Mustang PS Special

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:22 pm

DanHeron wrote:Pickups too high make the guitar go out of tune? Never heard that one before.

yep, many peolpe have told me the same. dont know if its true. but its worth a try.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:34 pm

One thing i can say is that the reproduction Klusons that Fender/Squier have been using on their instruments are definitely not all cut from the same cloth.
Eventough they are identical in appearance, the ones I have on my Classic Player are definitely a lot more stable, feel more solid and are more precise than the ones on the Mascis. Now I know we're talking about a pretty wide margin in terms of expected quality between the two products and I'm not insinuating that they are putting the same hardware on $800 and $400 guitars, simply highliting that there's a pretty big range in terms of quality in these repro tuners, despite their appearance. it's anybody's guess just how well made the ones they are using on these Pawn shop series are but considering the flakiness of that switch, it's not too far of a stretch to think they might be on the cheaper side. Dude's already two packs of strings deep into trying to resolve this issue, two packs of srings away from spending as much money as he would have for some nice legit, time tested Klusons....

My advice is take it directly in for a pro setup. If tuning stability doesn't improve and the tuners feel cheap, hop on ebay and grab a set of real Klusons. They should drop right in.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:36 pm

How are you stringing the tuners? These are slot heads yes? Are you poking the string down inside the tuner before letting it wrap round? Are you doing a 'doubleback' around the top E as that is more prone to slippage? Are you over winding far too may wraps around the post giving much more length to stretch over time?

I ask this because even amongst seasoned players i see about 2% of them ever stringing the tuners in the best way.... and with slot heads I've seen so many people who don't understand poking the string in the hole...

BoringPostcards · Post by **BoringPostcards** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:45 pm

weeping_moon wrote:
DanHeron wrote:Pickups too high make the guitar go out of tune? Never heard that one before.
yep, many peolpe have told me the same. dont know if its true. but its worth a try.

This can happen. It's known as Stratitis. It usually only happens with single coils with magnet pole pieces. It's rare with HBs and p90s and anything that uses screws and bar magnets.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:52 pm

just get some 13's for christ sakes and never have to tune it again

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:55 pm

i play 0.9 all the time and have no problem with the tuning.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:34 pm

My guess would probably be that the nut is slotted for 9's from the factory, and 10's being the first thing he did when he got the guitar means that some strings are probably sticking in the nut. Like others have said, lube it up, either use pencil graphite or some nut sauce.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:29 pm

i forgot to mention you gotta get a file and grout out the fucking shit before you slap 13's in there

DanHeron · Post by **DanHeron** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:43 pm

ZenJenga wrote:
weeping_moon wrote:
DanHeron wrote:Pickups too high make the guitar go out of tune? Never heard that one before.
yep, many peolpe have told me the same. dont know if its true. but its worth a try.
This can happen. It's known as Stratitis. It usually only happens with single coils with magnet pole pieces. It's rare with HBs and p90s and anything that uses screws and bar magnets.

They don't make the string go out of tune though, it just sounds out of tune. If it was that it would sound off all the time, not just after 15mins of playing.
The magnetic force of the pickups is not enough to pull a string out of tune if your playing doesn't...

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:43 pm

DanHeron wrote:Pickups too high make the guitar go out of tune? Never heard that one before.

Nor me.

Seriously though, give the strings a good stretch, don't be afraid of snapping them its pretty hard to do that through brute force. Also check the tuners are tight, the only time I've had tuning issues was due to loose tuners - after tightening they'll be fine.

I'll second using graphite, I use a set of pure graphite pencils that I bought from an art store, I also sharpen the pencils with a craft knife into a four sided V shape which allows for easier access into the nut slots. The tip with running the strings through the slots is also a good one.

Mattsican · Post by **Mattsican** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:01 pm

All good ideas. I'll restring later on today and use the old strings to brush out the nut slots a bit and use some graphite. I do run the bridge pickup pretty high and raised the neck also a little bit. I was having the problem though before i raised those and the whole idea that having pups to high can make it sound out of tune seems a bit wonky to me. As far as stringing yes im pushing them down in the hole. I didnt doubleback the high E but i came across it while doing some reading and im going to do that. I'm giving them all about 3-4 wraps around the post when im winding them up. I'm honestly not doing anything different than what ive done on any guitar or bass ive ever owned over the last 17 years. This is the only time ive had this issue so thats the only reason im wondering if the actual tuners are slipping. This is the first guitar that ive had with slot head tuners (all of my basses have them though) so maybe im just not used to them. this is getting fucking personal now and im not giving up till this bitch stays in tune like im used to haha. If i do decide to get new tuners will the authentic kluson tunes drop right in without any mods you think?

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:38 pm

Yap. They will.

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:52 pm

High pickups can affect tuning / intonation issues through the magnet pull from the pickup on the strings... interrupting the natural oscillation of the string.

But I've personally never witnessed it or noticed it before.... I reckon it'd need to be a few mm off for that sorta things to happen.

Mattsican · Post by **Mattsican** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:43 pm

I would just think that if that were the case it would be consistent and not gradually get worse and worse while playing.

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:23 pm

Mattsican wrote:I would just think that if that were the case it would be consistent and not gradually get worse and worse while playing.

yep it would sound out of tune all the time. and this is only with single coil pickups. humbuckers can be pretty high without sounding out of tune.

spirograph · Post by **spirograph** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:00 am

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robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:17 am

have you tried this ?

get this and turn all the knobys to the right all the way

Mattsican · Post by **Mattsican** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:54 am

robroe wrote:have you tried this ?

get this and turn all the knobys to the right all the way

no. some dude with a sweet haircut and tight pants told me this was way better

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 3:30 am

touche

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 3:31 am

comeon, you live in Seattle. they give DS-1's as baby shower presents since 1994 for boys