ShortScale.org

Well I plug in my Jag, pluck a note and it holds it's position really well.

I use other guitars..... homemade Telemaster, Fender 60s Jazzmaster and it becomes tricky to tune as it rises to the note but drop rapidly almost before I can adjust to suit.

WTF ? Anyone advise what might be up ?

cheers
Owen

I'd always assumed this was an issue with the amount of gain going into the pedal, and how also how close to pure a tone your guitar is producing, but it's probably mostly a jumble of superstitions I've worked together.

When this happens, I'll go to the gainier pickup on the guitar, and try picking the note twelve frets above as it gives you that sound that's less harmonically rich and closer to a sine wave sort of sound, less likely to throw the tuner, or so my thinking goes. l'll occasionally use harmonics through the tuner too, so see of that helps. I think the twelfth fret harmonic is a cleaner sounding note than the open string, and being a harmonic it will be an octave above, regardless of intonation issues.

I think that picking harder in an attempt to get more gain doesn't work, because it gives you that buzzy "bwwwaawwaaawwwaawaoooooaaaaoooohhhh" sound that is less of a pure constant pitch and is more likely to confuse things. So I'll try to pick gently but firmly, if that makes sense.

Or, use your ears, real men don't use tuners or something etc.

Maybe your pickups are set too high? The pickup magnets can cause 'string pull' in string oscillation which would cause problems on a tuning device.

I often wondered whether this happens when other strings seem to get affected by sympathetically ringing and interfer with the signal. Does it do it if you mute the other strings?

I'd be interested if there is a definitive answer to this, it's definately a problem I encounter with some guitars more than others, which makes me think it's a pick-up related issue, rather than a tuner related issue.

Thanks Guys, I thought it was my newly built guitar at first.... and probably down to pickup height, but altered that with no improvement.

It was only when I plugged my jazzmaster yesterday that the same thing happened. Low Output pickups at a low height... so I kinda ruled that out completely.

I think Lorez might be on the money.... gonna investigate further. This did spring to mind.