Hi everyone! On a new guitar, all the strings are quickly upset. Every day I have to tune about half a tone. Is this normal? Is this how it should be? Thanks.
Depends how its strung, new strings do take a little to settle in but if they are tied on poorly etc it may be a longer term problem, show us a photo of the head etc.
This is not unusual with a new guitar, the strings will stretch slightly and the guitar will acclimatise to the conditions in your home. They can often go slightly out of tune during the day if the temperature varies by 2-5° I always tune before I play every time I play, that way you are sure that itâs correct.
OK those look fine, just give it some time, tuning should be part of your workflow anyhow!
Thanks, guys! I started to worry a little.)
There is controversy On stretching your strings after putting them on. I like to, it seems to settle them in. Donât break the high eâŚ
Should the strings stretch or shouldnât they?
They will stretch at first.
They (and the guitar) will change with temperature etc.
Dont sweat it, just tune it when it needs to be.
Its not hard you can get simple apps to do this
There are no problems with tuning the guitar. I didnât like the original guitar tuner and I bought a KORG PITCHCLIP PC-2
all good then, strum away!
Itâs also a heating season Igor so that also makes your wood change which changes tension of strings and detunes those more often. Just keep tuning them and youâll be fine
Do you mean your strings detune by 1 semitone? That seems a lot to me, though in my flat the climate is more or less stable, and I always stretch new strings in.
Anyway, your windings look pretty neat, so itâs really probably due to changes in temperature/humidity.
I would like to believe that the strings stretch because they are new.
My understanding is that the strings donât actually âstretchâ. When you âstretchâ the strings you are really tightening the windings and bedding the strings into the bridgeplate and nut.
If the strings were actually stretching they would never get in tune and would just eventually snap. What happens is the wood of the guitar expands/contracts with the ambient temperature/humidity and the strings lose/gain tension.
Always a good idea to tune up every time you play. That way your ears âtune inâ to the correct notes.
Iâm with Gordon, I donât think metal strings do stretch the way nylon strings do (and getting these in tune is a real pain before they settle).
How often you need to tune varies from guitar to guitar and the environment as Adi said. On my Takamine I briefly check it once a week, it requires only marginal adjustment. On Taylor it took over 3 months to settle, it was off half the tone every day, now once a week check is all it needs.
I think you should just give it few more months and of course check every time before you start practicing.
New strings do stretch. After I put on new strings I put my hand under the strings and give them a firm pull upwards - then I re-tune. I think this helps get some of the new stretch out. Changes in humidity can also cause the guitar to go out of tune (especially in cold months when the heat is on).
Anything under tension, including metal wire, will stretch a bit, and it really doesnât take much to push a note flat.
In my experience, I quite often find my guitars have gone out of tune by up to around a semitone depending on the weather and temperature in the room (as well, I suspect, as on how much temperature variation there has been).
It also seems to depend on the guitar. My PRS tends to stay quite well in tune, but my Gibson SG always needs tuning.
Iâve also found I sometimes have to retune during playing, especially if Iâve been bending a fair bit.
Cheers,
Keith
I agree about stretching. I stretch more to tighten the wraps and settle them in than worrying about the actual wire stretching, but whatever, pulling a little on the strings after putting them on and bringing to rough tune seems to help me at least.
Something definitely changes with âstretchingâ though. Tune the new strings up. Give a stretch and they are way, way out of tune. Do it a second time and they are less so. Not âstretchingâ means those changes happen over some time span after putting the strings on.
I also tune every time I pick up the guitar, unless I had already been playing within the last hour or so, and if the strings are new, often check once or twice in an hour plus practice.
I am finally getting better at hearing if the tune isnât right, so am moving towards tuning when I know it isnât in tune!
Thicker strings also seem to hold tune better. I had 13s on for a bit and they sometimes held tune for a couple of days if there werenât humidity or temperature changes of significance. 13s, even low tension were too much, though.
I thought to get rid of the unwanted influence of humidity, it probably makes sense to treat the fingerboard with oil. The oil will enter the wood, after some time it will polymerize there and thus the wood will no longer absorb water from the air so much. What do you think?