On acoustic guitars many times the strings ball end is not secure in the bridge at first and needs to be pulled into a secure place. This is because when you string the acoustic you put the ball end in the hole and then put the pin in. What I do for this is first put the string in the hole then put the bridge pin in and while pushing the pin in the bridge. I pull straight up on the string until it is nice and snug, many times the hole can be too big and the pin will shoot out , in this case I pull the string towards the headstock with my left hand while holding the bridge pin in the bridge. On nylon string guitars it seems that you can stretch and stretch the string for a long time before they hold there tune, this is of course because the nylon material has more elasticity then metal.

On the headstock always make sure that the machine heads are tight, this is done by usually tightening the nut on the top with a box wrench. They become loose because the wood will expand and contract from the weather changes, so if it is dry out the machine heads can easily become loose.

Correct String Wrap   Incorrect String Wrap

Once the instrument has new strings being it a bass, electric or acoustic guitar, now there are a few things that will cause a guitar to go out of tune. The string wrap on the tuner. Basically the string should be wrapped even on the tuner not all over each other this can easily cause a guitar to go out of tune. How many wraps should you put on the gear? This is a question that many people argue about and I feel that the less amount is better for tuning especially on a tremolo guitar without a top lock . The reason is each time the tremolo bar is depressed the string wrap around the tuner can become loose and then it needs to pull back when the tremolo comes back, there are six strings and each one will need to come back exactly in tune so the more wraps on the tuner the more chance that it will not come back in tune. Many companies make locking machine heads for tuners that have different heights for the strings at the tuner the reason for this is that on a straight headstock the string needs to have a certain downward string tension off the nut or else the string will buzz open from the nut. This is why many companies make tilted headstocks like a Lespaul® or even an acoustic to pull the strings down from the nut. Companies such as Sperzel, Grover and Gotoh all make some type of locking gears. With a locking gear there is no string wrap and I believe that Sperzel was the first to make this type of tuner called the Tim Lock. If you can get a set of Sperzels tuners you can easily see that these are some of the best and finest made machine heads in the world.

Now if your tuners are tight you have new strings and they are all stretched and the guitar still does not stay in tune here are some remedies for you. If your guitar has no locking nut such as an acoustic, Strat style or bass and when you turn the machine head you hear a creaking sound then this means that either the nut is too tight for the string or the angle of the string to the machine head is wrong.

To check if the string is too tight, loosen the string and pull it out of the nut . If it sticks at all , the nut is too tightt. To fix this just take some sand paper #400 or #500 and fold a small piece in half and sand the inside of the nut until the string is loose in the nut. Don't change the depth just work on the sides of the nut.

Usually a quick fix for guitar nuts is to use a graphite pencil to lubricate the inside of the nut. This works well on bone or plastic nuts. Graphite is one of the best lubricants available and almost all pencils now a days are made from it, (The old lead ones could cause lead poisoning)

Another problem that I have found is that the direction of slots in the nut are almost always cut straight especially if the nut is molded. But if you look at the direction to the tuner the machine head is angled away from the nut. On all my guitars I use small files to change the direction of the nut for each string to aim it at the tuner. Only work on the side facing the headstock, the side towards the fretboard keeps the string spacing so don't touch that side. The main problem that you want to get rid of is the sharp edge on the tip of the nut on the headstock side.

If the guitar has a locking tremolo make sure that the two bolts that hold the lock nut on are really tight because when the top lock pads are tight there is string tension on both sides of the nut. One pulling towards the headstock and the other pulling towards the bridge. If you push down on the bar and the top lock is loose the headstock wins the tug of war and the guitar goes sharp. Once you pull back on the tremolo the bridge side wins and the guitar comes back in tune.

On Strat style bridges that have either six or two points these can sometimes not reset at there exact location when the bar is used. New tremolos usually work great but as they get older they can wear the knife edges and cause the tremolo to stick. You can sand with # 800 very lightly if the bridge has the burrs but the screws that hold on the bridge are usually made of a softer material that they will wear out before the bridge plate. At this point it may be necessary to replace the screws or studs that hold on the bridge. You can also try a small amount of grease on the friction points to make the tremolo move better. If all else fails on this type of bridge you can always do what I do and put five springs in the back and tighten the bridge to the body or install a tremsetter. This will always assure that the tremolo returns to the exact position. Of course you will not be able to pull up.

For locking tremolo bridges a big problem I have seen is that the inserts in the wood can become loose and move, To check this just look at the stud inserts in the wood when you use the tremolo if they are moving, the guitar will not stay in tune and also the action could change after you use the bar. The correct way to fix this is to remove the metal insert, dowel the hole and re-drill it , and replace the insert. But this is not always possible at home so what I do is take the bridge off, push the insert all the way in the hole and take super glue and pour it around the outside of the insert. This is not actually gluing the metal to the wood but the wood absorbs the super glue and when the glue hardens the wood become much stronger.

Another problem with bolt on necks is that the neck becomes loose and actually moves. This was a big problem on the old Fender three-bolt necks with the micro-tilt from the early 1980's I have changed many of these into standard four bolt neck plates because this neck system had a tendency to move. So always make sure the neck and body joint are tight by tightening the screws.