Why Your Guitar Will Not Stay In Tune

I know that this article is going to be greeted with skepticism because everybody has their ideas on why guitars suddenly go out of tune! Worse, you have recently been embarrassed and humiliated by the dude who is eyeballing your playing while pointing at you and making “tuning” gestures!

Going out of tune could be the result of the string being new and not stretched, a change of string gauges that are now squeezed in a too-tight nut slot, a very tiny metal spur in the saddle notch the string catches on, strings are too thin for your aggressive playing, not using a locking wind around the tuning peg, poorly adjusted pickup heights and magnets (magnetism applies difference force based on the width of the string, alloys, and height from magnets), intonation is off, climate or weather change, and, of course, the bargain bin strings you bought at a garage sale or found in the bottom of a gig bag or drawer. And yes, I will admit, once in a great while, your tuners are bad! Whew! Let us get started!

Recently, I was jumped on a chat-room conversation on this topic. Whenever somebody’s guitar is constantly going out of tune, they usually blame the tuners. I mentioned on the thread that close to 90% of tuning issues brought into Naperville Music that is hardware related are a snag at the nut or a hindrance at the saddle. The skeptics came out of the woodwork! One even claimed, “Whenever you wrap a wire around a metal post, it’s going to slip!” That is like telling a fisherman or surgeon, “Whenever you tie a knot in plastic line that it will come undone every time you pull on it!”

The easiest way to detect if the problem is the nut or saddles is to lay your guitar flat on a table, then one at a time, slowly turn tuning pegs forward/back one at a time for multiple times. If you hear what I call a “ting” or “ping,” then you have a problem at the nut or the saddle – either your string is being pinched at the nut, or it’s hanging up on a spur at either end. A simple file job takes care of the problem – or go to a lighter gauge string.

I have a good friend who called me complaining his new Metallica tribute guitar had a string going out of tune on almost every song. I asked, “Did you stretch the strings?” After a moment of silence, I told him to start at one end and pull up and down on the string while moving to the other end of the neck. Applying reverse pressure with your thumb by pushing down while pulling up on the strings adds extra help. Repeat multiple times – slowly! Simple fix!

So, the first thing to do is (1) STRETCH YOUR STRINGS and LOOK FOR DEFECTS! Along with this, when you unwrap a new string, run your fingers across it to feel for bends or kinks. Sometimes they are very visible!

(2) LOCK YOUR STRINGS AT THE TUNING PEG. Do this by putting the string through the post hole, wrap the string back, under and straight-up snuggling it between the length of the string and the post, then tighten. This locks the string against the post. No need to run it multiple times through the hole! All this does is create a lot of work next time you change strings or one breaks. You should be able to get a picture of this online. Most string packs include the illustration.

NOTE: Make sure you still to some multiple wraps!

(3) USE THE RIGHT GAUGE STRINGS FOR YOUR GUITAR. Guitar saddles and nuts are installed on your guitar for a specific string gauge. The usual rule is 9’s for single coil and 10’s for humbuckers. This is usually a factory specification, but I have noticed many Gibson models are coming to the store straight from the factory with 9-46 strings. This is what I use on all my guitars, so I have no problem with this! Just remember, if the guitar comes this way direct from the factory, then the nut slots are filed to fit these gauges. All guitar companies list the string gauges under SPECS, so you know before you buy. I’ve had a number of customers bring their Strat (usually 9’s) then have me install a set of 11’s! The thicker the string, the wider the nut slot opening is needed. Otherwise, the strings are going to be pinched and will slip loose while playing, causing it to go out of tune. Other problems arise, such as truss rod adjustment (more tension on the neck) and intonation. One other note is to make sure the NUT IS IN ALIGNMENT! I have seen bad nut installation and re-gluing, which puts the nut at an angle, forcing more pressure and more easily breaking the string.

(4) TEMPERATURE CHANGES CAN ALSO CAUSE TUNING ISSUES. Basic science teaches us: HEAT expands and COLD contracts metal. So, you take your guitar out of your air-conditioned house or car and setting it outside on a festival stage where it is sweltering out, guess what happens? You are going to be playing flat. I always hate indoor gigs where the stage is right next to an outside door that blasts hot or cold air on your gear every time it opens! The best bet is to get your guitar acclimated to the venue as early as possible and tune often!

