Chronically Out-of-tune guitar

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:30 am

My Ric 325 copy is having pretty consistent tuning issues. When I first got it, it wouldn't stay in tune for a minute. Heavy strings and straightening the neck helped, but it still drifts more then any other guitar. Basically, the strings all drift flat evenly with each other. After about 15 minutes of playing, they will have all gone about 20 cents flat.

The tuners are the same Korean Schaller copies that are on my Alvarez, which stays in tune perfectly
The nut is cut properly and lubricated with Vaseline and graphite
The truss rod is almost straight, maybe about .02" of relief that I'm working out slowly
The neck bolt are tight, and it's shimmed (has to be with the bridge)
I put the Schaller Roller bridge back on, which helped a bit
The Bigsby spring has been removed and the mechanism is resting against itself
Stretching the strings does not make them go out of tune

The neck is maple but very thin and flexible, I'm working the last bit of relief out slowly and hope to have it straight this week.

What else can I do and what's making it drift?

dodgedartdave · Post by **dodgedartdave** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:12 am

Is the bridge sitting in the right spot?

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:22 am

Intonation wise? Yes. There's a huge break angle between the Bigsby's tension bar and the bridge, though I think I might replace it with a trapeze next string change.

I tightened the truss rod another 1/4 turn and it's down to .005" relief at the 9th fret, the lowest on any of my guitars. I stretched the strings out for about 5 minutes and that seemed to help a bit. I wandered around my house playing Beatles songs as hard as I could for half an hour and it only drifted <5 cents, so we're making progress. I think I'll pick up a graphite nut next week.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 12:58 pm

just sing lower. haha

ohh and don't play along with anyone else

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:21 pm

i guess the only advice i can offer is set i up perfect, play the crap out of it, let it set for about.... 3-4 days, do the setup again, repeat until its solved.
but you may want to check your glue lines, make sure the board isn't lifting or anything like that.

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:37 pm

You need a bogus truss rod cover. That will fix it.

MattK · Post by **MattK** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:07 am

Could the string gauge be wrong? Or a bad batch of strings?

Also - are the tuners tight and well lubricated?

Will · Post by **Will** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:46 am

Everything's tight and lubricated

It behaved itself today - only the A string slipped a bit flat. I think straightening the neck out and stretching the strings really far sorted it. Still slips more then I'd like, but at least it's usable now.

yaksox · Post by **yaksox** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:15 am

Hey just out of interest, what is it badged as?

I have a korean made ric. copy called 'Academy'.

dodgedartdave · Post by **dodgedartdave** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:39 pm

DuoSonicBoy wrote:Everything's tight and lubricated

It behaved itself today - only the A string slipped a bit flat. I think straightening the neck out and stretching the strings really far sorted it. Still slips more then I'd like, but at least it's usable now.

How tight do the strings slip through the nut? If it goes "tink, tink" as you turn the tuning head, then it's too tight. A graffite pencil makes for good nut lube.