Top secret’s to keeping your guitar in tune (For steel string acoustics)

Today’s blog is all about how to keep your guitar in tune. For beginners (And even players of many years) this is a subject that doesn’t get much attention – but it’s a cause of incredible frustration.

So What is something you can’t do much about ? Machine heads. There are good and bad (and some that are extremely expensive), but the most fundamental difference is diecast and covered. At Artist Guitars we only use diecast or other high quality machine heads. The difference is quite simple, a diecast machine head is made from a mould at high tolerance, so it will be smoother and stay in tune better – these days with the much better production techniques there is really no excuse to use cheap covered machine heads, in our opinion you should always choose a guitar with diecast machine heads.

So now that’s out of the way – What are things you can do something about ?

There are 5 main causes of tuning problems on a steel string guitar.

1. Machine heads
2. Too little string on the machine head
3. Too Much string on the machine head – the ideal here is 3-4 turns
4. Gaps in the string on the machine head (this is a common issue and so easily solved)
5. The ball end of the string is not sitting on the sound board (or top of the
guitar)

So how do we solve the 4th and 5th issues – it’s so simple ... Pull on your strings

Let me explain.

Pulling on your strings helps remove the slack at the machine head , It also helps settle the string into the top of the guitar.

Go and grab your guitar now. Play a note - Pull the string (give it a good go , if you’re worried use the low E as there is no way you can break this string) play the same note again. If the pitch is the same your guitar was fine, but if it changed you had slack in your system. This simple secret will keep you in tune for much, much longer.

Now try another test. Gently pull your bridge pin out (but only half way or the string may come out – be careful here and protect your eyes) if you can do that without the note changing pitch then you were setup correctly - you should be able to move the bridge pin and have almost no effect on the pitch of the string.

How do I stop the bridge pin issue happening the next time I change my string’s ? Put a bend in the end of your string 1-2cm from the ball, as you push the bridge pin in the guitar pull back on the string so it’s sitting right on the sound board (as an added benefit your tone will also be much better)
Ian Bush / Artist Guitars
ian@artistguitars.com.au
www.artistguitars.com.au

Choosing your first guitar – What to consider.

Choosing your first guitar is something that is extremely important and also very confusing. A guitar player of many years has learnt about all the subtle differences and knows exactly what they want to do but beginners need help. Unfortunately the right advice can be hard to find.

So here are a few key points to consider;

1. Body Size and Neck size and weight

Especially for smaller, younger, or larger players (particularly hands) this is really a critical question.

An Electric guitar has the smallest body size (making it the easiest to play), weighs the most (So it could be too heavy to stand up with for a child) but it has the thinnest neck (Very easy to play)

Classical Guitars or Nylon string guitars have a medium size body, the widest necks (which can be difficult for smaller hands)
Acoustic Guitars have the largest bodies (hard to play for smaller people), Medium size necks.

To give you some idea of the dimensions the neck on a standard Acoustic is 44mm, Electric is 42mm and Classic is a whopping 50mm (3/4 size is smaller at 46mm)

2. String type, Electric vs. Steel string, Steel String vs. Nylon String

Nylon Strings are the easiest to press

Electric strings are thinner than Steel Acoustic strings – not so hard to press
Steel Acoustic Strings are the thickest and hardest to play (And the thicker the strings the better the tone)

There are many ways to consider this - firstly you need to consider what sound you really want. I remember as a young child wanting to sound like Mark Knopfler playing distorted guitar on Money for Nothing, when I got my first nylon string guitar and it didn’t sound the same I was really disappointed (I was only 9 so forgive me for making the mistake !) I should have bought an Electric guitar with an amp given the time over again.

The reasons are,

1. It would sound like what I wanted to hear – and that’s a huge motivator.

2. The neck on an electric is actually the thinnest neck you can get (much thinner than a classical guitar)

Right now I play a steel string dreadnought most of the time, It suits the music I like, and it’s really convenient.

Nylon string guitars are great for a particular purpose and have their own sound, but for most people it’s not the sound they hear in their heads. That being said Nylon string guitars are by far the most popular in Australia, they are cheaper to buy and easier to play (but be careful of the bigger neck).

Ian Bush/ Artist Guitars

www.artistguitars.com.au