The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

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null_pointer
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The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by null_pointer »

Thoughts? My dot 335 sounds great, plays great, and requires tuning every song.
And isn’t exactly a breeze to tune either.
Nor was the 339.

Is it just a given that with Gibbys you’re playing out, a set of replacement tuners (maybe some nice locking Klusons or whatever) are a must?

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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by rickenbackerkid »

I'm assuming you've had a the nut checked out? You can try heavier strings too, when these Gibbos were designed, there were no 9-42 strings - everything was 12-54 or something, and I've always felt like at least 11's are needed on an LP or 335.

also, how did your gig go at festival 1?

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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by sizzlingbadger »

It's usually the nut binding, are you using larger gauge strings ? maybe it just needs the nut slots cutting to your gauge, they usually cut them for 10's from the factory. Do you stretch the strings a bit too when you re-string ? The tuners rarely slip or move unless they are completely buggered.

I have noticed in this hot weather that my SG and Tele have both required a tweak of the truss rod lately.
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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by null_pointer »

bbrunskill wrote:I'm assuming you've had a the nut checked out? You can try heavier strings too, when these Gibbos were designed, there were no 9-42 strings - everything was 12-54 or something, and I've always felt like at least 11's are needed on an LP or 335.

also, how did your gig go at festival 1?
Yeah should rule the nut out at the least...
I’ve had Keith Macmillan set it up with 10-46s but perhaps I should up the gauge just to take that off the table too.

Friday’s gig went surprisingly well given it was in the midst of the thunderstorm (4 dudes holding the roof on the stage in place), still didn’t put off around a hundred punters forming a mud pit in front of the stage.
Playing again tomorrow so should be dry at least.
Spare a thought for the other main outdoor stage, they didn’t cover up in time and lost their iDR-48...

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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by null_pointer »

Just found the nut sauce so I’ll liberally apply tomorrow once I restring (and stretch the crap outta the very short windings I leave on the poles...)

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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by SimonHirst »

Glad the gig went good Tim. I actually thought of you guys when the downpour started and hoped it had been ok! I had to pack up in a hurry...wild weather.
My experience of Gibsons has been pretty good in the tuning department, but have come across a couple shockers.
I can do a full gig on my Special with only occasional tuning. Same on the Deluxe. I do however find that I tune the g string fractionally flat on my tuner, it sounds fine open and works better when fretting around 2nd fret. I stretch my strings in pretty thoroughly, and wind on quite a bit (especially on the G, and B strings), and I also make sure the tuneup before I start is bang-on and tuning up to the notes from quite flat. Occasionally, I'll also give the strings a very gentle, momentary pull while tuning it up. Just to make sure there's no slack. However, too much tension added and tuned to pitch will generally pull sharp afterwards. Made that error a few times when I first started trying it. My SG sometimes requires a bit more attention in the tuning department over a full gig, but not enough to ever find it frustrating.

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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by null_pointer »

It’s worth the perseverance but makes me appreciate the Suhr S and it’s Buzz-whatever tuning system, that thing is a rock. As is the Doozy.

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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by Single coil »

Buzz feiten... fuck even is that?
The 3 Gibbo’s I had were surprisingly stable. Tele is too.
Santana isn’t so much (trem?) and the old goldtop was a bit oo err, but I do an awful lot of bending and vibrato and so on, so it’s a miracle anything is in tune for more than 30 seconds.
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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by Bg »

sounds like nut to me, you're doing everything else right :)
You could use a set of those auto tuners everyone despises ;)
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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by JHorner »

null_pointer wrote:Just found the nut sauce so I’ll liberally apply tomorrow once I restring (and stretch the crap outta the very short windings I leave on the poles...)
Have to ask:

You use the method where the string is trapped between the winds right?

You stretch new strings until they hold tune even after stretching?

You've had it setup by a pro for your chosen string gauge?

I've seen some reports of the string butler product working for some people, but I haven't tried it myself as I don't experience much of a tuning problem.

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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by werdna »

My R0 stays in tune, but my other LP doesn't - the problem is the nut at the G-string. G-strings are not kind on my nuts.
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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by kwhelan »

funnily fitting a bigsby to my dot actually helped, seemed the extra string length and tension drop and even the small bridge flex/roll on its posts somehow gives everything more give.
possibly stops that nut slippage by movement somewhere else in the chain
does make note bending a bit odd but hey I have other guitars for that so its a great rhythm beast and theres plenty you can play that don't need much bending

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Re: The old Gibson and tuning stability chestnut

Post by Reg18 »

My LPJR required constant tuning when I got it, thought it could be old strings but decided to put some graphite in the nut slots first, improved instantly!
Same with my Bigsby equiped Tele, it's almost always the Nut if I have tuning issues, occasionally the wound strings catch on the bridge and I can remember only once where tuning issues were caused by a tuning peg.....and it was a dodgy old one that was slipping.

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