How do you know if your tuners are bad?
My guitar (squire standard tele) stays in tune fairly well, but not great. would a new set of tuners help any?
If a guitar stays in tune fairly well then it does not automatically need tuners. If you have to tune every half hour or so of playing then it needs better tuners. This is assuming it is strung correctly. Most people replace tuners because it goes out of tune easy to find out they are just not stringing it well.
Having said that, there are other reasons to change tuners. One is to put on locking tuners so it is easier and quicker to change strings and second is to actually make it easier to tune. A higher ratio tuner makes fine tuning easier.
Like Nil's says, the higher ratio tuners make fine tuning easier and are also mechanically tighter and smoother.
I like Grover tuners but only put them on guitars that I like and plan on keeping for a long time.
If the guitar you have is just temporary, it usually does not pay to make upgrades because you don't get the money back out of it.
I would expect your Squire to be fine.
Here is something that may help with stringing, which will also help with tuning if you are strung correctly.......
Stringing and Cleaning Your Guitar
One thing I would like to stress is that the strings wrap around the tuner from the inside. In other words it does matter which direction you wrap them and you want the strings to pull as straight as possible. This may seem obvious but I did buy a used guitar that was wrapped in the wrong direction and the guy broke off the end of the nut from pulling the low E string on an angle to the outside.
Hope this helps.
8)
If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing.
ok, thanks for the input.
I have to tune every other day or so. Sometimes more.
A higher ratio tuner makes fine tuning easier.
Sure does! A friend of mine wanted an opinion on a guitar she has - it's a tenor guitar, probably late 1930s, that she's had for about 40 years.
I looked it over, and went to tune it up... I hadn't looked closely at the back of the tuning machines yet. It started out really low, so I picked a string, started to twist the peg - and discovered it had 1:1 tuners!
Zipping up a perfect fourth or so in 1/8 of a turn, it was incredibly difficult to get that sucker in tune! (one very pretty guitar, though - highly decorated)
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
If you're having to tune a lot, it's highly unlikely that your tuning machines are at fault. These things use a worm gear drive, and it's just about impossible to drive one of those in reverse. They don't slip. Strings, on the other hand, are commonly put on tuners so that they can slip, or have extra slack in the sloppy windings around the post that will slowly pull out. And commonly strings bind in the slots in the nut. Tuning up, extra tension will build up in the length of string between the tuner and the nut that eventually gets released, making the string go sharp. You'll notice this tuning up with an electronic tuner, as you tweak the tuning machine several times but the string's tuning doesn't change. Then it may suddenly jump with an audible "ping." That means you need to lubricate and perhaps open up the nut slot. Strings can bind and slip in bridges, too. Some guitars are exposed more to temprature and humidity changes than others. And some wood is more sensitive to these changes than others.
You ought to expect to tune your guitar whenever you play it. That's normal. Some will be farther out of tune than others, but they all drift a bit. Not so noticeable if you've got one that stays in good relative tune with itself, but your absolute tuning can be off quite a bit and you'll surely hear it when you play with others.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
A higher ratio tuner makes fine tuning easier.
Sure does! A friend of mine wanted an opinion on a guitar she has - it's a tenor guitar, probably late 1930s, that she's had for about 40 years.
I looked it over, and went to tune it up... I hadn't looked closely at the back of the tuning machines yet. It started out really low, so I picked a string, started to twist the peg - and discovered it had 1:1 tuners!
Zipping up a perfect fourth or so in 1/8 of a turn, it was incredibly difficult to get that sucker in tune! (one very pretty guitar, though - highly decorated)
That's funny! Seems like it would take a doctor's hands to tune properly on that one.
"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."