(5) TUNERS ARE JUST PLAIN BAD. Surprise! I will admit that tuners do go bad for several reasons – broken seals, stripped gears, missing parts, bent parts, and who knows what else! My check is to one at a time stretch the string multiple times. Tune the string. Play a little bit. Repeat. Stretch and tune. Pluck the string and see what your tuner hits. Grasp string in the middle of the fretboard, pull up as high and tight as possible, lower, then pluck a string. If out of tune, it is probably slippage. This could be because you did not use the locking wind mentioned above, not enough wraps (I have seen guitars with one simple wrap around the post!), or a bad tuner. If you DID lock wrap and it still goes out of tune with this simple system, then it is time for new tuners! There are a number of factors that affect tuning and some I haven’t even listed, or gone into much detail, but before you go out and spend a chunk of change of new tuners, the installation, set-up and who knows what else, please try these easier and much less expensive alternatives. The most common fix is the locking wrap. I saved a man a ton of money on twelve-string tuners he was going to replace!

(6) FINALLY, GET A GOOD electronic/battery TUNER! Too many times, I have seen guitarists tune their guitar with-in 3 or 4 cents (sharp or flat value) of being exactly in tune then say, “Close enough!” If your playing means a lot to you, then you want to be in tune to put your best chops forward. Whenever I play a festival, I have a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner Pedal with Bypass on my board. Next to my board, I have a Boss TU-3S Chromatic Tuner that is always on so I can not only check my tuning all the time but even make sure my bends are in tune. Adrenalin is another issue with tuning I have not mentioned yet! Nothing like getting over-enthusiastic when digging into the high ones! Finally, I keep Snark tuners in each of my cases for quick tune-ups during set-up and breaks. There are MANY excellent tuners out there, and you just need to find the one that fits your playing style best. I prefer the Boss tuners because I have used them all my life and do not have to worry about hitting a button and not knowing how to get back to the right key! I also use multiple tuner apps on my iPhone, including an indispensable STROBE TUNER. It is great for intonation checks and adjustments. I am not saying Boss is better than another brand! I am telling you to use a tuner that you are familiar with! Nothing like busting out a new tuner, accidentally pushing a button you are unfamiliar with, and not knowing how to “fix” it! I always carry a small guitar tech kit you can buy at any music store or online store. To me, it is an essential equipment for my gig bag. Also, an electronic or battery-operated string winder! Save your energy for those fancy licks you have been practicing!

This is not the be-all-to-end-all tome on staying in tune, but there are enough bases covered that you should have no trouble staying in tune and having a great gig!

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Sometime around 1973 or ’74, John Fogerty was at Creedence Clearwater Revival’s rehearsal space in San Francisco.

The band had recently broken up, and the successful guitarist/songwriter didn’t really know what lay ahead—at least beyond his new album at the time, The Blue Ridge Rangers. Two 12-year-old kids—apparently named Rick and Louie—were hanging out at the rehearsal space, and Fogerty decided to give his 1969 Rickenbacker 325 to Louie.

“I was just detached and numb at that point,” Fogerty told Rolling Stone. “I think I gave it away to sort of end that chapter of my life.”

The Rick had been his main CCR guitar for several years; he used it for pretty much every standard-tuning song on every Creedence album from 1969’s Bayou Country through 1972’s Mardi Gras. It’s the guitar he played at Woodstock and on The Ed Sullivan Show, the guitar that can be heard on “Green River,” “Travelin’ Band,” “Up Around the Bend” and many more.

The Fireglo (what most other manufacturers and news websites call “sunburst”) guitar, which he bought at the Rickenbacker showroom in Los Angeles in ’69, had a unique look. Right after Fogerty bought it, he took it to his back yard, grabbed some yellow paint and wrote “ACME” in all caps on the headstock’s name plate. Some say he was inspired by the fictional corporation in the Warner Bros. cartoons he loved as a kid.

About 20 years later, Fogerty stumbled upon the guitar at Norman’s Rare Guitars in Tarzana, California. However, the store was asking for a lot of money at the time. “I just looked at [Norman] and the guitar, shook my head and said, ‘I’m not doing that’,” Fogerty said.

Just last year, however, Fogerty casually mentioned to his wife, Julie, that he’d like to get that old ACME guitar back. Without telling him, she poured everything into a search to track it down—a search that led to Gary’s Classic Guitars in Loveland, Ohio.

Cut to this past Christmas morning. After opening most of the gifts under the tree, Fogerty noticed one more large box that was wrapped in paper but also covered by one of his trademark plaid shirts. Fogerty removed the shirt and wrapping paper and saw—you guessed it—an old Rickenbacker case.

