again, when I say I'm out of tune above I'm not talking about a huge amount but enough for my Peterson tuner to start drifting up or down and I am a perfectionist with tuning. So my idea of out-of-tune may be another players, “Good enough for me.”

Before I bought my guitar I read horror stories of the tuners. I was going to replace them immediately but the salesman suggested just leave it stock and see for myself.

So, in all that, I can only empathize but can't give any suggestions.

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."


   
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(@demoetc)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 2167
 

As an experiment, next time you do a full string change, swap the G string tuning machine with one of the other ones on that side - the 1st or 2nd string's machines.

You know, just to see if the machine's wobbly or loose.

Have you checked that all the screws are tight, like the one holding the button on, and the one that keeps the tuner from twisting -- at the back of the neck. Some machines also have that nut that the post comes through at the front of the headstock; that can sometimes not be as snug as it should and lets the post wobble slightly.

Then there's also the fact that lots of songs are in the key of E, and the G string is always the problem string because that's the one that produces the 3rd in either the E major chord or the E minor, and 3rds, to the ear, seem to be more twitchy, especially if you tune using the chordal method instead of using a tuner. It has something to do with equal tempered tuning.

http://www.wguitars.it/equal-tuning.htm

But check all the screw adjustments first and if that doesn't do anything, try a tuning machine swap out.

Take care.


   
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