Some guitars just seem to have a problem with staying in tune, and it’s one of the most frustrating issues that a guitarist can face. It can also be very costly to fix, depending on what the problem is. Here are a few tips for diagnosing why a guitar won’t stay in tune, and fixing your axe without breaking the bank.
1. Don’t immediately assume that it’s the tuners. I know, I know. They’re called “tuners,” so it must be their fault that your axe won’t stay in tune, right? But while the tuners are the problem with some guitars, more often than not the problem’s in the neck or nut of the instrument, so don’t immediately order a set of top-of-the-line tuners online to replace the tuners on your guitar that may work perfectly, or you could end up doing more harm than good.
2. Check that you’ve strung the guitar correctly. Don’t skip this one. Look at your strings on the tuners of your guitar. If the strings wrap around themselves on the tuner, or if there’s an excessively large amount of string on the tuner (or, conversely, if the string was strung so light that it’s barely on the tuner), you many simply need to restring your guitar and use the proper amount of string.
To find a good amount of string to use when restringing your guitar, pull the string through the hole in the tuner, pull it reasonably tight, and grab the string where it goes past the next tuner of the guitar. That’s the amount of string that you need to use. Any more, and the string will keep slipping over itself, causing it to go out of tune. Also, remember to always tune up to a note, and never down. The gears in a guitar’s tuner will hold better when tuning up.
3. Check the nut. If you hear a sort of creaking sound from the guitar when you restring it, you may have a problem with the nut of the guitar. The slots in the nut can be the wrong size for the strings used, and that can cause issues. Try rubbing some graphite (for instance, from a mechanical pencil) into the nut before tuning up–not much, just a little–and if that doesn’t work, take your guitar to a repair store to have the slots in the nut widened. It shouldn’t cost very much, in fact, it’s one of the cheapest guitar repairs out there.
4. Structural issues. Other problems, like a loose neck or bad wood, may cause a guitar to keep going out of tune. If you’ve tried the tips above, and nothing seemed to work, consider having your guitar evaluated by a professional guitar repair person. Try to avoid the big-box guitar stores, and instead go to a local repair shop, as you’ll get a better price and more often than not, a more knowledgeable professional.
Do you have any other tips for fixing a guitar that won’t stay in tune? Post in our comments section below.