“I was immediately struck dumb,” Fogerty said. “I turned to my wife and said, ‘Am I about to get overwhelmed here?'” It was his long-lost ACME Rick.

“I never imagined I’d see it again,” Fogerty told Rolling Stone. It didn’t take him long to plug in the ax for the first time in more than 40 years. “I started playing the solo in ‘Green River,’ and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. It was exactly that sound, 100 percent.”Fogerty will use the guitar March 3, when he resumes his John Fogerty: Fortunate Son in Concert residency at the Wynn Las Vegas. Stay tuned for a video!

Naperville Music, your home for Rickenbacker Guitars

The post John Fogerty Is Reunited with His CCR Rickenbacker After 44 Years. By Damian Fanelli February 16, 2017 Artist. Guitar World appeared first on the Naperville Music Informational Blog .

Everything you need to know about Fender’s collection of electric guitar strings.

By Mike Duffy

The post How to Choose Electric Guitar Strings appeared first on the Naperville Music Informational Blog .

This fun and entertaining instrument is easy to learn. If you’re not playing one already, these reasons might get you to start.

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• March 1, 2018
• by Gabriel O’brien

Body Materials

Like a good meal, with a quality guitar, good ingredients matter. Let’s focus on the materials used to construct the guitar body. At its essence, the body is a shapely sound box that functions as a natural amplifier for the strings. You strum a chord, the taut strings vibrate and channel that energy into the contoured box created by the assembled top, back and sides, and push that air out through the soundhole as, well, sound.

While different types of materials can be used for the body, the most common is wood. In fact, the particular species of wood used for the top, back and sides of a guitar will play a significant role in “flavoring” its sound. We’ll save our tonewood comparison for another post. Let’s take a closer look at wood and other material components.

Solid Wood

One of the widely recognized distinguishing features of a premium or professional-grade acoustic guitar is the use of solid wood panels for the top, back and sides. Solid wood construction tends to express a wood’s tonal personality in the fullest, most complex way, resulting in a superior musical sound. The particular species of wood, and the properties associated with it, will also impart the most sonic color or flavor to the sound when made with solid wood.

Another appealing payoff with solid wood is that the guitar’s sound will improve with age and extended playing as the cell structure of the wood naturally changes over time, making the guitar even more resonant and responsive. (Think of a fine wine’s flavor profile improving with age or the way a baseball glove or a pair of jeans gets worn in with use.) This is one of the rewards of owning a well-crafted solid wood guitar and why, if well cared for, it makes an heirloom-quality instrument.

Because of the premium tonal response of solid wood and the cost associated with sourcing, conditioning and carefully processing the exotic tropical tonewoods favored for guitars, solid wood acoustic guitars tend to be the most expensive. But they typically deliver the highest level of musical fidelity.

Laminate Back and Sides

In an effort to offer customers other more affordable options, many builders also make guitars featuring laminate back and sides. Using solid wood for the top is still preferred by most builders because the top plays a major role in translating the initial energy of vibrating guitar strings into rich acoustic sound. That’s why the top is referred to as the soundboard.

Laminate refers to a multi-layered construction. You probably know the term from the flooring or cabinet industries. In the guitar world, laminate construction refers to thin layers of wood or other material that are bonded together, sometimes featuring an outer layer of exotic, visually appealing veneer. (Picture the rich-looking burled wood trim found on a luxury car’s dashboard.) Laminate construction enables builders to reduce their material cost, streamline the production process, and conserve wood resources. For example, in cutting solid wood panels for acoustic guitars, the yield is about four pieces per inch of thickness (the typical thickness of a back/side panel is about 3/16 of an inch). The cutting process also produces a certain amount of material loss from the sawdust generated. By contrast, the thin sheets of wood used for outer veneer of laminate back and sides are cut differently — they’re sliced or peeled with a fixed blade, almost like a deli slicer cuts thin pieces of lunch meat, or like peeling an apple. The yield is usually between 30 and 40 slices per inch, without generating any loss of material in the form of sawdust.

The laminate construction process can also yield greater structural resilience, since the layers are typically arranged using alternating grain directions. This durability can help the guitar remain structurally stable in the face of fluctuating humidity conditions — which is nice if you plan to travel with the guitar — and leave that part of the guitar less vulnerable to the possibility of cracking in dry conditions (which is an important consideration for acoustic guitars). At Taylor, the wood lamination process also allows us to bend an arch into the back of the guitar for added strength, which eliminates the need for internal bracing to support the back.

All Laminates Are Not Created Equal

Where things can get murkier is the nature of laminate construction. While some laminate construction, such as our approach at Taylor, features a three-ply all-wood laminate — a  core wood panel (poplar wood) with a layer of wood on either side — in recent years, modern laminating techniques from other industries, such as the countertop manufacturing industry where Formica originated, have also been deployed in the construction of acoustic guitars.

“What a lot of people call laminate isn’t really wood,” says Taylor master guitar designer Andy Powers. “Or it’s just one layer of veneer laminated to Formica, phenolic, plastic resin, or some hard, dense material that isn’t really wood. This is common in the flooring industry now. For years and years floors were just boards, whereas now they’re strips of plywood with the nice veneer on top. They call these engineered floors.”

Once that approach caught on, manufacturers started making flooring out of MDF (medium density fiberboard), which is compressed sawdust — think of most IKEA furniture — held together with heat and resin.

“It looks like plywood but costs way less,” Andy says. “Producers will apply shelf paper on top and they call it laminate. Formica, or HPL (high-pressure laminate), is compressed craft paper with a printed veneer on top. Many of these aren’t even wood; they’re just printed with wood grain on top.”

In one sense, this approach might seem eco-friendly because it makes good use of the material, but in reality it isn’t because of the glues, the resin process, and the chemicals used. Using plantation-grown and -managed wood is actually far more environmentally friendly.

Layered Wood

To avoid confusion with the array of laminate products in the marketplace that are made with synthetic, non-wood materials, at Taylor we use the term “layered wood” to identify Taylor guitars built with laminated backs and sides. (All Taylor models feature solid wood tops.) In home construction products, all-wood laminates are seen as a more premium product compared to other laminates, as they should be in guitar building, as more wood equals better tone.

To be clear, the composite nature of layered wood back and sides won’t produce quite the same level of sonic detail as solid wood backs and sides will. “The veneers will still color the tone, but the guitar becomes more of a reflection of the design,” Andy says. “But with HPL or other laminates, there are no sonic differences.”

That said, the tone of Taylor’s layered wood guitars will still improve as the guitar gets played in and ages, due to the solid wood top. And keep in mind that the quality of the materials is just one element of a guitar’s construction. There are plenty of other design strokes that contribute to a guitar’s sound profile, including the body geometry, internal bracing structure, and more. That’s why the nuances techniques of a skilled builder matter. In fact, Taylor Guitars co-founder Bob Taylor once built a guitar out of repurposed wood from a beat-up shipping pallet to prove that very point. (And yes, it sounded good.)

Within Taylor’s product line, our all-solid-wood guitar bodies range from the 300 Series and up. Guitars featuring layered wood back and sides with a solid wood top include the 100 Series through the 200 Deluxe Series, along with the Baby Taylor, GS Mini, and Academy Series.

Naperville Music, your home for everything Taylor!

The post Guitarology: Solid, Layered, and Laminate Acoustic Guitar Woods appeared first on the Naperville Music Informational Blog .

ANAHEIM (January 25, 2018) — Yamaha today introduced the CLP-695GP, the finest sounding, most advanced CLP Clavinova yet, and new flagship to the company’s successful CLP-600 Series of digital pianos.

The CLP-695GP, which combines luxury, state-of-the-art technology and unprecedented sound quality, is housed in an elegant grand piano cabinet designed to fill the room with sound. It comes in a choice of two gorgeous finishes, a beautiful polished ebony or a stunning polished white.

Yamaha Grand Touch keyboard action, which features individual key counterweights like those on an acoustic grand, gives the CLP-695GP an authentic playing feel that facilitates expressive playing. From the quietest to the loudest passages, the piano’s dynamic response is consistent and accurate.

The CLP-695GP comes loaded with two meticulously sampled grand pianos, the Yamaha CFX and the Bösendorfer Imperial, which provide it with authentic sound to go along with its genuine grand piano look and feel. Yamaha Virtual Resonance Modeling technology even emulates the resonance of the soundboard, rim and frame of a grand piano.

Like the other CLP-600-Series instruments, the CLP-695GP also features a set of binaural samples, recorded from a CFX grand piano using specialized microphones to capture locational information and other nuances discerned by the human ear. These samples were created specifically for headphone listening, and provide the user with a compelling, immersive piano experience.

“The market has been asking Yamaha for a flagship CLP grand piano for years, and we have answered.” said Dane Madsen, marketing manager, Digital Pianos, Yamaha Corporation of America. “Our goal with the CLP-695GP was to provide the customer with an authentic grand piano experience combined with the benefits of a modern digital instrument, and we’re delighted with how it turned out. Not only will this piano be a gorgeous centerpiece for a piano-playing household, but it’s also an exquisite speaker system for your favorite wireless music player.”

The CLP-695GP comes equipped with onboard Bluetooth® audio capabilities, allowing users to stream music from a mobile device through the piano’s high-quality 300W sound system, and you can even play along. A USB audio recorder is built into the piano, as is a MIDI song recorder that allows for up to 16 tracks of overdubbing.

The CLP-695GP joins the rest of the models in the CLP-600 Series, including the CLP-625, CLP-635, CLP-645, CLP-665GP, CLP-675, and CLP-685. All offer high-quality sound, authentic touch and renowned Yamaha craftsmanship.

Naperville Music, your home for Yamaha Pianos.

Contact Nate for sale prices on all our Yamaha Pianos

nate@napervillemusic.com   1-888-355-1404 Ext. 106

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Does studying music boost students’ overall test scores?

A new study from Canada suggests music lessons may in fact have wide-ranging intellectual benefits. It finds that, among a group of high-performing high school students, grades were consistently higher for those who continued music classes compared to those who dropped them after two years of compulsory training.

In the journal Behavioural Brain Research, a team led by Leonid Perlovsky of Harvard University describes a study featuring 180 secondary school students in Quebec. Based on their excellence in elementary school, all were selected for an International Baccalaureate program, meaning they were “among the top grade level of their school.” During their first two years of secondary school, music education was compulsory. For the final three years, music courses were optional; the students had their choice of music, drama, or painting/sculpture classes.

The researchers recorded the students’ academic performance in their full range of classes, including science, math, history, and foreign languages. The results for the kids’ final three years of schooling were quite striking.

“Each year,” Perlovsky and his colleagues report, “the mean grades of the students that had chosen a music course in their curriculum were higher than those of the students that had not chosen music as an optional course.”

This proved true nearly across the board. Of the 25 courses rated, there were only two exceptions in which non-music students performed better (in each case marginally).

Perlovsky and his colleagues concede these results do not prove or disprove causality. It is possible that the kids who stay with the music lessons were the smartest and most motivated of this smart, motivated group. But given the kids’ uniformly “high initial achievements,” it seems at least as likely that the music courses provided intellectual and/or emotional benefits, which showed up in the form of higher test scores.
As we’ve noted previously, Perlovsky and his colleagues believe that music’s value, from an evolutionary perspective, revolves around its ability to help people cope withcognitive dissonance—that intense feeling of discomfort that arises when we encounter information that contradicts one of our core beliefs.

According to their hypothesis, the ability to live with such feelings allows us to be open to fresh, challenging ideas, leading to intellectual and emotional growth. This process, they argue, is “fundamental to human evolution,” and a likely reason music became so ubiquitous.

This intriguing argument is difficult if not impossible to prove definitively.  Another line of thinking suggests music proved beneficial to early humans because of its ability to cement social bonds.

But are those ideas opposed? It’s conceivable that kids who feel socially connected (say, as members of a school band) develop the confidence and self-esteem that can lead to intellectual curiosity, and better grades. Another study, perhaps?

Reprinted from Salon
https://www.salon.com/2013/08/27/we_should_all_become_a_band_geeks_partner/

TOM JACOBS, PACIFIC STANDARD 08.27.2013•8:50 AM
This piece originally appeared on Pacific Standard.

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Ribfest has raised over $15.5 million toward eliminating child abuse and domestic violence. The Exchange Club of Naperville is the festival’s sponsor. Part of what convinced Tyler to commit was a deal to have a portion of the 2018 proceeds go to his charity, Janie’s Fund, the Naperville Sun reports. The fund’s website says Tyler partnered with the nonprofit Youth Villages to bring hope and healing to many of our country’s most vulnerable girls who have suffered the trauma of abuse and neglect.

Other recent Ribfest performers include: The Wallflowers, Better Than Ezra, Toby Keith, Sheryl Crow, Gin Blossoms and Toni

originally posted on Naperville Patch

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